Sorry, but I beg to disagree. No affiliate links, no more deals you say? Of course not…the more active vendors, like GB and BG, even have BLF accounts, and post deals here in BLF also…and I always send them a pm for coupons, just like anyone of us.
Some AFF members say they help us by giving us lower prices, I’d say that’s only half-true…Why?
Because they can be MORE HELPFUL by negotiating with the vendors TO FOREGO THE COMMISSION GIVEN TO THEM in a form of MORE DISCOUNT to the buyers. ( but that’s the aff member’s freedom of choice if they won’t, of which I have no issue with, same with the buyers who click on aff links)
It doesn’t matter if they forego their commission. The Chinese companies have to have that extra cost built into the price for the other people that come here and post group buy codes elsewhere with their AFF links. The only way to do that is if people only get group buy codes by PM which is time consuming and few retailers will do that. How do they know that somebody doesn’t join the group buy just to get the code to post elsewhere.
if there would be less deals, than it clearly shows what all those AFF link were for.
also, I dont think we had too less "deals" in the first 3 years of BLF
if we are looking for a light, we can simply ask all vendors we know and see which is the cheapest (with or without coupon), and when we find out, we can post it in the BLF deals thread if its a good deal.
Ok. I nominate ChibiM to contact ALL of the vendors to find the best deal when we want something for a good price. Can we just PM you our requests?
I’ll go ahead with my first two here. I need you to get me the best deal on a 104mm aspheric lens, and find me a dealer with a great price on a Ledil Seanna optic.
But I have a 6 foot 3 inch red headed Asian wife and she wants this flashlight for our anniversary in a month. It sometimes takes a week or more to get a reply back from vendors. I don’t have all of their skype accounts to ask them quickly. I can’t afford this light without a discount. If I have to wait a week or two on their replies, it won’t get here in time. Why can’t you come to my rescue? Have you ever seen a disappointed and unhappy 6’3” red headed Asian woman?
Me either :bigsmile: just a hypothetical situation so I could mess with ya.
I can think of a few members whom I respect that use clearly labelled aff links. The fact that they use aff links does not affect my view of them in any way. I think of an affiliate link as a way to ‘tip’ a user with no cost to me. If I think that user deserves a tip for their review or deal, then I use their aff link.
I think there should be 3 rules:
No aff links in the deal alerts thread
All aff links must be clearly labelled
Only use aff links for products you personally own and recommend
The 3rd could be hard to police, but it’s usually fairly clear when someone doesn’t have the product they’re linking.
Aff links also let a store know how many sales a particular user’s reviews generate for them. If a reviewer here posts an honest review and it generates sales for the store, it may mean that reviewer gets more products sent to them for review. More reviews are good for the forum.
I agree. And I’ll add no battling between AFF linking people. Post your crap in your own thread, and no links to them to show you are cheaper than they are. Maybe only include links with an actual review, not some buy this because I posted some pictures review.
I’m on the fence about the “battling”. If I saw a deal that looked good to me and someone said “hey, it’s actually cheaper over here.” then I would be thankful that I got the best deal, but at the same time it can be distruptive and feel heavy handed. I think we are thinking about the same user, and I know it can be a little interesting for him because he isn’t allowed to post prices for most of his deals. He might be better off to keep his “advertising” in his own thread, even if it means some people miss the best deals on things.
A picture worths a thousand words. I prefer "picture" reviews, 70% pic/ 30% text. I do not use sugar-coated words to upsell any of my flashlights when I am reviewing, just facts that is reported by a average user (non-expert) perspective. Of course, I hope to improve as time goes.
Honestly, if AFF links is getting me a deal, I’m all for it as a buyer. Else, I just skip over it.
I’ve been so jaded by aff links by so many members ( I honestly don’t even know who posts and who does not post then) that as soon as I see ‘aff’ link I avoid it in the first place as the ‘deal’ is not really a great deal for the most part.
You get better deals on GB (group buys) I feel.
the point with “no aff links to products you don’t own“ is a problem (for me)
around 10 times a week I get a pm from a member asking me to negotiate with banggood (or hkequipment) about a code for a product he wants.
usually i can help and get a code.
i can’t have all of the things i am asked for - but the user should be allowed to tip me if he wants.
I concur. AFF links don’t necessarily have to mean that you have purchased that exact item yourself. That would be unreasonable. The AFF link is not the same thing as a ‘positive’ review of a specific product. Some people seem to have those two things mixed up.
No. I misspoke. I am ok with you having your own thread with your links. They should ONLY be in THAT THREAD unless you are giving an unbiased review. And there shouldn’t be 500 BG or GB affiliate threads but I don’t have a perfect way to regulate that without showing preferential treatment.
They get a request, negotiate a price from a source, quote the price to the buyer.
The buyer pays through, the payment goes to the source, and the source rebates a percentage to the negotiator/dropshipper.
It’s a business model — obscure, variable prices, different prices for each transaction.
Do it at a big enough scale, and you can start hiring employees ….