A few days back I wrote a quick review about DealDotCom because I was quite excited about not only the savings that they may be able to offer but also because they offer a very generous affiliate scheme.
I know it’s early early days yet but thus far I am disappointed with what the service offers. Ok, so I know you can’t please all of the people all of the time but I had high hopes of seeing interesting products at unbelievable prices.
So far, the only thing I have seen that has taken my interest in WP Affiliate Pro, a Wordpress plugin that can take all instances of a keyword or phrase and instantly turn them into affiliate links.
As affiliate marketing is something I am thinking of exploring, this seemed like a product I might want. However, DealDotCom’s price of $49.88 is not really a bargain at all. If you use your favourite search engine then you can find similar plugins for free.
When it’s gone.. it’s gone
Now this is where I have a real problem with DealDotCom – a big part of their marketing strategy before they went live was to say that deals would end at midnight or when they sold out. This creates the impression that they are going to be selling tangible products so cheaply that they will be gone in hours.
Not so.
WP Affiliate Pro is a plugin, a piece of code. This means it will neverrun out and can be sold ad infinitum. Yesterday’s product – nicheology – was a one month subscription to a service and today’s offering – Long Tail Traffic Secrets – is a pdf file.
All of these products are infinite in supply and available all over the internet. There is nothing about them that is so special you would want to pay the prices being asked. No wonder the owners are trying to sell them at half price.
Ok, so maybe Long Tail Traffic Secrets would appeal to the newbie, maybe nicheology would too, but I would imagine the potential customers of a site selling internet marketing products would be at least a little more experienced than that.
So why did WP Affiliate Pro sell out then?
It’s obvious – it didn’t sell out at all but DealDotCom has to make it look that way in order to create a sense of urgency in order to encourage those sitting on the fence to jump in quick and buy before they have time to put too much thought into it.
Am I now saying that DealDotCom is a scam?
No, not at all.
I’m just ranting because I do not think, so far, that DealDotCom has lived up to the hype and excitement it managed to generate for itself. Their marketing ploy, with e-products running out, is a great marketing trick but perhaps a little deceptive.
Other people may find products that interest them and be happy with the prices, or not know how to source the same or similar items elsewhere for much less.
Some affiliates are certainly happy, and certainly earning a good bit of money from DealDotCom too.
John Chow, who is well known for making money online, has made $201.62 in just 3 days from his affiliate commissions.
New conclusion
My impression of DealDotCom now is not as favourable as it was before they launched. I feel disappointed with the products that they have offered – to my mind I can now see them becoming just another site that sells those $97 ebooks that you see everywhere, packed full (or not, as the case may be) of information that can be found elsewhere. often for free. (At least they don’t have the spammy looking sales pages.)
DealDotCom is certainly no scam though, but I am shocked that they are selling out of products that are so obviously constantly available.
Maybe things will change but for now I am not going to go out of my way to promote them as I do not believe they are offering the good deals I believed they would before they launched.
Hopefully things will change as I was genuinely excited by this and thought DealDotCom would actually be a scam free, good quality and viable money making opportunity.
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After writing this post the number of people who signed up with me doubled in a day!! Go figure!
I don’t know… lets just get the thing written real quick so that we don’t have to worry about it.
[editor notes] – *should read*
{ That is a fantastic question Scam. I can not say for sure if other potential writers or publishers would want to steal our incredible idea. Therefore, we should get it written quickly so that we don’t have to worry about it }
*end notes*
Hey, if we’re going to do this, we gotta get serious!
jb
It’s ok – writing it here means the concept has a date attached to it so no-one can steal it.
Well
OK
maybe they can… but would they really want to?!?
It’s a big winner…. you are really going to rake in the dough on this one… except, you may discredit yourself via your own concept. The irony being you really shouldn’t be making money online with a book called “how not to make money online” (Just kidding)
I think you should do it… you have more than enough material on this site alone, and it’s not like the number of scams and dangers are going to decrease anytime soon. It would be a great resource – and highly endorsed by legitimate online retailers/businesses.
