CPA is filled with Dirt Bags

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

It seems to me CPA is filled with Dirt Bags screwing over each other and customers.

That's the impression I get. Perhaps the majority of CPA stuff is legit, but the whole area seems more shady than other areas. Perhaps the potential big money attracts all the scum.

You have questionable CPA offers that get the customer to commit to a hidden continuity program or cram offer upon offer down their throat. There are a lot of questionable offers out there.

You have networks not tracking commissions correctly and looking the other way when affiliates violate TOS. Didn't you ever wonder how these spammers send out millions of emails and yet keep their fat commissions?

You have affiliates filling out their own forms, paying people to fill out offers, and advertising using methods that violate the TOS such as spam.

What prompted this post is that I am selling some tickets on Craigslist that I no longer need. Hours after I posted the ad I got a response...."Still available?" Sure I reply.. only to be greeted with an autoreply touting Google Cash.

I went nuclear. That just pissed me off. I hope it wasn't you because you are now in hot water with everyone I could find that you are using.

Like you said, it's likely their CPA network won't even care. Spend your energy on positive things!

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Chris Worner

15 years ago

So....wanna hug?

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Murderface

15 years ago

That is some funny stuff...went 'nuclear' over Google Cash auto-reply. Sorry, man, but that made me laugh.

Yes, it is quite unfortunate. It is the nature of the beast, I suppose.
I just hope that these offers don't get so bad that they become notoriously 'scammy'.

-M

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coluden

15 years ago

Wow! I can see you are pretty upset. Rightly so. I for one, have had enough of these creeps who spam, lie, cheat, and hide their dirty deeds to boot. I don't think these people are restricted to CPA neighborhoods but it sure seems to attract them.

coluden

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Lou Diamond

15 years ago

Hello,
Scott you have not even scratched the surface of the crazy goings on with cpa, the more you learn about it the less you want to be involved with it.

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Whosyou

15 years ago

Hey Lou,

Do you fancy expanding on your post? this could turn out to be a very interesting thread.

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BH_Winchester

15 years ago

Hey we aren't all bad - just innovative. There are some of us who don't cram the things down your throat but rather subliminally suggest them to you

sometimes we play on the tricky end of things but at the end of the day some of us are tricky but fair; and rather nice individuals if I do say so myself!

Cheers,
Bruce

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Kenster

15 years ago

The thing about CPA which is great is that there are a million different ways to make money within the CPA industry.

If you are the kind of the person who is a 100% whitehat, 100% ethical marketer, then there are plenty of phenomenal offers out there that you can promote in ways that are completely legit.

On the other side of the spectrum, there is some pretty nasty stuff going on.

So when getting into CPA, its really a good idea to think about who you are as a person and how strong your moral fiber is, and then pick a CPA marketing path that fits that. Obviously when it comes to sales and marketing anywhere in the world, offline or online, there is a huge gray area when it comes to ethics. In addition, everybody has their own ethical comfort level.

So, when it comes to CPA, yes there are people and strategies that are towards the black end of the spectrum, but its important to remember that one can promote CPA completely 100% in the white!

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williamrs

15 years ago

The CPA industry has plenty of good and legit offers, so it's 100% up to you. Personally, I don't promote scams and things that have the sole purpose of stealing people's money, simply because I was a victim of one of these offers in the BizOpp niche when I was just starting. However, I have been doing very well with CPA in the last few months and working only with decent offers is not a problem for me.

William

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Lou Diamond

15 years ago

Hello,
the thing about cpa and whitehat marketing is fine, but once you see some sales and some money there is the darkside that calls you and that force can be very powerful.
This post can turn into a episode of Star Wars.
Cpa marketing has to be constantly monitored there is no set it and forget it in this industry.

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Kenster

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Lou Diamond

Hello,
the thing about cpa and whitehat marketing is fine, but once you see some sales and some money there is the darkside that calls you and that force can be very powerful.
This post can turn into a episode of Star Wars.
Cpa marketing has to be constantly monitored there is no set it and forget it in this industry.

This is 100% true, that is the funny thing I have noticed about money. When it comes down to money, people do things out of character, but character is something we control so we can opt to stay down ethical street if we want.

This isn't just CPA, there are many things in life where we can screw people over at times, but integrity is important than a dollar amount.

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Freeman77

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Kenster

This is 100% true, that is the funny thing I have noticed about money. When it comes down to money, people do things out of character, but character is something we control so we can opt to stay down ethical street if we want.

This isn't just CPA, there are many things in life where we can screw people over at times, but integrity is important than a dollar amount.

Well said.

I feel a little sheepish about a couple of my attempts to make money in the past via internet marketing. Now I stay on the straight and narrow.

I do, however, find that CPA marketing upsets the balance of my life a bit. For example, I have to stop checking my damn stats so often!

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Kenster

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Freeman77

Well said.

I feel a little sheepish about a couple of my attempts to make money in the past via internet marketing. Now I stay on the straight and narrow.

I do, however, find that CPA marketing upsets the balance of my life a bit. For example, I have to stop checking my damn stats so often!

