Is it OK to buy through your own affiliate link on JVZoo?

Technically there is nothing in their TOS saying that you can't, it is down to the individual vendor to say if you can or can not. That still doesn't take away from the fact that it feels kind of cheaty in a way, I'd check your vendors TOS before doing so.

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Jill Carpenter 11 years ago

Originally Posted by drewfioravanti

Really? I thought it was OK on Clickbank. Oops.

I couldn't find it anywhere on the JVZoo site.

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I think there is something with clickbank that compares the credit card number before making payouts?
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timpears

10 years ago

Originally Posted by butters

Technically there is nothing in their TOS saying that you can't, it is down to the individual vendor to say if you can or can not. That still doesn't take away from the fact that it feels kind of cheaty in a way, I'd check your vendors TOS before doing so.

Why is it cheating? The vendor will get the same as they would get from any affiliate sale. There is nothing wrong with it. If vendors want to make it against their TOS, then that is up to them. But then all you have to do is have two PayPal accounts. I know WSOPro will not let you do it, but if you have two Paypal accounts you can still buy your own affiliate link there.

Originally Posted by drewfioravanti

I do this on Clickbank. But, I'm new to JVZoo. Is it OK to buy a product through your own affiliate link? I like to test products before I promote them.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Eutaw

BIG NO NO !!!!!

Originally Posted by drewfioravanti

Really? I thought it was OK on Clickbank. Oops.

I couldn't find it anywhere on the JVZoo site.

Thanks!

Clickbank does not prohibit it, not sure where you got that from.

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Willie Crawford 10 years ago

Originally Posted by timpears

Why is it cheating?

I personally feel that it's cheating an affiliate, when that affiliate
has put in a lot of time and other resources making me aware of
a product, and then I recognize that it's on JVZoo or Clickbank,
and know that in some cases I can just use my own affiliate link.

As far as when there is no affiliate, if I wanted to test the system,
and see what the customer experience was, I would buy the
product at full price.

Otherwise, I'd ask the merchant for a review copy.

It's a karma thing for me too

Willie
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rmolina88

11 years ago

I haven't tried it yet, but I don't think it'll work because of paypal.

If you have 2 paypal addresses, maybe.

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rjames 11 years ago

use a family member...
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drewfioravanti

11 years ago

It's not a big deal. It's not that much anyway. I was just wondering.

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Anonymous Affiliate

11 years ago

Originally Posted by drewfioravanti

I do this on Clickbank. But, I'm new to JVZoo. Is it OK to buy a product through your own affiliate link?

How would you like it if I entered your store, grabbed an item, walked to the cashier, and in the last moment I gave myself a 50% discount just because you can't do anything about it?

Well, that's what you're doing in a nutshell.

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tdbgroup

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate

How would you like it if I entered your store, grabbed an item, walked to the cashier, and in the last moment I gave myself a 50% discount just because you can't do anything about it?

Well, that's what you're doing in a nutshell.

Your example make ZERO sense. That's not how it works. Your example should be "if I worked at the store selling the product, then wanted to buy one to be more familiar with it, so I know what I'm selling, then I should be able to get it at a discount." Anything else is greed and makes no sense. As an affiliate / salesperson you should be allowed either a free demo copy or at least be able to buy one at your discount. Any vendor who isn't ok with that is an idiot.

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Tradeout

11 years ago

It's against most T&C's as it can be used as a 'loop-hole' to gain discount.

I personally don't have an issue with it.
In this game you take the rough with the smooth. Hopefully if someone buys my product, using their own affiliate link, they will like the product and start promoting it.

Either way I factor that $XX of each sale is allocated to affiliate payment.

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WillR

11 years ago

If you buy through your own affiliate link then the purchaser of the product will be you and your Paypal account and part of that payment will then be sent straight back to you and your Paypal account (as an affiliate commission). How normal do you think a transaction like this would look to Paypal? Hint: not very.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 11 years ago

Looks like there are some "guesses", above, and not all of them are accurate.

If anyone wants factual information: at JVZoo, it is forbidden to buy through your own affiliate-link; at ClickBank it isn't. Whether you like it or not, whether you think it's "right" or "wrong", that's the way it is.

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WillR

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Looks like there are some "guesses", above, and not all of them are accurate.

If anyone wants factual information: at JVZoo, it is forbidden to buy through your own affiliate-link; at ClickBank it isn't. Whether you like it or not, whether you think it's "right" or "wrong", that's the way it is.

