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Do you purchase the products you review?

by troy23
14 replies
Spoke to a seller on flippa.com about a site he was selling. The site had some reviews of recommended Clickbank products. However, I was surprised when he said he had not purchased any of them.

Is it possible to write a review without purchasing the product and is this common practice?
#products #purchase #review
  • Profile picture of the author Harry Spencer
    You can't do a proper review without owning product. Product owners know this and that's why they will send out copies for review prior to a public release
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    • Profile picture of the author asnorth
      I feel purchasing or even just asking for a review copy is a must before building a review site. I have even abandoned a project after purchasing due to me not being comfortable promoting something I felt was not up to scratch. Just wish the "gurus" would be more honest with the JV crap they promote.

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      • Profile picture of the author Adam1981
        Originally Posted by asnorth View Post

        I feel purchasing or even just asking for a review copy is a must before building a review site. I have even abandoned a project after purchasing due to me not being comfortable promoting something I felt was not up to scratch. Just wish the "gurus" would be more honest with the JV crap they promote.

        Tony

        This^^^

        I would never review anything that I don't know is good first. It's common sense - good product = happy customers = credibility = low refunds.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    Yes it's possible to do reviews without purchasing.

    I don't do this myself but I don't judge people who do.

    If you were in the sports car niche you wouldn't expect to purchase every sports car in order to write useful information about them - would you?

    I think it depends a lot on the type of product and the way you frame your review.

    For example - if it was a cookery ebook and you had not purchased it, there's no reason you couldn't read the information about it, see what others had to say and then do a review which just highlighted the topics it covers and how they compare with the topics covered in alternative products.

    How many people buy electronic devices just based on review sites that list the specifications, features and prices that are available from the product website.

    Sometimes just doing a comparison of features is valuable to people.

    So - I don't think you can make blanket statements about whether it's possible / useful / ethical to do reviews without purchasing because it all depends on how it's done.

    Andy
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      If you were in the sports car niche you wouldn't expect to purchase every sports car in order to write useful information about them - would you?
      No, I wouldn't.

      But the point, I think, is that in that case the people reading my reviews wouldn't expect me to have purchased any of them, either. They'd typically expect me to have had a trial go in a "review copy" (like Jeremy Clarkson does).

      With Clickbank products (as mentioned in the OP), it's very different indeed, clearly. Most people reading will expect me to have a copy and to know what I'm talking about first-hand.

      What you very clearly mustn't do is write a review which suggests or implies that you have got/used the product, when you haven't. That's just dishonest.

      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      I think it depends a lot on the type of product and the way you frame your review.
      I agree.

      It all depends what you say.

      If you pretend to have read/used it when you haven't, you're lying to people.

      Originally Posted by Andyhenry View Post

      So - I don't think you can make blanket statements about whether it's possible / useful / ethical to do reviews without purchasing because it all depends on how it's done.
      I agree with this.
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      • Profile picture of the author goindeep
        You dont necessarily have to purchase the goods.

        The idea is to be honest... thats kind of the whole point of the review.

        So, say for example that you are wanting to review an online marketing product on traffic generation. Both the obvious and logical thing to do would be to purchase the product and give it a go to see if it produces the results it says it does. Hence the "review".

        But you dont have to. Maybe read the reviews of others, check out some of the tesimonials, compare the price to other systems, ask the owner for a 1 day trial or a sneek peak. Just make sure your honest with your readers or viewers and you tell them that you only trialed the product.

        If you look at any number of reviews on youtube you will notice the most popular are those that actually review the product in full.

        Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author aaronngoh
    i would write to the owner to ask for a review copy if I feel there is some potential in this product.

    It is individual preference to write review with or without reviewing the actual product.

    I think it is based on the experience of the reviewer and level of mastery of topics being reviewed.

    Knowing the owner of the product is a plus factor when doing review
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  • Profile picture of the author Vijay M
    We have some of our own "professional" reviewers in the wso section.

    I have no idea how some of these folks find the time to review so many products.
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  • Profile picture of the author yelmer humlow
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    • Profile picture of the author warrior4life
      In my opinion, there are two ways to deal with this issue:

      1. if you can afford to buy a product, go ahead buy it and do an honest review about that product, because you'll be speaking from your own experience.

      2. You can still do an honest review by doing proper research of the product you want to promote. Go read other people's reviews, ask people who bought that product to tell you if the product is good or not...

      Remember, when it comes to product reviews, always be honest. give the readers the pros and cons of the product so that they can decide for themselves it the product is suitable for their needs or not.

      I believe that you'll not have much problems if you proceed that way. I have been successful in doing lots of product reviews promoting affiliate products. BUT, I always promote products from TRUSWORTHY Marketers that I know. Marketers that I know, will over deliver and whose products are always good.

      Hope this will help.
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      • Profile picture of the author The Great Gordino
        I recently did some keyword research and came up with a good niche.
        Decided to do a clickbank review site.

        I found 3 products which looked good, but when I bought them was hugely disappointed.
        Yes, clickbank's refund system would protect any buyers, but my own integrity left me unable to recommend any of them.

        Using other people's reviews would not have helped me, I really needed to get inside them myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author Always-A-Warrior
    About reviews, you all may want to read this important message from FTC Firm to Pay FTC $250,000 to Settle Charges That It Used Misleading Online "Consumer" and "Independent" Reviews
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    When I buy a WSO I leave a review. When I build an Amazon affiliate site I do not buy the products before writing a review.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fadzuli
    Usually the product owners will pass me a copy of materials they do. Help being an authority in some niches. You get lots of freebies.
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  • Profile picture of the author AVLopez
    I've never purchased a product that I feature with my affiliate sites, I just let the organic visitors from Google do that for me ;D I'm in it to make money, not waste it.
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