Forum Feedback What is Techenclave's official stand on affiliate links?

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vaibhavyagnik

vaibhavyagnik

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I went through the Forum rules I could only find this rule as somewhat relevant to posting affiliate links
Rule 12 - "Do not advertise retail products, websites or services unless explicitly allowed by the staff"
However whenever a deal is posted either in amazon or flipkart hot deals thread, it is sort of an advertisement by the original poster.
So what is the official stand of mods on posting affiliate links? allowed, not allowed, allowed with disclosure?
My personal opinion is that if affiliate links do not affect the final price paid by the buyer, then they should be allowed. Of course only relevant affiliate links should be posted and not spammed like in whatsapp or telegram groups. I believe it is sort of a compensation for the person who has done some research and recommending products to Persons with questions like in the PC, laptop and mobile buying advice sub forums.
 
vaibhavyagnik said:
My personal opinion is that if affiliate links do not affect the final price paid by the buyer, then they should be allowed
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vaibhavyagnik said:
I believe it is sort of a compensation for the person who has done some research and recommending products
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IMO it isn't the price that's problematic but the actual recommendation. When a person gets compensated for a purchase it might lead them to focusing less on the negative aspects of the product.

People here tend to nit pick on a lot of small issues which gives much better idea to a potential buyer. If affiliate links are allowed it might reduce that quality. Essentially TE will become a third class YouTube channel which posts free ads for products
 
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j3rwin said:
IMO it isn't the price that's problematic but the actual recommendation. When a person gets compensated for a purchase it might lead them to focusing less on the negative aspects of the product.
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Commissions are fixed category wise. So as long as the product is in the same category, percentage fee schedule is fixed. For example is the fee schedule is 9% for kitchen utensils, an affiliate will earn 9% on recommending pan A or pan B. Of course the actual amount will change if pan costs are different but I don't think that competitor products will be so differently priced.

Only exception is Mobile phones where xiaomi gets 0.5%, Samsung gets 1.5% and vivo gets 2.5%. All other at 1%

 
vaibhavyagnik said:
an affiliate will earn 9% on recommending pan A or pan B
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Right, but this system incentivizes using Amazon only. Say there's a pan C which is cheaper and better than pans A and B, but is kit available on Amazon. It is much less likely that the person would share links for that, unless they have affiliate link for that as well.

That said, on the whole affiliate links are fine if it is answering someone's query, even though I stand by my belief that it may reduce the number of options available.
 
Stronk said:
Right, but this system incentivizes using Amazon only. Say there's a pan C which is cheaper and better than pans A and B, but is kit available on Amazon. It is much less likely that the person would share links for that, unless they have affiliate link for that as well.

That said, on the whole affiliate links are fine if it is answering someone's query, even though I stand by my belief that it may reduce the number of options available.
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You are right. This specially holds true for computer parts which are generally cheaper on prime, mdcomputers or some other websites.
 
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I think is whenever someone is asking for suggestions they are expecting replies from fms who have first or second hand experience with the products from said category or have some expertise in that regards, If forums allow affiliate links you might see some number of people recommending on every suggestion post of what they think is good product with their link, although I might be wrong in here.
Also I think it should be allowed in deal sections, people here including me have claimed some superb deals thanks to deals section, and op gets some commission for that then why not!
 
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I'm sure this is not as simple as I'm assuming, but for products I'm purchasing for myself, can't I open an affiliate account in the name of a family member? And use their affiliate link when I want to purchase a new phone or TV?
 
letmein said:
I'm sure this is not as simple as I'm assuming, but for products I'm purchasing for myself, can't I open an affiliate account in the name of a family member? And use their affiliate link when I want to purchase a new phone or TV?
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This is not how it works. First the affiliate account application should be approved. I myself got the account approved only after my Youtube channel had 5K subscribers. They also have some kind of algorithm to detect misuse. For example, if I whatsapp someone an affiliate link, commission is not granted. But If I paste the link in my youtube video or on a website like techenclave, commission is granted.
 
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buzz88 said:
If a member is posting links which might earn them a commission, I automatically do not consider it a genuine deal/worth clicking.
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Yeah. I either search for the item itself, or open it in other non-logged in incognito browser and take the clean link into logged in browser. I hate affiliate links, especially when users posting them don't mention that they are affiliate links.
 
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