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How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

mtlynch.io

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Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#41

Post by rmason »

function_seven wrote: post #28
leovander wrote: post #21

> If they failed to pay, my plan was to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and reach out to other affiliates suggesting they do the same. Where do people get their info from to just go with a "time to contact the FTC"? If feels like the equivalent of people threatening they will contact the BBB. Depending on the amount (that was $88 per the screenshot?), that is something you take to small claims cour…

> Where do people get their info from to just go with a "time to contact the FTC"? If feels like the equivalent of people threatening they will contact the BBB. I'm well aware of how toothless and irrelevant BBB is these days. ("Yelp for old people"). Almost nobody visits BBB before making a decision, only after a bad experience. Given that, a business with a bad grade there probably doesn't feel much of a sting. But…

Actually I do visit the BBB if I am dealing with a new and unknown merchant before making a purchase. I also do searches with the business and add the words dispute, ripoff and problems. It's amazing what you learn.

Now if you don't find anything that doesn't mean there won't be problems. But if you do it's like a flashing red light on the dashboard to back away.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#42

Post by stickfigure »

Geez. This article was hard to follow but... it sounds like the merchant is really screwing up. My SaaS business gets most of our users via an affiliate program, and many years ago I worked in porn where nearly all of our users from an affiliate program.

The #1 rule of affiliate programs is to treat affiliates like royalty. Or more accurately - business partners. Be clear about what you offer, be generous, and always resolve reasonable misunderstandings in their favor. A single good affiliate can make your business. A bad reputation will destroy it.

There are third party affiliate software systems that can help with trust, but they are all terrible. Nothing substitutes for just being trustworthy. This post is probably going to be top news in the "keto affiliate community" (which, even without checking, I already know to be a thing) and it will be a problem.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#43

Post by Haga »

Zanneth wrote: post #39
calcsam wrote: post #36

This piece has so many red flags. I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed it landed at #1 on HN. (1) Why was all of this work worth $88 in the first place? As a talented writer who is at least presumably familiar with software engineering, he surely could have earned that money faster by other means. (2) Why does he continue to work with merchants he himself describes as unscrupulous, in _affiliate marketing_? My hun…

The idea is to demonstrate a professional method for communicating with companies that are incompetent or otherwise untrustworthy. The amount of money involved and the business practices of the company with whom he is communicating is not strictly relevant.

It's a Form of hacking a company's processes from outside. Basically you punch through to the enterprise layer of communication and get treated better accordingly.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#44

Post by Haga »

leovander wrote: post #21

> If they failed to pay, my plan was to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and reach out to other affiliates suggesting they do the same. Where do people get their info from to just go with a "time to contact the FTC"? If feels like the equivalent of people threatening they will contact the BBB. Depending on the amount (that was $88 per the screenshot?), that is something you take to small claims cour…

In small claims court you still need to produce evidence. Which he didn't have until the communication extracted it.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#46

Post by mhh__ »

octoberfranklin wrote: post #40
calcsam wrote: post #36

This piece has so many red flags. I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed it landed at #1 on HN. (1) Why was all of this work worth $88 in the first place? As a talented writer who is at least presumably familiar with software engineering, he surely could have earned that money faster by other means. (2) Why does he continue to work with merchants he himself describes as unscrupulous, in _affiliate marketing_? My hun…

Yeah this is a really awful article. Like "I can't believe it's not AI-generated" awful.

"I can't believe it's not clutter!"?

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#47

Post by sneak »

Scoundreller wrote: post #4

I wonder if the merchant is sneaking any gluten into their “bread”. Edit: extra carbs I mean. Getting my diets confused here.

Gluten is protein (i.e. not carbs) and is a common (and permitted) ingredient in keto bread, to make it more bread-like.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#48

Post by csomar »

calcsam wrote: post #36

This piece has so many red flags. I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed it landed at #1 on HN. (1) Why was all of this work worth $88 in the first place? As a talented writer who is at least presumably familiar with software engineering, he surely could have earned that money faster by other means. (2) Why does he continue to work with merchants he himself describes as unscrupulous, in _affiliate marketing_? My hun…

I don't think there is any agenda. If you have followed his blog, it seems he enjoys doing that. That's all there is to it, really.

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#49

Post by avinassh »

calcsam wrote: post #36

This piece has so many red flags. I'm surprised and somewhat disappointed it landed at #1 on HN. (1) Why was all of this work worth $88 in the first place? As a talented writer who is at least presumably familiar with software engineering, he surely could have earned that money faster by other means. (2) Why does he continue to work with merchants he himself describes as unscrupulous, in _affiliate marketing_? My hun…

> My hunch is that he wrote this article specifically to appeal to the HN crowd (see patio11 quotes) in an attempt to get additional commissions from driving more sales to a vendor _he himself_ describes as unscrupulous.

He actually sells a course on it! - Hit the Front Page of Hacker News [0]

[0] - https://gumroad.com/l/htfphn/hacker

Re: How I Collected a Debt from an Unscrupulous Merchant

#50

Post by ljf »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #45

> I had no evidence to prove any of my readers purchased something Well there goes your leverage. Is this common in the content game?

Yes once a user leaves your site, it is pretty hard to know what happens on the affiliate site - you just have to trust the system they use. You can look at trends and your previous experience, but it is hard to have any proof.
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