Prechecked Cross Sales: Getting out of hand

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by Gerco

What about using unchecked cross sales? I'm sorry for the question but this is actually new to me. Also, with ccbill only processing, you can have a pre-checked cross sale on your join page easy. So it's not just bigger programs that can do it. I have none, but I did try to add one for a week just to do some testing, for me it did not work for the simple fact that the cross sale was not related to my site, or my content. I actually think I would do better with links from inside my members area to other sites offering similar content, or friends sites that have worked with me in shoots in the past. I guess though, I'm kind of an odd fish there. I have never been someone who liked playing tricks on my members. I've never used popups or pop unders or any of the other crappy tricks that have annoyed me when going to others sites. The last thing I would want to do is piss off my members and leave them feeling like I didn't give them their moneys worth. Good members are hard to come by, and should be treated well. They didn't have to come to my site and join, and they should expect to get what I say they will get upfront and not screwed over in anyway. Could be why my members rebill for so long. Course on the other side of this coin, I'm not throwing huge parties at the shows, living in fancy houses or driving 150k cars... so I must be doing something wrong eh?

It was funny Alex and I were talking about that last night. We both agreed thats like an upsel in your members area... I dont see a problem with it but you will have those that whine they dont get a piece of that as well.

[Gerco]

Originally Posted by gonzo

It was funny Alex and I were talking about that last night. We both agreed thats like an upsel in your members area... I dont see a problem with it but you will have those that whine they dont get a piece of that as well.

That's kind of the issue it seems to come down to. Affiliates think they are getting screwed somehow. I don't think that an affiliate would be upset about about you having your own personal affiliated links within your members area to other sites in an effort to make some extra money referring your members to another site. If fact, I believe this is referred to as a "qualified" link. I personally would MUCH rather have a link to my site from within a good members area of another site as it shows me the person clicking the link is already willing to take out a credit card and join and is looking for more of the same. It's in no way tricking a member, but offering them a choice for more entertainment.

Pre-checking a cross sale during the signup process is shady to say the least and just begging for chargebacks and pissed of members. Members who with think twice about ever joining ANY website after they get fucked over.

[gonzo]

Originally Posted by Gerco

Pre-checking a cross sale during the signup process is shady to say the least and just begging for chargebacks and pissed of members. Members who with think twice about ever joining ANY website after they get fucked over.

Theres why so many people are so pissed.

[RawAlex]

Originally Posted by Gerco

Pre-checking a cross sale during the signup process is shady to say the least and just begging for chargebacks and pissed of members. Members who with think twice about ever joining ANY website after they get fucked over.

The number of people willing to take their credit cards out online is getting smaller all the time, I know people who did their banking online and cancelled the service so as to not take a risk on phishing scams, etc. Too many people don't trust the internet.

Most of the cross sales programs are pulling 2 cross sales plus the original amount, about $110 to $140 shot to the user insided 3 days. They rebill. The potential is that the user doesn't see the charges (get their paper bill) until the second round has been charged as well. So the guy opens up his bill, and that $1 trial has turned into upwards to $280. There is no way that this is going to encourage the guy to ever buy porn online again.

Worse, these days we are looking at a larger number of people "on the edge", running their credit cards near maximum and playing it month to month. Maybe porn is their relaxation of choice, and they have a budget of maybe, I dunno $40 a month for it. Guy signs up, gets whacked and whacked again, suddenly his CC is over limit and other things he needed in real life can't get done anymore, because the porn company whacked his card.

None of this encourages repeat business, and is a clear sign that many of these companies think they are going to be out of buisness soon and are just trying to grab the last dollars they can on their worn out content and poor salesmanship.