I will admit that I have promoted a few offers I am not proud of but decided one day to only promote offers I wouldn't be embarrased to tell people I was promoting. Profits dropped right away because I shut off some pretty good campaigns, but I felt so much better about myself and my business. And now I am doing better than ever!

and yes, I can remember refreshing stat screens 10 times per minute when I first started....every day was like a roller coaster of ups (when I would refresh and see a conversion) and downs (when I would refresh and see costs go up and no conversions).

I think everybody has been there at one point!

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KC-Coop

15 years ago

There's plenty of completely legitimate offers and affiliates in the CPA industry. You can't just blanket blame and entire industry based on a portion of the people who are in it.

What's wrong with an auto insurance lead gen? Health insurance? Game downloads? Dating? And lots more. Plenty of legit offers - and plenty of legit ways to promote them.

And really - the rebills have been cleaned up at least somewhat. The billing terms are there - it's up to the customers to read them. The rebills that do not cancel your order when you call are the ones that brought that industry down.

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Freeman77 15 years ago

It's true that there is a lot of CPA-related stuff that preys on your average internet user. Just the other day I had to rid my girlfriend's computer of adware that she unintentionally downloaded.

Let's face it -- most of the adware that makes PPV possible isn't an intentional download. And who really wants to pay 10 bucks a month for a cellphone ringtone service?

Still, it's a legitimate business model, and it's not all a bunch of dirtbags.
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Kenster

15 years ago

And as per the title of this thread, I think its misleading as CPA is not filled with dirtbags. There are dirtbags in this industry but there are plenty of ethical marketers in the industry and particularly on this forum!

CPA is a phenomenal business model for the consumer, the seller, the affiliate and all middlemen. Yes, there is a dark side of the industry, but the CPA business model is fantastic and has been and will be around for a long time

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valdivz

15 years ago

I just had to show this video in this post :rolleyes:

YouTube - darth vader you don't know the power

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bravo75

15 years ago

Wherever there is money to be made, there will always be "Dirt bags". That goes for any type of marketing - be it CPA, car sales, real estate, online, offline...
Just the way it is

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GeorgR.

15 years ago

Originally Posted by bravo75

Wherever there is money to be made, there will always be "Dirt bags". That goes for any type of marketing - be it CPA, car sales, real estate, online, offline...
Just the way it is

yes....but i agree with the OP *big time*. Most of it is (semi-)scam stuff which, to be honest, annoys me myself.

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ChrisBa

15 years ago

Unfortunately every industry has there share of unpleasant people.

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TJComer02

15 years ago

Dude seriously. Quit taking steroids. They shrink your nuts and make you have a bad temper.

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PPC-Coach 15 years ago

There are a lot of dirt bags in the CPA industry. People see money and all of the sudden the wiring in their heads goes squirely. They stop thinking about anything except making money and all common sense and common decency is thrown out the window.

I think it's magnified online though as people do things that they'd never do if they were a co-worker you'd have to look at every day. The internet tends to breed dirtbags more then anywhere else.
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Murderface

15 years ago

Large corporations like google are just as bad...it's just, their greed isn't always as obvious. Their tactics aren't constantly being observed under a moral microscope. Their application is never denied because they make their own rules.
However, much of what they do is fueled by greed. All of their strict rules, quality guidelines and ever changing terms play a big part in keeping us little guys down...forcing/tempting us to do things that we wouldn't normally do. Banning our accounts/campaigns and forcing us to get out or pay up for advertising that isn't even performance based.

Now, I realize that this is not always the case, and that we should not make excuses for such questionable and immoral marketing practices...but...just remember that, while us little guys are fighting over the dirty floor scraps, it is companies like google that help keep us there while they spit out their leftover chicken bones down at our face while not even acknowledging our presence until we do something bad...like poop on their multi-billion dollar oriental rug or something...all while charging us rent to sleep on the ground with the bugs or whatever.

POW!

-M

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DinoVedo

Banned 15 years ago

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Jeremy Kelsall

15 years ago

It's obvious that many people, including some in this thread don't understand CPA, and have a pretty narrow focus...

CPA isn't solely made up of slangin **** pills, and Google Cash Bizops. Sure, that is what you hear about - the idiots on craigslist etc - but, the majority of people that are actually making good money with CPA aren't spamming craigslist - I can assure you of that. More than likely you encountered some newbie that just picked up a copy of some morons WSO from 6 months ago, under the impression that he was going to make a couple G's a day spamming craigslist posters.

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Kenster

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

It's obvious that many people, including some in this thread don't understand CPA, and have a pretty narrow focus...

CPA isn't solely made up of slangin **** pills, and Google Cash Bizops. Sure, that is what you hear about - the idiots on craigslist etc - but, the majority of people that are actually making good money with CPA aren't spamming craigslist - I can assure you of that. More than likely you encountered some newbie that just picked up a copy of some morons WSO from 6 months ago, under the impression that he was going to make a couple G's a day spamming craigslist posters.

Agreed...its sometimes much easier to make a lot of money with the more legit CPA offers because they are more legit and thus the many traffic sources like your campaigns, making it easier.

The darker side almost always involves a cat and mouse game where your profits, emotions, everything is a huge roller coaster ride

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Murderface

15 years ago

Ha ha..for sure.
Do not take my last post seriously, by the way. Sometimes I like to mix it up because I'm awesome.

-M

EDIT: Seriously, I'm pretty awesome.