Should I Require An Affiliate to Purchase Prior To Joining?

Should I require an affiliate to purchase my product prior to signing up for my affiliate program? Will I get better response just allowing others to sell my product? By law (if there are any lawyers), can I require them to purchase the product?

My opinion is that someone should purchase the product (e-book/course on finances) prior to selling the product themselves. The affiliate needs to believe in the product.

What have others experienced? If necessary, email me at [email protected] and I will forward you the URL of my affiliate program.

Let's put it this way.

You will NOT find a single top-selling marketer online requiring their affiliates to purchase their product before they can promote it.

I can sell Marlon Sanders products all day long. But, Marlon doesn't require I buy his products. He may "suggest" that I do, but I'm not required to.

If I know the market you're trying to pitch to, and if I know how to promote effectively to that market, I don't need to buy your product in order to sell it.

I took a turn at selling cars many, many years ago. I didn't own one of the models, but I could sure sell 'em.

My personal opinion, if you do require your potential affiliates to buy before selling, you're shooting yourself in the foot.

My 2¢

Pete

Almost correct But... There are quite a few innovative info product creators who Do get you to Purchase their products first and then Give you the Honour of becoming an affiliate for their products...

Basically, they're looking for Serious affiliate marketers who not only will buy into their products But know what it takes to produce volume sales through their mailing lists etc. etc.

No secret... If you invest in a product and critique it honestly...

If it's a Quality product, well presented... A win-win situation for all parties involved...

Of course, it's all up to the product creator... But offering review copies to a small group of qualified people within a particular niche is a good way to get honest feedback and testimonials to help get the ball rolling...

No lawyers needed... Just some Smart thinking and marketing...

And you can Fly Low and Collect the Dough as they say...

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Phil

"But offering review copies to a small group of qualified people within a particular niche is a good way to get honest feedback and testimonials to help get the ball rolling..."

True. But they don't "require" that their affiliates purchase the product.

Pete

Shawn,

Affiliates do not need to believe in your product to sell it. IE book stores. They just need the product. If you want them to sell your product with a sense of urgency then you have to sweeten the offer to offset the obligation you're imposing.

If you are of the opinion that they need to purchase your product first before selling it, then I offer a compromise.

For our example let's say the commission is 50% on the product sale. Affiliate buys your product. The first 100 copies an affiliate sells you will raise the commission to 75%. Upon the 101st copy sold their commission drops back to 50% and their copy is paid in full.

It gives the affiliate more of an incentive to sell your product, because they are aware that they are getting their money back through the additional commission offered and they are making more money by pushing your product.

If the affiliate doesn't want to buy your product, then they forfeit ownership of a copy, but will still be eligible to sell your product at 50% commission.

For the affiliate to sell your product, you need to sell the affiliate first.