True that.

Clickbank only seem to have a problem if your account is SOLELY used for the purpose of buying products through your own affiliate link. They know this practice goes on. That's why they have the 'Customer Distribution Requirement'.

This requirement is in place to help prevent Affiliates from abusing the ClickBank Affiliate program by using their accounts for the sole purpose of fraudulently collecting rebates and/or discounts on their own purchases.

Source: https://accounts.clickbank.com/accounting.html#A16

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Anonymous Affiliate

11 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

Clickbank only seem to have a problem if your account is SOLELY used for the purpose of buying products through your own affiliate link. They know this practice goes on. That's why they have the 'Customer Distribution Requirement'.

So, they're against this practice... it's just a matter of quantifying it. How many sales does "solely" mean? all 100%? it seems rather subjective, and it doesn't really matter because Clickbank doesn't enforce this policy any way...

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WillR

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate

So, they're against this practice... it's just a matter of quantifying it. How many sales does "solely" mean? all 100%? it seems rather subjective, and it doesn't really matter because Clickbank doesn't enforce this policy any way...

Solely means ONLY being used for that purpose. So if you are only using your account for purchasing products through your own affiliate links then that would be against their terms.

They may not enforce it as such (it's too hard for them to do) but if reported you could have commissions wiped or an account shut down. It's not worth it. Just go and buy a cheap cookbook so your account hasn't solely been used for that. :-)

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Brian Tayler

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Looks like there are some "guesses", above, and not all of them are accurate.

If anyone wants factual information: at JVZoo, it is forbidden to buy through your own affiliate-link; at ClickBank it isn't. Whether you like it or not, whether you think it's "right" or "wrong", that's the way it is.

Exactly.

The only way I could see why someone would even want to do this is to get a discount on a product they intend to promote to their list/traffic but want to give it an accurate review and test the product first. Although you should technically buy it at full price, some don't even buy it at all... leaving me to wonder which is worse. Pushing a product you took a discount on to review (thus circumventing the system to do so), or pushing a product you didn't try out or review at all first (thus leaving a chance in promoting crap).

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Alexa Smith

Banned 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Brian Tayler

The only way I could see why someone would even want to do this is to get a discount on a product they intend to promote to their list/traffic but want to give it an accurate review and test the product first.

This is why/how I've done it myself, if the vendor doesn't give out any review copies, when I've contacted them.

Sometimes they reply and say "You know, you're welcome to buy it through your own affiliate link?". And even if they don't say that, I will. If they don't want a potential business partner buying through their own affiliate link, when that's allowed, they shouldn't really be selling on ClickBank (is how I look at it).

I admit, though, that I never ask for a refund, having bought through my own link, even if the product turns out to be crap: I was only buying it "to assess it" and I've done that, after all. So it fulfilled my purpose in buying it. :rolleyes:

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Plugin Profits

10 years ago

You technically can't do it with JVZoo anyways. You'll get an error from Paypal saying the buyer account can't be the same as the account receiving the money.

Though I agree, for real affiliates vendors should give review copies or discounts. Probably not by default, though they could set up a separate payment button for qualified affiliates signed up to their JV list who request it. All employers give their employees discounts on their products, why wouldn't a product vendor, especially an INFO product where it doesn't cost them anything to and especially in exchange for a review to publish and having someone promote it who can talk about their actual review and opinion, not just some swipe.

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ChrisDouthit

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Plugin Profits

You technically can't do it with JVZoo anyways. You'll get an error from Paypal saying the buyer account can't be the same as the account receiving the money.

Though I agree, for real affiliates vendors should give review copies or discounts. Probably not by default, though they could set up a separate payment button for qualified affiliates signed up to their JV list who request it. All employers give their employees discounts on their products, why wouldn't a product vendor, especially an INFO product where it doesn't cost them anything to and especially in exchange for a review to publish and having someone promote it who can talk about their actual review and opinion, not just some swipe.

The problem is knowing if someone is a real affiliate or not. I get people asking me for review copies a couple times a week. If I can tell they are for real I have no problem. However most of them are just people who want to get the product for free.

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Charles AK

11 years ago

most product owners will give you the product for a review copy if your an affiliate, unless they have a lot of bigger affiliates on board, the reason this is a problem is because people can buy under there affiliate link and refund, happened to me on my last wso haha.

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smodha

11 years ago

BIG NO!

It's against their ToS and your account will be terminated if they find out.

