It’s usually just affiliates promoting to their own mailing list who will be asked questions before or after a purchase. It sounds ideal, doesn't it, but in fact it it's very far from good practice.

Because they are rarely contacted by buyers, before or after a sale, affiliates can, in many cases, promote a product without ever actually inspecting the product themselves. They just go to ClickBank, choose a product, grab their affiliate link (called a ‘hoplink’), then get on with promoting the product.

It sounds good, but it isn’t good, and it always makes much better sense to inspect a product before promoting it, because:

* If your recommended products turns out to be a scam, or it’s unworkable, or customer service is non-existent, your reputation as an affiliate will plummet and lose you lots of potential future sales. Problems of this nature won’t always be obvious to you unless you actually buy and test the product.

* People on your mailing list may ask questions prior to purchasing, and their decision to buy the product or leave it alone depends on how well you answer those questions. ‘Is the product in pdf format?’, is a common question, also ‘Is the seller reliable, will he or she help me if I have problems?’. Sometimes buying the product, and inspecting it, is the only way to reliably answer those questions.

* As an affiliate you should never promote a product you can not genuinely recommend to other people. Not only is it dishonest to recommend a product you haven’t studied yourself, it’s also against most consumer protection laws. Recommending something you don’t understand yourself could get you in trouble with local trading standards officials, and you’ll also lose credibility and forfeit customer confidence in whatever you promote in future.

The good news is: unless the rules say otherwise you don’t have to pay full price for whatever product you might recommend as an affiliate. Many product owners provide free copies to established affiliates on request and most allow resellers to purchase through their own affiliate links.

If neither of those two conditions apply, pay full price for the book, consider it an investment in future sales. If the product isn’t all you want it to be, go get a refund, and look for something better to promote. But don’t, please, request a refund if you decide to promote the product. It isn’t ethical, it isn’t nice, and it will win you no favours with product owners whose help you may require later.
 

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