luckygirrl

my day job is working with a company that sells diet products on free trials which we promote through various cpa networks...the past few days have been interesting as new regulations from the ftc and visa, mastercard ect have come down...merchants seized up on every major company promoting negative options aka free trials...anyways i was just wondering if this had trickled down to those who promote cpa offers..and how u think it might change the way you promote offers

TVChatten

I myself honestly haven't promoted a free trial so I really can't help you on that one, but I would like to know the new regulations from these card companies.

J Bold

Hmmm, free trial offers do not have to go away, they merely need to be much more explicitly clear that after the trial the credit card will automatically be charged.

If cpa networks quit running those that they think don't comply, others who do comply may replace them. Conversions may go down, who knows?

I don't see it as a big deal, that's the whole point of being a cpa affiliate, you have tons of different types of offers to choose from. Learn to evolve.

mrizos

Is it really any big shock ? Trial offers are getting banned on almost every legit PPC platform and probably won't come back (because of the bad reputation they've become famous for). Really...how long did people think that kind of crap would last?

I'm guessing article directories will ban them next...

Saj Gupta

Finally!! It's good that these Free trials are busted - in my opinion they were worse than flogs and consumers were getting ripped off. There were too many complaints of buyers who could not stop the merchant from continuously charging them month after month & finally the smart ones just called their credit card to reverse them - that's the reason cc companies are backing ftc.

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JayInOrlando

Any ideas on what will replace the free trail type sites, there is still a demand out there for products and offering a trail is a legit way to sell them, so what will be next?

Jay

MicahF7

Nope Nope Nope... There fine... and to answer your question directly... here is a little information on what has been causing the main ruckus...

One of the big merchant accounts called Meritus has stopped excepting rebill/free trail/nagitive option marketing type offers. Meritus's Registered ISO/MSP is Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo Bank has bailed from rebills/continuity/negative option billing (or whatever else name you want to come up for it).

There were alot of advertisers that ere banking on them a lot and so that really hurt them. There are hundreds of others, so it should be fine.

Call the networks... rebills are fine... there are some new FTC rules that are great, they will weed the bogus advertisers OUT and that is a great thing.

But there fine... PROMOTE AWAY AND MAKE A TON OF MONEY!

Please, be legit or there will be NEW rules!

There has been a few changes to MasterCard I believe... but nothing to big.

MottyB

Some insight from an Advertiser:

We run a legitimate diet offer that is NOT a Free Trial or forced continuity program. Seems it didn't matter to Mastercard.

We use Meritus as a merchant solution and got cut off yesterday along with everyone else because we got "grouped in" to the other online programs out there.

As the owner of the company I lost several thousands in sales over the last two days and untold numbers of customers.

I wish the "Free Trial Autoship Scams" would wither go away, or be much more upfront about their programs, they are wrecking havoc with customers credit cards and giving the straight offers a bad rap. We are considering doing a legit "Free 5 day Sample" where we actually, get this: send a FREE sample. But wont until we find a way to clearly differentiate from the forced continuity programs.

I for one say let the products compete on their own merits not the ethics of their marketing employees....

KB

SIX NUTRITION Vitamins for Men. Built to sell...

TVChatten

Here's the thing, do these companies continue charging them AFTER they cancel or before? I just want to know if the people actually read the terms of services and all that. I'm not defending them nor am I opposing free trials, but how many people actually READ on that they will get charged AFTER the trial is up?

TVChatten

I just thought about it though, if the free trials did cause some indifference w/ free trials, then the freebie incentive sites are threw. They thrive on free trials.

Kay King

I think there could be a problem with CPA - that no one is thinking about.

Will it be good enough for companies to make certain to put the strings attached (if any) to their offer where they are easily seen?

What about the marketer displaying the CPA ad? You do it to make money - but the person filling out the form to request a freebie doesn't know YOU are making money when they take action.

So - in addition to what the company offering the freebie must show for information....eventually it may be the person advertising the CPA (the marketer) may have to also disclose that he makes money when the form is filled out.

kay

Lawrh

Mike Krongel, the president/founder of Copeac has made some very good posts about this on the "other" WF. Basically they have made some rule changes for advertisers that deal with this issue. Rebills aren't going anywhere. Go there and read the thread "After Tomorrow No More Rebills". It will calm your nerves.

If you're not familiar with that site, do not click any link that says "make monies".

“Strategy without action is a day-dream; action without strategy is a nightmare.” – Old Japanese proverb -

TVChatten

I can say one thing...I'm glad I'm not a frequent on that forum. God like hardly anyone takes anything seriously. 3/4ths of the post in that thread alone was just pure BS, just glad to know about that rebill thing though just with Wells Fargo and all that...people act like it's the 2012 of affiliate marketing lol.

paulie888

I think I just read some other thread about this with the poster claiming that it was going to be the death of rebilling, which is ridiculous in my opinion. These CPA networks and advertisers are pretty smart and creative, and they'll just figure out some loophole in the law that they'll use to get around it!

valdivz

I love trial offers...! and I agree with Paulie, there's always a way around something.