Who’s Profiting From Your Hard Work (Besides You)? - alternativeSOHO

The lack of respect some people have for another person’s property never ceases to amaze me. The other day, someone informed me that one of my products was being sold elsewhere. Actually, it was someone enquiring whether or not she would receive access to the videos, bonuses and updates if she were to purchase through this other website.

As it turned out, someone going by the name of Agus Rachmani Saidar (superwebx@gmail.com) was selling unauthorized copies of my brand new WP Affiliate Guide course as a bonus item for purchasing the WP Affiliate Pro plugin. I went ahead and ordered (which I’ve since had to write off as the cost of doing business) to confirm he was, indeed, selling a copy of my WP Affiliate Guide and sure enough, complete with copyright notice intact, was my ebook.

Without a second though, I immediately sent an e-mail to PayLoadz about the offending product and it was removed within a few hours. Less than 24 hours later, his entire account appears to have been removed from the site. (Apparently, I wasn’t the only person whose product he was selling illegally.)

Now, I’m not so naive as to believe pirating doesn’t exist — in fact, I don’t really have a big problem with people sharing a book with a friend (this is something my friends and I do). What upset me most about this particular situation was someone seeking to profit directly from my product without my express permission with no regard for me or the end user. This wasn’t a supporting product complimentary to mine or a recommendation through an affiliate link — it was someone actually selling my product directly.

Agus Rachmani Saidar’s Cluelessness Begins

To make this story even more wild is the response he gave when I filed a complaint with PayPal…

“Yes its a resell right thanks“. Apparently, he didn’t take the time to put two and two together to figure out that he was sending that response to the actual creator of the WP Affiliate Guide, who knew quite well that it didn’t come with any resale rights. In fact, if he took the time to read the second page of the ebook, he would have known that.

Part of me would like to give him the benefit of the doubt because there were, what appeared to be, a few products in his selection that did come with resale rights. But, it appears a majority of them didn’t.

Click the image to see the full category listings.

What You Should Do If…

If you’ve purchased a product from Agus Rachmani Saidar or superwebx@gmail.com, then I suggest you request a refund because it’s likely you won’t be able to receive product updates, support, or bonus items.

In fact, I’ve already released my first WP Affiliate Guide loyalty bonus with the second in the works and have begun working on the 2nd edition of the ebook and a few new videos. Those people who purchased through an unauthorized seller, unfortunately, won’t be granted access to these items.

Before you consider purchasing a product through a seller other than the original creator, make sure to do your homework first. Ask questions about whether you’ll receive updates, customer support, or bonus items as they become available. If the answer is no, then you should probably run in the other direction.

Be Smart: Don’t Assume Digital Products Come with Resale Rights

The second page of the WP Affiliate Guide explicitly states the guide and supporting material does not come with resale or redistribution rights.

Before assuming that content you purchase, either through a WSO or elsewhere, automatically comes with resale or reprint rights, double check with the creator — never assume because it could end up costing you money and time.

Be smart when you’re setting up your resale rights business — if the product you wish to promote doesn’t come with resale rights, join as an affiliate instead or choose another product altogether.

Agus was making $12.95 per sale, but had he signed up to be a WPAG affiliate, he would have made about $2 more per sale and he wouldn’t have had to deal with customer service or product updates. Not only that, he’s losing far more money in the long run since it appears his PayLoadz business was demolished and customers wanting updates and support to the products they paid for may start filing claims and refund requests.

Keeping an Eye on Your Products

Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of your products and that’s why you should enlist the watchful eye of Google. Create Google Alerts for each variation of your product’s name (including misspellings) along with the domain name. Each time one of the matches appears in Google, you will receive an e-mail summary. Depending on what the reference to your product is, you can take appropriate action.

Google Alerts are free and only take a few minutes to get set up. Plus, they allow you to easily monitor any discussions that are happening about your product.

Taking Appropriate Action

Assuming that someone is selling your product without your permission, your next step is to send a C&D (cease and desist), plus send a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) request with the appropriate information to the service hosting the unauthorized copies of your product.

Don’t Let it Go Unchecked

You do yourself and your honest customers a disservice when you ignore profiting from the unauthorized sales of your product.

• You may end up inadvertently providing support for people who didn’t actually purchase the product from you.
• Some people may expect support for the product even though they didn’t purchase it through you and badmouth you when they don’t receive it.
• Other people may begin to sell your product thinking that it’s OK since someone else is doing it.
• Your current customers may get angry or upset to see that they could have received your product for a huge discount and start requesting full or partial refunds. (Imagine how you would feel if you paid $100 for something and then, less than a week later, found someone selling the exact same product for $15?)

Although you may not be able to win all the battles doesn’t mean you should give up before you even try.

Something else you can do to entice people to purchase through your site is to offer them more value than they’d receive purchasing it through an unauthorized seller. For instance, technical support, private customer’s only area, and bonus items.

Finally, if you see someone doing this, then take a moment to drop the original product creator an e-mail or comment letting her know. You could easily wrack up a good chunk of karma points that way.

Tags: product management, resale rights, wp affiliate guide