Learn something new every day!
I had no idea. After reading the information on the links, it sounds like a really scummy operation is dragging down the reputations of magazines that probably don't realize what's being done in their names.
(As for Men's Journal, it's owned by Wenner Media, a very, very profitable publishing company. They have Rolling Stone and Us Weekly in addition to MJ, so they don't need to cheat people to make a profit -- which is why I'd guess they have no idea what this Magazine Exchange is up to.)
Magazines sometimes allow third-party agents to sell subscriptions -- the old Publisher's Clearinghouse being the most famous -- but this is the first time I've heard of the a third-party agency running a full-out scam.
To avoid this, here's what I recommend:
1. When you sign up for a magazine, and you want to maintain control of the subscription, do it the traditional way: a year-to-year subscription with the company itself.
2. A gold-standard subscription, from the publisher's perspective, is one that automatically rolls over year after year. It's great for them, but perhaps not the best policy for the consumer. I have these with a couple of online magazines (Salon and the New Republic), but handle all my print magazines the way I described in point #1.
I look at it this way: If I like a magazine, it's usually because the current editor is doing a good job. If he moves on, I may not like the magazine as much. With the traditional year-to-year arrangement, the worst that can happen if an editor leave is that I receive a few more issues than I wanted. If I have a rolling subscription, I might be able to cancel immediately, but then again the company might slip a renewal under my nose one month when I'm not paying attention, and it may be harder to get my subscription canceled and my money back.
3. I'm geeky enough to keep a log of my magazine subscriptions, so I always know when they're due for renewal.
A few years ago, when I was really, really busy at work, I renewed Consumer Reports three times in one year. They just kept sending me renewal notices every few months, and I kept writing checks.
I didn't realize what I'd done until I was putting together my tax information the next year, and realized I'd paid for CR three times over.
That's when I started recording renewals in a notebook. I haven't made that mistake since.
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