I don't want to scam people...

ehudros

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Jun 15, 2009
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Well, I was about to launch a campaign in the teeth whitening niche. Seemed like a solid product, solid LP, solid payout... The deal is you get $40 per sale, the customer pays $4.95 S&H for a free trial and then $60 after 7 days if he does not cancel the trial. Out of curiosity, I've searched the product's name on google and the number 5 results was a yahoo answers thread about it being a total ripoff where they basically charge you the extra $60 right away, give you a hard time canceling your trial & secretly opt you in 2 more subscription offers. There are tons of threads like this everywhere, about this product and similar ones in the same niche.

Now, I don't want to scam people. I want to make them buy stuff, but I don't want them to get screwed, scammed, ripped off.

My question to you guys is: Are all "trial" offers basically rip offs?
How can I trust my affiliate network to shut scammers out?
OR, am I just being naive and basically all of these products do the same thing, and everyone in on it, and it's just a big ugly system ;)

I'm seriously bummed, since I enjoy AM so far, but also want to be able to look myself in the mirror...
what do you think?
 
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Get on Commission Junction or Amazon if you want to make a % off a sale instead of CPA. Then stop crying.
 
Well, I was about to launch a campaign in the teeth whitening niche. Seemed like a solid product, solid LP, solid payout... The deal is you get $40 per sale, the customer pays $4.95 S&H for a free trial and then $60 after 7 days if he does not cancel the trial. Out of curiosity, I've searched the product's name on google and the number 5 results was a yahoo answers thread about it being a total ripoff where they basically charge you the extra $60 right away, give you a hard time canceling your trial & secretly opt you in 2 more subscription offers. There are tons of threads like this everywhere, about this product and similar ones in the same niche.

Now, I don't want to scam people. I want to make them buy stuff, but I don't want them to get screwed, scammed, ripped off.

My question to you guys is: Are all "trial" offers basically rip offs?
How can I trust my affiliate network to shut scammers out?
OR, am I just being naive and basically all of these products do the same thing, and everyone in on it, and it's just a big ugly system ;)

I'm seriously bummed, since I enjoy AM so far, but also want to be able to look myself in the mirror...
what do you think?

just remember to give back to society when you're ballin'
 
Well, I was about to launch a campaign in the teeth whitening niche. Seemed like a solid product, solid LP, solid payout... The deal is you get $40 per sale, the customer pays $4.95 S&H for a free trial and then $60 after 7 days if he does not cancel the trial. Out of curiosity, I've searched the product's name on google and the number 5 results was a yahoo answers thread about it being a total ripoff where they basically charge you the extra $60 right away, give you a hard time canceling your trial & secretly opt you in 2 more subscription offers. There are tons of threads like this everywhere, about this product and similar ones in the same niche.

Now, I don't want to scam people. I want to make them buy stuff, but I don't want them to get screwed, scammed, ripped off.

My question to you guys is: Are all "trial" offers basically rip offs?
How can I trust my affiliate network to shut scammers out?
OR, am I just being naive and basically all of these products do the same thing, and everyone in on it, and it's just a big ugly system ;)

I'm seriously bummed, since I enjoy AM so far, but also want to be able to look myself in the mirror...
what do you think?

You're being naive of course. Funny, I felt almost the same way as you when I started.

Every trial offer does that with the full consent of affiliate networks. I stopped promoting rebill offers a long time back. Not because i'm righteous or something but because i believe in karma. Of course my checks are a lot smaller now and every now and then I get tempted to getting back to promoting them again.

That said, I don't have any prejudice against people who promote rebill offers.
 
I don't have a problem with rebills because most of the rebill products are pretty shady to begin with. So you are telling me these people don't think they are getting scammed to begin with when people say they can sell them a pill that will allow them to keep eating their 20 twinkies a day and end up having six pack abs? Also just like when you take medicine there is always the fine print that will say how this will probably fuck you up in every other way but it will cure the small problem you had with getting to sleep. If they would take the time to read the small print then they wouldn't get billed again. I know its shitty sometimes but in this world you either have to be the wolf or the sheep.
 
The vaste majority of things we own in this world, we don't need!! We want them, or have been made to want them.

The whole system we live in IS A SCAM!!

My advice, ehudros, is to not think beyond the numbers....

:R:
 
There are rebills and there are rebills. Some rebills offers are run by companies greedy beyond belief. In my opinion (for what its worth), they are pissing in the soup.

But I'm not really outraged about it. I worked in the hi-tech hardware biz for a number of years. The patent rip-offs were unbelievable. Small engineering outfit slaves for years to bring innovative product to market, guys killing themselves for something they believe in.

