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Do you buy a product before you promote it? Is it illegal to make up a review?

by Pnigro
12 replies
Hi guys!

When you promote a product as an affiliate, do you buy it first?

Is it illegal to make an article or a landing page about you reviewing a product if you didn't buy it?

How many of you do this? And what are the probabilities of "getting caught" in case that it is illegal?
#buy #illegal #make #product #promote #review
  • Profile picture of the author ragstworiches
    Hi,

    Any decent webmaster would give you the product for free so you could genuinely review it, I know at least I do. Once you have received your copy you should do a genuine review, if you want it to be favourable focus on the positives of the product, if their are no positives don't promote it!

    I don't think this is a legal issue, but if I was promoting someone's product I would definately want to have seen it at least and in most cases test it. It is much easier in my opinion to promote good products that you believe in, than products you know nothing about.

    Phil
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  • Profile picture of the author Ilse
    I usually get them for free. I don't like to buy each product i want to promote.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    Yes ask for a review copy first. Some publishers will give them out for free. If not and you really want to review the product I would go ahead and purchase it. While there are certain ways of wording reviews so that you don't necessarily have to have bought the product, I don't personally recommend it. You could get a much better idea about the product by actually having it and if you are talking about a product that is $50 or less, it shouldn't be too big of a deal if you are serious about your promotions. You may even be able to purchase off of your own affiliate link.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndyBlackSEO
    You should always try a product fully before reviewing it. You can discuss the product but as far as offering a solid opinion, you need to have tested the product out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kesh247
    Yeah, I do buy products before I promote them. That way I have an idea of what I am offering to my prospects.
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  • Profile picture of the author artwebster
    Well, it seems like we have some honest reviewers here but hasn't anybody noticed how many review sites have almost identical text? Nothing to do with review site templates and software, I suppose.
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    • Profile picture of the author Darth Executor
      Originally Posted by artwebster View Post

      Well, it seems like we have some honest reviewers here but hasn't anybody noticed how many review sites have almost identical text? Nothing to do with review site templates and software, I suppose.
      That's because a lot of gurus sell this stuff to hundreds (if not thousands) of newbies. Then you have dozens of newbies putting them up and pretty much not getting anywhere.
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  • Profile picture of the author askmichaelknowles
    Yes you should have a copy of the product if you are going to write a full review about the product and make a recomendation. But I don't see a problem with just having a site like my site that has videos about different clickbank products on it. I haven't bought all of them but some I have. You can take a look at CB-Deals.com

    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author askmichaelknowles
    Yes you should have a copy of the product if you are going to write a full review about the product and make a recomendation. But I don't see a problem with just having a site like my site that has videos about different clickbank products on it. I haven't bought all of them but some I have. You can take a look at CB-Deals.com

    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author Vince Courtney
    One good thing about buying the product that you will review is that it allows you to test the company's entire process. You should also ask pre-sales and post sales questions of their support system too.

    That in addition to actually using and testing the product will allow you to write a powerfull and useful review. Assuming that you find things are possitive, you will likely make lots of income from affiliate sales generated from the review and more on the back end.

    If the product isn't good (or not worth promoting through a review), just ask for a refund.

    Regards,
    Vince
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  • Profile picture of the author venomous2000
    I use the help of the internet. Simply search product review in Google. You will get goods and bads which you can make into your own words with out being biased.
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    • Profile picture of the author WPQ
      As for the legal question, its definitely a gray area between "promotion" and "review". If you're running it off as though you've actually tried it AND pushing the offer, you're probably doing something illegal - and certainly if you say anything untrue you're putting someone at risk (whether you or the vendor is complicated though; but the vendor could sue you for the costs if he didn't implicitly waive that right by "hiring" you).
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