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jasondinner

10 years ago

All the times I bought clickbank products, i never bought through my own link.

I just look at it from the scope of if i had a product of my own I was selling on there, I wouldn't like it very much if it were done to me.

Just a karma thing for me.

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drewfioravanti

10 years ago

It took 3 months, but it seems as though this debate is taking off.

Continue...

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Anonymous Affiliate

10 years ago

I felt so opinionated about this topic that I actually asked my programmers to code in security measures on my own Affiliate Platform so affiliates cannot purchase through their own affiliate link.

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tdbgroup

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate

I felt so opinionated about this topic that I actually asked my programmers to code in security measures on my own Affiliate Platform so affiliates cannot purchase through their own affiliate link.

Would you be so kind to list your products, so that I will know what to NEVER promote

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jasondinner 10 years ago

Originally Posted by tdbgroup

Would you be so kind to list your products, so that I will know what to NEVER promote

I'm sure it will put him out of business not having your support...
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- Karen Blundell 10 years ago
  
  As far as I know, you can't on JVZoo - but I don't think there is anything wrong with asking the vendor for a review copy.
  
  Personally I'd be inclined to give my affiliates a free review copy -
  I have long ago relinquished the poverty mentality - I don't see it as a loss - even if the affiliate doesn't ever promote my stuff, in the end, my product ended up in another person's hand who may not make me money directly, but he might end up telling someone else about my product, because I was so generous with him.
  
  I believe when you give, you get.
  
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brutecky

10 years ago

People have done this to me. When it first happened I felt like I was cheated .. but then I was like .. well at least this dude was clever

So props to him. But then I got really picky about who who I approved as an affiliate.

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ScrooG

10 years ago

Originally Posted by brutecky

People have done this to me. When it first happened I felt like I was cheated .. but then I was like .. well at least this dude was clever

So props to him. But then I got really picky about who who I approved as an affiliate.

I have bought through my own affiliate link with JVZoo through another paypal address but the same paypal account. I didn't know there was anything wrong with it.

To me, if a person really has a web page and really is trying to sell the product or service, then they deserve to have a discount on it to be able to buy it and see if they really want to promote it or how strongly they want to promote it. (i.e. putting a page up for it vs. PUSHING it because it's really great).

I can understand why a vendor would not want to just give out free samples to anyone who asks and says he is a vendor even though he's really not. Since I am just starting out as an affiliate (I have a web site to promote jvzoo products even using the jvzoo plug in), I don't have any sales yet so I can see how a vendor might think I am just a guy wanting a free product if I ask for one. So I won't ask until I've made some sales, to prove I'm the real deal.

However I WILL buy through my own link, via a family member's account. Why? Because I truly do want to check out the product before I recommend it to people, and because I feel I should get a discount because I am considering actively promoting it.

Honestly if a vendor has some policy against me buying it at a discount in order to check it out, then eff that vendor - I will not promote it.

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ScrooG 10 years ago

I appreciate opinions and all but can someone show me the part in JVZoo's TOS where it says one cannot buy through one's own affiliate link? If it's not in the TOS then it's not a violation.

Here's the TOS and other agreements. I read them through, albeit briefly as I don't have all day to study them.

However I did not find anything in there about not being able to buy through one's own affiliate link. I could have just missed it so here are the agreements and TOS. If someone KNOWS where that part is in any of these documents could you point it out to me? It's a lot of reading and I may have missed it although I'm a pretty good skimmer.

AFFILIATE AGREEMENT:
jvzoo.com/affiliateagreement
TOS:
jvzoo.com/terms
VENDOR AGREEMENT:
jvzoo.com/vendoragreement
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hardworker2013

10 years ago

THat is totally against most if not all affiliate companies TOS. Ask someone to make the purchase from another computer or a different IP address

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Walter Parrish

10 years ago

As a marketer I feel that it should be ok and if you ever see my products feel free to do so. Why? because I feel that anyone who is going to be selling my product should be able to sample them. I mean it's not like a book store where you can look before you buy, or software where you can sample before you buy. As a marketer I feel we should be able to look at and sample the goods before we persuade others into buying them.

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hatdance

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Walter Parrish

As a marketer I feel that it should be ok and if you ever see my products feel free to do so. Why? because I feel that anyone who is going to be selling my product should be able to sample them. I mean it's not like a book store where you can look before you buy, or software where you can sample before you buy. As a marketer I feel we should be able to look at and sample the goods before we persuade others into buying them.