I’ll write the forward if you want – - – “How NOT to make money online” by scam — forward by “that guy that never figured out how to make money online”
We can split the profits same as discussed before! 50:50 $1 for me, $4 for you! except i think we should charge more for this….
(if you are at all serious about this, and i think you should at least seriously consider it, you should probably delete these last two comments so no one steals the idea)
jb
With all those make money online ebooks and even a make mooney online one, I think I ought to do one of my own based upon what I write here – “How NOT to make money online”?
It’s a winner isn’t it???
yeah its all hype and savvy marketing but then their prices are ok its just with only one product a day I havent found anything I like yet
Perfect, I’ll start (not) writing the e-book now
Yes, a joint venture sounds great – we’ll split the profits 50:50 – $4 for me and $1 for you.
deal?
I’ll set up a paypal account…
let me just make sure I understand… we are selling people the right/privelege to never hear the corny title previously mentioned*?
*protection not guaranteed
I think it would be worth paying $5 to NOT hear such a corny title
alternatively, my title could be “the internet is coming… get on bored”
or
“the internet is coming… wait what… oh, i guess it is already here”
these are priceless, dealdotcom should be snatching up the rights to sell at least a half-million… right? I mean this is gold, i swear, the things that come out of my brain… people should pay me to just sit and think all day!
jb
*no i am not serious
That is all very true, if they are just reffering people to the product. However, if they have to purchase “inventory” they would most likely be limited by either their budget, or their projected sales.
In other words, if they think they can only sell 500 of them, why would they pay for the right to sell 1,000?
I am not disagreeing with the fact that most likely it is all a shameless marketing tactic, but like you, I tend to point out the so called “other side of the coin”!
I myself have often thought of writing one of these “digital books”. something like “the how-to of how-to’s” or “the internet is coming… get on board” and sell it for $5 or something so nominal that people will buy it just to see what it’s all about. There certainly is a price-point at which people say, “oh-well it’s just $__, why not!” Then, if I could sell it to a distributor similar to dealdotcom or woot for $5, and they could sell it for $20 what would I care?
Those links were excellent by the way, I emailed myself the rob malon one so that i could look at it when i get home.
Thanks
jb
And if you want to know how to do what Affiliate Pro does, without spending a penny then I have found this guide to inserting affiliate links
Jon, you are right that the number of copies could be limited by some sort of prior agreement, though I cannot see why the seller would wish to do so.
Even at DealDotCom’s price, they are making the same amount of money as usual – Kumiko at CashQuests explains that side of it very well.
I firmly believe the reason product ’supply’ is limited is part of the marketing plan.
Scam,
I couldn’t agree more with your rant about the value (lack thereof) of these items.
RE: the “selling out” factor though – Is it possible (and i am asking here because i really don’t know much about these things) that what they are selling are “licensed copies” of these things? In other words, perhaps they talked to the makers of WP Affiliate Pro and purchased from them the right to sell 500 copies @ $10.00 a piece. Dealdotcom spends $5,000.00, makes $24,940.00 for a profit of $19,940.00 less expenses (including affiliate paychecks to some guy named john chow and others) The makers of WP affiliate pro get their money (not all of what they once hoped to make, but still…) and untold publicity. So, while they COULD distribute an unlimited number of *units*, they are probably limited by the number of copies they paid for. And if they start at this stage selling more than they paid for (which they may be anyway) and get caught, they are not going to be around for very long because no one will want to do business with them. I am sure that if they ever obtain something from someone who gives them permission to sell as many as they can they will sell right up to midnight… and introduce the item again some other day (in the equivalent of a woot-off).
That is all just speculation… seems reasonable to me, what do you think?
jb
That’s true about John Chow but then his blog is about making money online, and DealDotCom has made him over $200 already, so fair play to the guy.
I do wonder if he actually believes it is as good as he says though and whether or not he really bought WP Affiliate Pro.
Yeah the evil one still has it as dealdotcon. I must say I have been dissapointed too. Hopefully they will try marketing something of value at a fair price soon otherwise I will stop checking the site daily. It had so much promise but hasnt delivered anything yet
As for Chow he will promote anything if theres a buck in it for him.
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