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Don’t Try to Trick People

February 14, 2011 by Shawn Collins

Trust is an essential component in online transactions, and when it’s lost, it can be awfully hard to regain. Just ask Groupon.

shell game

I am not talking about their Super Bowl ad kerfuffle. No, this is a whole different imbroglio.

This past Friday, CNNMoney.com wrote how Groupon users revolt against FTD.

Apparently, a “deal” they offered their users ($20 off of $40 worth of flowers and gifts from FTD) was no deal at all, as “prices were higher than on the regular website,” according to the CNNMoney.com article.

This sort of “strategy” has been used by some companies in the past with their affiliate programs, where they would point affiliate links to pages with increased prices for items, so they had the same profit on their transactions, and consumers effectively paid the affiliate commissions.

That didn’t end well.

“there’s always someone, somewhere
with a big nose, who knows
and who trips you up and laughs
when you fall
who’ll trip you up and laugh
when you fall”
– The Smiths, “Cemetry Gates”

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Filed Under: Affiliate Managers

Shawn includes advertising links in some posts - these do not influence the content, and they promote products and services he uses.

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