Exactly what I think. It's not cheating another affiliate, since you are doing the research to find products. The product seller still gets their cut, and an affiliate who has taken the time to educate themself. Often a vendor gives their product away to get good affiliates, so really, no one loses here. It's good business on both sides. As far as another affiliate losing a sale, there are still plenty of other people to buy and no affiliate owes another affiliate their sale.

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hustlinsmoke

10 years ago

I honestly see nothing wrong with this. What ticks me off is the 300 affiliates that try to sign up to your product just so they can all buy through the link and get it for nothing.

So in my opinion if your sending me customers then its fine, if you just signing up as an affiliate to get a discount then get a life.

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Paleochora

10 years ago

I think that most of the answers above are slightly missing the point (with the exception of Willie)

The person who suffers with the Clickbank model is the affiliate not the vendor. Or, at least, the vendor will suffer indirectly.

If everyone bought through their own afflink to get that discount then that would discourage affiliates to promote that product. Why promote something when the recipient can just take you out of the loop?

So, it stings affiliates and, indirectly, stings vendors as they may have less affiliates promoting for them.

This seems only to be a problem in the IM niche, however, were the buyers are "savvy" to the way this all works. Which probably explains why so few new IM related products are launched on Clickbank these days compared with the other platforms.

The only way an affiliate can overcome this problem is by offering a highly valuable set of bonuses for purchasers through their affiliate link and hope that the perceived value of the bonuses is higher than the potential "discount" from buying through their own link. Shame it has to come to that, though.

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naidyphoon

10 years ago

If I'm not mistaken, there's "test" function on JVZOO. It costs you a mere few cents. Usually I just set the price to like a cent and ask my friend to buy from me.

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lotsofsnow

10 years ago

Originally Posted by drewfioravanti

I do this on Clickbank. But, I'm new to JVZoo. Is it OK to buy a product through your own affiliate link? I like to test products before I promote them.

Thanks!

Based on what I know it is not violating JVzoo's TOS but if you want to buy
through your own affiliate link in order to evaluate the product before promoting it you need another PayPal account.

One person or one company can have more than one Paypal account and it would actually make sense to have more than one: PayPal has 2 different types of account. One for regular transactions and one for micro transactions. You might want to read up on that.

By the way most vendors are more than happy to give you a review copy if you want to promote their products.

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seosoldier

9 years ago

I wish someone from JVzoo would reply here.
The question is not "Should we be able to buy through your own account?" but
"Does JVZoo allow us, under the TOS, to buy through our own account?"

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Alexa Smith Banned 9 years ago

Originally Posted by seosoldier

The question is not "Should we be able to buy through your own account?" but "Does JVZoo allow us, under the TOS, to buy through our own account?"

That question was answered, in April 2013, in post #13 above. (The answer is still valid.)

.
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seosoldier

9 years ago

Oh, okay, I didn't see it and thought I had checked before and didn't find it.
Thanks for the correction.

I agree with all those who state that an affiliate who has made at least $100 or so in sales and has a web site promoting the same type of products, should be allowed to get a review copy or be able to buy one through his own link to get the commission.

As some have noted here, it's a matter of wanting to review the product before I promote it. Many vendors will not give out a review copy - especially if it's an expensive product - and so how else can I know if I want to promote it or not???

Since it is against JVZoo TOS, I would then just buy it through another paypal account or have a friend buy it for me and email it or upload it for me once he purchases, then I'd pay him back.

The big question the vendor needs to answer is "Is this person truly an affiliate or just trying to get it at half price (or whatever the commission structure is set to)? If an affiliate has a web site selling similar products or has built a site or page just for my product I would give him a review copy or at LEAST let him buy it at the price minus-commission. It's just good business to allow an affiliate to review the product!

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LuckyIMer

9 years ago

It is not allowed, and if they you do it and they find out, they will probably suspend your account as most providers do.

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seosoldier 9 years ago

Originally Posted by LuckyIMer

It is not allowed, and if they you do it and they find out, they will probably suspend your account as most providers do.

Yes but it's a dumb policy IMHO. A vendor should be happy to see one "at cost" in order for the affiliate to be able to examine and use his product, to be familiar with it and thus be able to promote it more skillfully and with knowledge and experience.

But yes we've established that JVZoo does indeed have this dumb policy of not allowing it.
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Is it OK to buy through your own affiliate link on JVZoo?

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