kmanrox

The devil went down to Pornville

The specter of federal scrutiny is only one reason some webmasters decry the use of pre-checked cross-sales. A bigger problem for many is that tricking surfers gives the entire adult industry a black eye and - because human nature tends to paint all similar businesses with the same broad brush - lessens the pool of potential customers for everyone. Massive per-sale payouts often offered by the programs that employ pre-checked cross-sales also make it difficult for programs that offer revenue shares to attract new affiliates. In the mind of affiliate program owners like BVBucks founder BV, that's downright sinful.

"It's hard for a revshare program to compete with a pay-per-sale program [among new affiliates] who don't know any better," he said. "The small guys, the new guys always will pick the program that's going to pay the most up-front. What they don't realize is that good sites that cater to members' desires retain, and in the long run that means more money for the affiliate. On these cross-sale sites, the affiliates don't get credit for the entire sale. They're getting credit for the first sale, but they don't see anything from the cross-sales and up-sells."

Even affiliates disparage the practice. "That is pure bullshit," a webmaster named Halfpint posted to chat forum GFY. "If I was a surfer and got stung for that, I would never trust another adult website again. This is fucking both the affiliates and the surfers."

One particularly outspoken German webmaster who straddles the pay site/affiliate fence, said he understands the practice, but he still can't support it. "Margins are getting lower and lower for the adult business lately," Jens Van Assterdam said. "Most of them will blame it on the tube-site movement, but a clear fact is that most of these self-crowned ?cross-sale kings' don't even know how tube sites really work. Most of them still stick to marketing techniques from years gone by.

"Misleading pre-checked cross-sales are simply a bad tactic," he continued. "They won't bring any benefits to your company other than quick cash for a very short term. I received a couple of emails from customers who signed up to a site and felt defrauded. The actual trial for $1 turned out to be $120 on their credit card statement [because they didn't realize they needed to cancel within 24 hours or the fee, in U.S. dollars equivalent to euros, would be charged automatically]. That's like walking into a Wal-Mart, buying a bottle of milk and getting charged $120 for it because you agreed to their terms, which included a $119 charity donation. Just because you didn't expressly state that you didn't want to donate, you're considered in agreement."



Devil's advocate

Not all affiliates and program owners see evil in pre-checked cross-sales, though. "There are [thousands], if not [tens] of [thousands] of webmasters who disagree with the handful who think this is wrong and have no problem cashing their big checks from these companies," DirtyWhiteBoy posted at GFY. "My small little program, Digital Dope, does not use this business model, but that doesn't mean we won't someday in the future. Or maybe we never will. But even if we don't, I do not have a problem with those who do.

"This is porn," he emphasized. "We do not sell bibles. We do not help people build better lives. We do not babysit people. We do not hold anyone's hands and walk them through anything. As a general rule we do not follow any rules. We are all in this to make as much money as we can. That's just the cold hard facts."

Sharphead chimed in supporting cross-salers, too. "I personally don't like cross sales, but that's from my point of view as being an affiliate," he posted. "I'm sure if I was a program owner, I'd be on the other side of the fence. Financially, it just makes sense.

"You think this same surfer would give a shit about you educating them about cross-sales or only promoting sites that don't have them?" his post continued. "They are clicking around like crazy, not reading anything to begin with, so it seems like ... [there's] no real benefit [to educating surfers about cross-sales or refusing to support programs that employ them] other than you being able to take the moral high ground on something the market is willing to bear."

Due from Global Accés S.L. was a bit more philosophical in his evaluation. "This is nothing new," he said. "This is the result from webmasters wanting $40-$75 per sale. It will not change as long as webmasters avoid promoting sites that pay ?just' $15-$25 per trial sale. In the end it's the webmaster's choice. The program owners need to compete and be as creative as they can within the legal limits in order to stay in business."

That's all well and good, Obenberger observed, but when programs and webmasters cross the line - or even skate along its edge - "they're pissing in the well from which we all drink," he said. "In general, deceptive practices indicate the worst spirit of business. Subscriptions from young people - the future of any business - are down because of things like this. It is vitally necessary that all adult site operators operate with the highest standards, not in a way that allows them to write down all of their business ethics on the back of a three-by-five card."

Dancing on the edge

The industry discussion so far has centered primarily on legal and ethical aspects of pre-checked cross-sales, not on how cross-salers make money and pay huge sums to their affiliates. Partially that's because no one seems to have the revenue system entirely figured out. Some suggest that in order to avoid excessive chargebacks, programs that employ pre-checked cross-sales don't actually charge surfers until the cross-sale sites' trial period expires. At that point, the surfer already has agreed to pay a recurring monthly fee, and many won't challenge the charges because they're afraid of repercussions if they're outed as porn consumers. "Most surfers will not contest it or charge back for embarrassment reasons," BV said. That always taints the entire industry, though, because "then [consumers] are afraid of being screwed over again," so they won't buy porn online in the future. "Everyone loses," he noted.

So what are earnest affiliates and program owners to do? "I think all affiliates should take a closer look at the companies they are dealing with," Van Assterdam said. "In general, affiliates should start to think more about long-term business than just quick cash. The quick cash flow might last a few weeks until the first chargebacks roll in and the members start to complain." Chargebacks, he noted, often are withdrawn from an affiliate's account the moment they're withdrawn from the sponsor program by the consumer's bank. "A shady sponsor could easily kill your traffic and cut your income.

"I'd recommend that affiliates cancel their relationships with sponsors that use shady cross-sale tactics," he continued. "A defrauded customer won't be joining any membership sites anytime soon, if ever."

On the other hand, "If a surfer is able to check those boxes on his own and is easily able to see what he is getting into, then I'd say it's absolutely of great benefit to the website," Van Assterdam added. "Offering extras or up-sells to the surfer never hurts if the price is stated clearly and the surfers are aware of what they're getting into."

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