There is a member on DP who I trust. He has high iTrader score and seems legit. Hes selling X amount of directory submissions for X dollars. But he is also selling Guaranteed Listings for a higher price. Are these guaranteed listings something to consider? I would just love to know that I am getting guaranteed backlinks.. Or are they something risky? Woudl google not like them?
Directories provide you with low quality backlinks that usually aren't relevant at all, not to mention all the other outbound links that drain any value from the link itself. Your money can be spent better else where.
Guaranteed backlinks mean they use the same database for many directories, thus creating several duplicate sites - all of which will be penalised for doing so and you'll gain absolutely no benefit from it whatsoever. Even for a brand new site, it could harm you more than it will do you good.
Spend your money on getting backlinks from directory is not worth it. Although it might a help a little bit.
If you are buying guaranteed listing from a directory network using same database or same IPs then there is no benefit. As others the benefits derived from directory listing is decreasing (though it's not zero yet) If someone gives you guaranteed listing for directories not owned by him/her that means he/she will be doing many submissions (accurately) and will be checking whether the link was accepted. That means more work and hence more money