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Pros/Cons of Selling my Own Product vs Affiliate Marketing

by Emaloy97 Banned
5 replies
So I have been thinking about how I want to set up my wewbsite. I was intending to do affiliate marketing, but I figured instead of that, why shouldn't I just sell my own product and get 100% commission?
What are some pro's and con's of selling my own items?

Pro: All the money
I can edit it if I need to

Con: I have to do customer service
Payment processing
Refunds
I have to write or get outsourced sales pages


What do you think?
#affiliate #marketing #product #pros or cons #selling
  • Profile picture of the author bizoppmaster
    Create products = create assets = long term stable business

    Affiliate Marketing = short term mass profits

    Truth is, it really depends what you want. Are you looking to grow a business, build a list, relationships, several products of your own over time or do you want quick profits that may only last a couple weeks to a couple months?
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    • Profile picture of the author Emaloy97
      Banned
      Originally Posted by bizoppmaster View Post

      Create products = create assets = long term stable business

      Affiliate Marketing = short term mass profits

      Truth is, it really depends what you want. Are you looking to grow a business, build a list, relationships, several products of your own over time or do you want quick profits that may only last a couple weeks to a couple months?
      I want to build a long term business.
      I already have a list and I think I could convince them more that they should buy a product if i actually made it.
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  • Profile picture of the author briantymes
    If this is something you are new at, I would suggest starting with affiliate marketing because you will end up learning a lot about running an online business.

    In time, once you become profitable with affiliate marketing, you could then start creating your own products as you will be better armed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by bizoppmaster View Post

    Create products = create assets = long term stable business
    I really don't agree with this characterisation at all, in so far as it implies that affiliate marketing doesn't create assets (often completely untrue - my websites and my lists are enormously valuable assets which produce steadily growing monthly income) and doesn't build a stable, long-term business (also often completely untrue).

    Unfortunately, this is very characteristic of Warrior Forum discussions about the relative merits of being a vendor/affiliate: people habitually allude to benefits of being a vendor which can equally be benefits of being an affiliate.

    Originally Posted by Emaloy97 View Post

    What do you think?
    I think affiliate marketing's incomparably better, especially as a starting-point.

    Here are 10 reasons that occur to me ...
    • Affiliates have almost complete flexibility of products to promote: we can add, remove and change products whenever the need arises and for whatever reason, without needing to create a new one
    • When you're an affiliate, you get the chance to build up an asset-based business based on genuine residual income without your fortunes being tied in to the longevity, success and demand for any specific, individual product at all
    • Affiliates don't have to do (or outsource) the market research necessary to determine exactly which type of product's going to be a success - not to anything like the same extent as vendors, anyway
    • Statistically, just among the people I know really well (this point is clearly subjective and I don't pretend otherwise) the long-term successful affiliates I know are mostly earning far more from internet marketing than the long-term successful vendors I know, and their businesses are far more stable for the long-term
    • Affiliates don't have all the potential legal liability, compliance and enforcement problems (which incur time, effort, energy, worry and sometimes money to resolve) that vendors typically have
    • Affiliates don't generally have most of the customer service/support problems that vendors tend to have to deal with all the time
    • Affiliates have far greater flexibility of income-sources than vendors do: once I've built up my lists in a few different niches, covering a large range of products, if any one supplier gets into trouble, I can fairly easily promote things from other income-sources instead, so the sudden demise of a retail outlet (or even a payment processing method) doesn't affect me nearly as adversely as it would typically affect a vendor
    • As an affiliate, it's far easier to offer a range of promotions at very different price-points than it typically is as a vendor
    • Affiliates don't have to do (or outsource) the actual product creation-process and "put it all together"
    • Affiliates have to pre-sell rather than sell (it's much easier and it doesn't involve sales copywriting, which vendors either need to be really professionally good at, or pay quite a bit to outsource)
    I could easily go on ... those are just a few of the more obvious advantages that spring immediately to mind.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emaloy97
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I really don't agree with this characterisation at all, in so far as it implies that affiliate marketing doesn't create assets (often completely untrue - my websites and my lists are enormously valuable assets which produce steadily growing monthly income) and doesn't build a stable, long-term business (also often completely untrue).

      Unfortunately, this is very characteristic of Warrior Forum discussions about the relative merits of being a vendor/affiliate: people habitually allude to benefits of being a vendor which can equally be benefits of being an affiliate.



      I think affiliate marketing's incomparably better, especially as a starting-point.

      Here are 10 reasons that occur to me ...
      • Affiliates have almost complete flexibility of products to promote: we can add, remove and change products whenever the need arises and for whatever reason, without needing to create a new one
      • When you're an affiliate, you get the chance to build up an asset-based business based on genuine residual income without your fortunes being tied in to the longevity, success and demand for any specific, individual product at all
      • Affiliates don't have to do (or outsource) the market research necessary to determine exactly which type of product's going to be a success - not to anything like the same extent as vendors, anyway
      • Statistically, just among the people I know really well (this point is clearly subjective and I don't pretend otherwise) the long-term successful affiliates I know are mostly earning far more from internet marketing than the long-term successful vendors I know, and their businesses are far more stable for the long-term
      • Affiliates don't have all the potential legal liability, compliance and enforcement problems (which incur time, effort, energy, worry and sometimes money to resolve) that vendors typically have
      • Affiliates don't generally have most of the customer service/support problems that vendors tend to have to deal with all the time
      • Affiliates have far greater flexibility of income-sources than vendors do: once I've built up my lists in a few different niches, covering a large range of products, if any one supplier gets into trouble, I can fairly easily promote things from other income-sources instead, so the sudden demise of a retail outlet (or even a payment processing method) doesn't affect me nearly as adversely as it would typically affect a vendor
      • As an affiliate, it's far easier to offer a range of promotions at very different price-points than it typically is as a vendor
      • Affiliates don't have to do (or outsource) the actual product creation-process and "put it all together"
      • Affiliates have to pre-sell rather than sell (it's much easier and it doesn't involve sales copywriting, which vendors either need to be really professionally good at, or pay quite a bit to outsource)
      I could easily go on ... those are just a few of the more obvious advantages that spring immediately to mind.
      Well i guess this tells me all i need to know, thanks
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