GoogleMoneyTree Nailed By TX AG
- Thread starter Jon
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This thread is a total fucking disappointment. Seriously.
I came in expecting to see some hardcore shots of some laywer fucking a money tree.
I came in expecting to see some hardcore shots of some laywer fucking a money tree.
The funny thing is that the "Rebill" model has been around for many years now including online especially wayyyy back on adult websites. This is nothing new except for the high influx into the mainstream affiliate marketing industry. The problem arises when these shady ass advertisers don't answer phones, keep phone lines busy, are under staffed in customer service, do not give refunds, make it impossible to cancel, and pretty much straight up rip people off. I never heard of Blockbuster having problems with their free 1 month trial of their at home dvd delivery service and many other rebill type offers that have legit customer service and play by the rules, have you?
What do people not get about this.
The problem is not the rebill. The problem is the product is worthless AND it rebills.
People are more or less willing to eat the loss of paying a little for a shit product once. Most aren't into paying for it twice.
The problem is not the rebill. The problem is the product is worthless AND it rebills.
People are more or less willing to eat the loss of paying a little for a shit product once. Most aren't into paying for it twice.
Seems like promoting rebills is not lucrative unless the rebill is deceptive. That's how the advertiser can pay so much.
These people can do chargebacks on their CC, but don't know how to do it, and that is probably the victims here if I had to guess.
Yes, Rebill has been around forever. The model was mastered by the music industry in the 70's. "Join our music club and get 11 albums for 1.00"
Many of you are too young to know what an album is so I will tell you. An album is a shiny vinyl disk that when scratched by a needle played music. Sounds unbelievable and barbaric but its true.
Any way, when you bought the 11 albums for only 1$ you were automatically enrolled in a club where they would send you a new album every month and charge you about 20% over retail. They would send you their "album of the month", if you did not like the album, you could send it back. Usually you were obligated to buy 12 albums. CC's were not common then so you actually would send in a check when you kept the album. If you sent the album back you had to pick another one from their inventory (always restricted to one major music label) because you would be billed for it either way.
Their Ads ran in print and TV for years. Their ads were also deceptive as hell and never mentioned that you were obligated to buy certain amount of albums.
The rebill model in all of its forms has been around forever and will continue to be.
Rebilling (as we all know) can be extremely deceptive or plain scam. The legal system is always years behind in catching the perps. It is usually the larger scams that get busted and most get away with it.
Many of you are too young to know what an album is so I will tell you. An album is a shiny vinyl disk that when scratched by a needle played music. Sounds unbelievable and barbaric but its true.
Any way, when you bought the 11 albums for only 1$ you were automatically enrolled in a club where they would send you a new album every month and charge you about 20% over retail. They would send you their "album of the month", if you did not like the album, you could send it back. Usually you were obligated to buy 12 albums. CC's were not common then so you actually would send in a check when you kept the album. If you sent the album back you had to pick another one from their inventory (always restricted to one major music label) because you would be billed for it either way.
Their Ads ran in print and TV for years. Their ads were also deceptive as hell and never mentioned that you were obligated to buy certain amount of albums.
The rebill model in all of its forms has been around forever and will continue to be.
Rebilling (as we all know) can be extremely deceptive or plain scam. The legal system is always years behind in catching the perps. It is usually the larger scams that get busted and most get away with it.
I agree with the trademark issues, i am very surprised.
I dare someone to try and market WaltDisneyCashSecrets.com or WallmartMoneyMachine.com
In 72 hours you will be swimming in attorneys and it won't be a C&D either, they will be seeking damages, all associated profit plus punitive.
And don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever fuck with the NFL or Nascar. Serious asstards!
hmmm ...that actually gave me an idea
I dare someone to try and market WaltDisneyCashSecrets.com or WallmartMoneyMachine.com
In 72 hours you will be swimming in attorneys and it won't be a C&D either, they will be seeking damages, all associated profit plus punitive.
