Staff writer
While some questioned his tactics and legitimacy, Sander Sildver of Southwestern Advantage was acting legally within Marion and Peabody city limits after acquiring peddler’s licenses to sell educational books this weekend within city limits.
This is the second year Sildver has been in the area selling supplemental learning books for kids preschool through 12th grade. Residents from Marion, Florence, Peabody, and Hillsboro received visits from Sildver.
Southwestern has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau despite receiving 77 complaints in the last year. Complaints included that sales people arrived at houses at odd times, were rude, pushy, and wanted too much information about the resident and neighbors.
Several Marion County residents also had the same complaints.
“He was extremely pushy,” Heather Diemer of Florence said.
Andrea Schadel of Marion said she turned him away too, but he didn’t take no very easily.
Tactics Sildver used were persistency and name dropping.
Terry Jones of Marion said he understood Sildver’s pitch for what it was, one practiced sales tactic after another.
“He was nice enough to us,” Jones said. “I just understood everything he was doing was so he could try to get a sale.”
Jones and his wife, Chelsi, purchased a few books for their son, Dawson, and Chelsi’s day care kids to read.
“A bunch of them were pretty good books and Dawson loves them already,” Jones said.
Southwestern specializes in books that take subjects and turn them into stories to promote fun learning.