Then a big company comes along and fucks them out of their intellectual property. Oh you want to sue us? Hah okay, you can spend the next 3 years in court fighting for what we took from you guys.

And gees, I haven't even mentioned Wall Street.

This is capitalism. It's all relative.
 
lemme grab a calculator and doooz the math.

Here customer pays 4.95 to Company to get teeth white
-Company Pays Affiliate 40.00 for Customer Lead

Dam I can't get that math to work out allweelll
 
IMO, the definition of a scam is where a person is taken advantage of when they had no way of knowing what the exact terms of a product or service actually is. The difference in AM is that every offer (that I've seen at least) DOES have the fine print available.

So I say that it's the buyer's fault for not taking the time to read it and make an informed decision before whipping out their cc (though lucky for us most of them won't). It's not just the online marketing world that does this, a lot of infomercial products are also rebills (Girls Gone Wild, Guthy-Renker products, etc).
 
If the person actually gets a product, that's not a scam. Overpriced or a poor quality product is not a scam. It's these guys that don't send you anything and try and rebill you, now THAT's a scam.

Unfortunately it's hard to find out what side that rebill is on.
 
Just offering fine print doesn't absolve you of responsibility. Not ethically and not legally. There have been numerous court cases that have found that just stating something in the Terms and Conditions isn't enough to inform the consumer. This is why the FTC is cracking down and why rebills will soon be a thing of the past. Just like ringtones before them.
 
As stated above, if you do the math this should come as no surprise - so you're being naive. However, you don't have to promote rebills to do AM. If it makes you more comfortable check out Commission Junction and run some of their offers. You may not make as much, but you'll have less competition and maybe you can make up for it by running a shit ton of offers. Probably not, but at least you'll be able to sleep at night.

Me - I don't have a problem promoting rebills because all I have to do is think about the shady shit that goes on with credit card companies fucking consumers, Wall Street fucking our economy, lobbyists in Washington fucking everyone etc. Why should I let them have all the money by bending rules. Fuck working like a slave for peanuts - that's some shit they sell to you from the time you're a kid to keep you from taking a piece of their pie. I like me some pie - and I'm coming after their shit shootin' from the hip with fully loaded rebills.
 
Just offering fine print doesn't absolve you of responsibility. Not ethically and not legally. There have been numerous court cases that have found that just stating something in the Terms and Conditions isn't enough to inform the consumer. This is why the FTC is cracking down and why rebills will soon be a thing of the past. Just like ringtones before them.


I suppose people cannot be expected to be accountable for themselves and their own actions. McDonalds doesn't go around advertising that their food will make you fat, but if you read the nutritional info you'd figure it out on your own. :cool2:

Even before I got into AM I was pretty careful about how I spent money online, and unless it was a big reputable company site that everybody's heard of, like Amazon, I scrutinized the page before deciding whether or not to buy.

I do feel sorry for people who spend money and don't get any product in return, or the product was extremely misrepresented...otherwise, I think people just need to take some damn responsibility for themselves and not buy if they don't take the time to inform themselves.
 
Wow, must say I didn't expect so many "it's all cool" comments.
Just to clarify: I do not think that a rebill is wrong just by being a rebill. BUT if a company is shady, does not allow customers to actually cancel the trial/subscription, doesn't answer the phone and basically pisses in your face - then yeah, it's a scam.
Saying the customer is to blame for falling for it doesn't hold any merit IMO, it's not like you/me/seller did not do our very very best to trick them.
If you guys are OK with it that's fine, I'm gonna stick to offers that are more legit.
 
there are many legit rebill offers
don't stop running them becouse a few are scum.
keep looking and try a diffrent network
all those offers have 800 call and see how picks the phone
 
I suppose people cannot be expected to be accountable for themselves and their own actions. McDonalds doesn't go around advertising that their food will make you fat, but if you read the nutritional info you'd figure it out on your own. :cool2:

Even before I got into AM I was pretty careful about how I spent money online, and unless it was a big reputable company site that everybody's heard of, like Amazon, I scrutinized the page before deciding whether or not to buy.

I do feel sorry for people who spend money and don't get any product in return, or the product was extremely misrepresented...otherwise, I think people just need to take some damn responsibility for themselves and not buy if they don't take the time to inform themselves.
What do you mean "you feel sorry for them"? You're the one taking advantage of them and making it as hard as possible for them to see what's actually going on here. It's not like it's an act of god - you're the one doing it.
Listen guys, I don't have a problem with this as long as you don't give me BS justification such as that. At least take responsibility for your actions...