And don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever fuck with the NFL or Nascar. Serious asstards!
hmmm ...that actually gave me an idea
Don't forget eBay and there domains, they are getting anal about there trademarks with people registering almost anything with the term eBay in it, especially if it promotes an affiliate product.
I've actually heard a few times from pretty reputable sources over at Google that they are amassing some major lawsuit against ALL of the Google Cash types of advertisers and affiliates (zero mention of networks) sometime soon for TM issues. But so far they haven't done shit except visit people's domains and take down their info as far as I know. So we'll see.
This TX AG thing looks like an isolated case right now. The GoogleMoneyTree offer not only isn't compliant, but they didn't even have terms on their page. They also broke the cardinal rule of not giving refunds, something the Extenze penis pill owner got 20 years in fed prison for.
This is why it pays to be compliant from the beginning. Sure it may cost you a lot more to start up and then you'll very likely lose a bunch of your profits in refunds and maybe not convert as high as your competitors, but as long as you stick to following the rules, when the feds do catch up to the times (it typically takes them years) you'll be in the clear, and you won't end up paying enormous fines or worse, facing prison time.
this is worth repeating again:
also FTFA:
even if some fault was found with an individual campaign, right now it's a logistical nightmare to track down and review every site from every affiliate from every network that was promoting this offer -- and the bulk of the money is with the merchant. merchant was doing shady shit. AG will take merchant's money.
so as an affiliate, you're (probably) OK.
but that's no reason to neglect this area of your business, it's still very important.
get with an atty and get some legal fu on your side. for everything you do.
not just terms and disclaimers at the bottom of a page -- especially if you go direct, contracts/agreements/ass shieldery is necessary.
also FTFA:
this is what they'll be going after.
even if some fault was found with an individual campaign, right now it's a logistical nightmare to track down and review every site from every affiliate from every network that was promoting this offer -- and the bulk of the money is with the merchant. merchant was doing shady shit. AG will take merchant's money.
so as an affiliate, you're (probably) OK.
but that's no reason to neglect this area of your business, it's still very important.
get with an atty and get some legal fu on your side. for everything you do.
not just terms and disclaimers at the bottom of a page -- especially if you go direct, contracts/agreements/ass shieldery is necessary.
So if google does begin to go after affiliates how can we protect ourselves?
If it's a simple landing page are terms at the bottom sufficient? And, should I try not to run anything with 'google' or 'ebay' in the domain name if I plan on promoting those business kits?
Just had my first real affiliate marketing success promoting these things and now I'm worried that I may have left myself open for some legal problems in the process, lol.
If it's a simple landing page are terms at the bottom sufficient? And, should I try not to run anything with 'google' or 'ebay' in the domain name if I plan on promoting those business kits?
Just had my first real affiliate marketing success promoting these things and now I'm worried that I may have left myself open for some legal problems in the process, lol.
^^^ same - are they gonna bust into my house and take me to a death campaign for having an association with Kev?
Honestly I can't give you any legal advice and I can't even say what you should do but I can say that I have previously seen everything from C&Ds to court action being taken when someone is fucking with another companies trademarks.
This includes domains which contain trademarks in them, will they ever catch you?, who knows, should you take all your shit off those domains, well I honestly couldn't say what you should or shouldn't do, nor could anyone else.
However if your worried about it go out and ask a lawyer if what your doing is considered infringing upon the rights of the other parties.
My advice would be incorporate and get your legal stuff in order to protect your assests if you are in this business promoting those types of offers. You act as the sole share holder of your corporation and pay dividends, protects your money quite nicely. When a corporation goes BK the creditors can't go after the dividens that were paid to stock holders so this can be a pretty nice way to project your assets because the corpoation can go BK while the massive amounts you made site safely in your bank account out of reach of the lawyers that can only sue your corporation. The tax benefits might not always be optimal this way however.
But make sure to get that all set up exactly right...
But make sure to get that all set up exactly right...
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