Desert Messenger

8 www.DesertMessenger.com August 10, 2016 Quartzsite Beauty Salon Perms, Colors, Haircuts. Men & Women HOURS May thru Sept. TUES 9am -7pm - WED 7am-3pm Walk Ins Welcome! 250 E. Main Street Quartzsite, AZ 928-927-6664 585 N. Central Quartzsite Open Mon-Fri 8-5 928-927-8787 Johnny DelPino, Owner BEST AUTO RV & TRUCK REPAIR SERVICE YOU CAN DEPEND ON! We sell U-HAUL BOXES The promise is simple: join an affiliate program, promote prod- ucts and services on your website, earn money. While affiliate mar- keting is a legitimate industry, scammers are taking advantage of newcomers' optimism and unfa- miliarity to con them out of thou- sands of dollars. Better Business Bureau (BBB) shares common affiliate marketing scams and tips on how to avoid them. What is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing allows website owners to earn a com- mission by promoting products and services and referring sales or customers to another business. For example, a site about fashion might promote shoes for a par- ticular brand. Consumers on the fashion site who click on the shoe ad are then directed to the brand's site where they are encouraged to make a purchase. If the consumer makes a purchase, the affiliate fashion site gets a percentage of the product's sale price. While pay structures vary, most affiliate marketing programs pay per sale. How are scammers using affiliate marketing to scam people? Scammers are taking advantage of consumers' unfamiliarity with the industry by offering to build web- sites, create ads, and/or train indi- viduals, all for an upfront invest- ment. Excited for the possibility of making money by just promoting products or services on their site, consumers report paying thousands and receiving no earnings. In a complaint submitted to BBB, a consumer paid $3,000 for a four-month training course with the promise that it would teach her how to successfully run an affiliate marketing program from her newly created website. Months later, after not making any money, she contacted the company and was told the program did not work for everyone and that it might be due to lack of marketing by the con- sumer. "But that's not what I was sold! I would have never parted with $3,000 had I thought that, even though I had done everything I had been taught, it wasn't going to work." In another case, a consumer was contacted about starting a website business for $275. After paying the fee, she was contacted again asking for an additional invest- ment of $18,000 for the program to work and promising the site would include different companies, specifically Amazon, and would make $6,000 to $10,000 a month. The consumer wired the money, waited, and hasn't received any earnings to date. Better Business Bureau serv- ing Central, Northern, and West- ern Arizona noticed an increase in complaints and scam tracker reports associated with affiliate marketing programs in recent months. So far this year, close to 50 complaints have been submitted against work-at-home companies offering website or online market- ing services; 86 in 2015. What are common affiliate marketing scams? • Fake Affiliate Programs - Legiti- mate affiliate marketing programs are free and risk-free, such as Amazon Associates. Don't fall into an illegal multi-level marketing scheme where instead of earning a commission from promoting a product or service, you earn money by recruiting new members to be part of the program. • Fake Training Packages - After consumers purchase a website and realize they are not making money, scammers recommend training packages from hundreds to thou- sands of dollars. Most training packages fail to fulfill the promise of teaching how to build an online business that will start making money almost immediately. Look for trusted names when research- ing training options. • Fake Products and Services - Be careful of affiliate marketing offers that don't reference specific prod- ucts or services. Ask what you'll be promoting before joining a pro- gram. • Fake Compensation - Don't fall for promises to make thousands overnight. Remember, you need strategy and training to make an affiliate marketing program work. What are the red flags of an affili- ate marketing scam? 1. Unsolicited phone call or email offering the opportunity to make easy money through a website 2. Claiming association with the trusted "Amazon Associates" name without substantiation 3. Offering a training course or marketing package for thousands of dollars Research affiliate marketing offers at bbb.org. If you have been a vic- tim of an affiliate marketing scam, please report it to BBB at bbb. org/complaints or bbb.org/scam- tracker. For more information or to schedule an interview with a BBB spokesperson, please contact Elaine Cullen at 928-302-3701 or ecullen@arizonabbb.org. About Better Business Bureau Serv- ing Central, Northern & Western Arizona. For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau (BBB) has been helping people find busi- nesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2015, people turned to BBB more than 172 million times for BBB Business Reviews on more than 5.3 million businesses and 11,000 charities, all available free at bbb.org. Incorporated locally in 1938, BBB serving Central, North- ern and Western Arizona serves 10 counties through its campuses in Phoenix, Lake Havasu City, Prescott and Yuma, supported by over 11,000 BBB Accredited Busi- nesses. Businesses that earn BBB Accreditation contractually agree and adhere to high standards of ethical business practices. BBB pro- vides objective advice, free business reviews and charity reports, and educational information on topics affecting marketplace trust. Can a website really make you money? Scammers want you to believe it can!

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