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Selling your own product on an affiliate site?

by TLondon
14 replies
Hi,

This may be more of a legal question, but I'd like to ask anyway in case someone has already dealt with this thing.

If you have a review website with affiliate links, can you review and RATE your own product against others? And if you genuinely believe that it's better than others', and do the review/comparison to demonstrate why it's better than others on the site, can you rate it on your own review site as 'the #1 best product according to this site'? Obviously, affiliation and the fact that the product belongs to the same company/site will have to be disclosed clearly.

Anybody tried this?
#affiliate #product #selling #site
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    You should never take legal advice from someone who is not legally able to dispense legal advice.
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  • Profile picture of the author nancy666
    Why would you do that? It's a plug-in fro your own product! People will see it that way, and you won't get the desired result.
    You would do better to give the product away to a few people and get them to review it for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author TLondon
      Originally Posted by nancy666 View Post

      Why would you do that? It's a plug-in fro your own product! People will see it that way, and you won't get the desired result.
      You would do better to give the product away to a few people and get them to review it for you.
      So you're saying it's better to not utilize my traffic at all to sell my own product?
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeff Lenney
        Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

        So you're saying it's better to not utilize my traffic at all to sell my own product?
        At least say it's your own. Don't make a fake review and pass it off as third party
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  • Profile picture of the author gluckspilz
    I don't get it..

    Why can't you just sell your own product? Just recommend your product instead of whatever you're reviewing.
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    • Profile picture of the author TLondon
      Originally Posted by gluckspilz View Post

      I don't get it..

      Why can't you just sell your own product? Just recommend your product instead of whatever you're reviewing.
      That's exactly what I'm asking. I'm reviewing multiple products on my site, and I want to add my own product there as well. I manufacture my own product and make it better than any other product in that category, thus I'll rate it as the #1 best product. But since it's my own product, and the site of reviews is also mine, I'm thinking this may create problems. Will it?
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Yeah I agree with just selling your Product and not putting people through all the "hoops" of reviews.

        A waste of time and a little bit misleading, imo !

        If you have every intention of believing your Product is better than anything else...then say that from the git go and then show them the comparisons with other products

        Do not act objective at the beginning when you are clearly not !!



        - Robert Andrew
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      • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
        Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

        That's exactly what I'm asking. I'm reviewing multiple products on my site, and I want to add my own product there as well. I manufacture my own product and make it better than any other product in that category, thus I'll rate it as the #1 best product. But since it's my own product, and the site of reviews is also mine, I'm thinking this may create problems. Will it?
        It will destroy any credibility you may have built as a review site. Your call as to whether the potential sales of your own product will make up for that.

        .
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

        But since it's my own product, and the site of reviews is also mine, I'm thinking this may create problems. Will it?

        TL,

        This sort of thing is done all the time. Legal or not, it is a bad idea. Why?

        Because the whole purpose of a review is to offer the consumer an unbiased and objective discussion of the merits, quality and usefulness of the product in question. Can such a non-partisan review come from any of the product owners? No, never.

        Whether your product is best or not, you have already demonstrated your bias. You have said "I manufacture my own product and make it better than any other product in that category, thus I'll rate it as the #1 best product."

        You haven't evenbegun the review process and you have already made up your mind. You are not an objective reviewer.

        But here's the main problem: no one will believe your reviews. In fact, you will be seen as self-serving and you will have no credibility whatsoever.

        As a marketer, but also as a product creator, credibility is extremely important. Prospects buy from people they trust and like. You won't fit into that group.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
    There's is nothing illegal about what you are proposing, but (as many have already said), it's not the best way to sell your product.

    Personally, I don't understand why you aren't promoting your own product INSTEAD of the competitors products, nor why you would continue to promote those products if your own product is a better solution for the customer.

    Coke doesn't promote Pepsi, and vice versa.

    Either set up a sales page for your product on a separate domain and start marketing that site, or replace the reviews of the competing products with a sales page for your product on the existing domain and redirect all of the traffic from the affiliate review URLs to that new sales page.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
      Maybe I didn't add sufficient emphasis.

      Originally Posted by Sid Hale View Post

      ...or replace the reviews of the competing products with a sales page for your product on the existing domain and redirect all of the traffic from the affiliate review URLs to that new sales page.
      That will keep you from competing with yourself, and still be able to benefit from any passive traffic you already have coming to the existing site.

      A video on your sales page could be of benefit and demonstrate the benefits your product has that the other products are missing, but there is really no reason to compare to the others by name. Just point out the features/benefits that your product supplies.
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  • Profile picture of the author TLondon
    Steve and Sid, thanks for the thoughtful comments guys. Very helpful!

    I understand what you're saying, it makes sense.

    So should I completely forget about the review site and not utilize all that targeted traffic? I already have people coming looking for that type of product, so it feels like I'm loosing a lot by not offering them my own product already. Those are the people ready to buy.

    Should I maybe instead of rating it, simply put an advertisement of sorts to my product on that site, and then sell the product on a different domain like Sid suggested?

    Also, what if I produce a video review where I compare my product to those of the competitors? The reason I know my product is better is because I'm focusing on fixing all the flaws that current products have, and I will be able to demonstrate that in a review video. Do you think even then the credibility will suffer, even if I don't rate my own product but instead present it as an alternative to other products?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Originally Posted by TLondon View Post

      Steve and Sid, thanks for the thoughtful comments guys.

      So should I completely forget about the review site and not utilize all that targeted traffic?

      No. Just don't make it a site where you rate other people's products against your own. There's nothing wrong with utilizing your current traffic to introduce and sell your product.

      And certainly, you can make a video that compares your product features and benefits with competing products.

      If I were you I would concentrate on promoting your product's benefits to the buyer. Most consumers want to know WIIFM . . . "what's in it for me?"

      Product features are nice, but most folks don't care so much about how a product works as they do about what that product will do for them.

      So utilize the traffic you're getting . . . just don't pretend to be an objective observer (reviewer) when you really aren't.

      Good luck,

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author psresearch
    This kind of comparison is done all of the time using grids/checklists, etc. Product x vs y...I can't see any problem with doing this. I do see companies use "brand x" as the competitor sometimes - I don't know if they do that for legal reasons or why they do that
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