Warning For Members - Lead Gen Activity

[Matthew Wood]

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Please exercise caution when dealing with new or unproven members of the forum when buying or selling leads.

We have been informed that a number of people have experienced non payment, delays and communication issues with some companies who post here.

Please do you research and use due diligence at all times.

[Michael_Anthony]

Good advice Matt. I would suggest that anyone looking to buy leads asks the seller for..

- Contacts from existing satisfied customers, whose credentials should be checked carefully.
- Sample data sets and an opportunity to pose as a potential applicant themselves.
- Cast iron replacement policy in writing.

I would also advise steering clear of anyone whose first post is an offer to supply leads, and/or whose posting history has been nothing but similar offers.

May I also suggest that a thread entitled "Lead suppliers - name and shame" would be an excellent way to kick off this long overdue new forum section.

[affiliatemarketingltd]

i agree with michael

and matt .. i disagree with your option to DISALLOW a name and shame section because if the allegations WERE true then surely any legal action wouldnt come to anything

[hpops]

i agree with michael

and matt .. i disagree with your option to DISALLOW a name and shame section because if the allegations WERE true then surely any legal action wouldnt come to anything

But the legal action taken would be against Matt and Existem, which would be a cost for them in terms of resources, not to mention the fact that some of the litigation may be successful. I fail to see how thats fair?

How about a "companies who don't rip you off" section?

[affiliatemarketingltd]

FYI hpops..

In lebel cases the person suing must be able to prove that the communication damaged their reputation..
although read below ....

There are a few general defenses to slander and libel. Truth is an absolute defense

So although yeah they might go to court if the person can backup what they are saying and PROVE they are telling the truth then the claimant wouldnt stand a chance

[hpops]

Sure, but why should Matt and his team have to go to court for your private disputes?

[Shane]

exactly... unless of course everyone fancies throwing a few hundred a year in membership fees each so Matt can have a full time legal team on the case !?!? lol

you can always email each other details or if you feel that strongly how about setting up your own finance provider watchdog site and letting members post complaints there !?

I know email or PM's is not ideal but the process of being ripped off is a subjective one where both sides often see the issue differently and both shout loudly that they've been wronged and have good reason for not paying or to be paid.

We've already seen the finance sector fall out regularly on here arguing over who's got the most shiny conkers so if people were named and openly accused of ripping others off I'd guess the finance forum would end up totally shut down as debating without shin kicking rarely happens already so just think how it'd be when emotions got going in there.

[sgpratley]

Excellent advice Micheal, thank you for posting that checklist

I'd have to agree with the other mods though, useful though it might be to have a public list of scammers, the risk to the forum of innocent bystanders getting caught in the crossfire is too high as is the risk of the forum getting sued by people with better lawyers than Existem.

There's already a lot of work taking potentially libellous posts off the forum, and this would only encourage more.

[JayFCF]

I think a great way to tackle this is to have a Thread titled "Has anyone used ...............?"

No body has to put bad comments directly on the forum but members could pm the person that has asked with their true thoughts.

[affiliatemarketingltd]

yep agreed

[marky]

RE : not naming and shaming any cowboys / non payers / scammers etc
There has to be some sort of solution to try and curtail the scammers somehow ...

Would it be possible to help with or take a little of the due dilligence out of it, could you(mods/admins/existem?) issue guidelines / strict guidelines for people posting the many offers to buy and sell leads (and data / declines / )

There are a lot of first post/10th post 'We want to buy remortgage leads, email xyz @ hotmail /gmail/yahoo etc ' and that is it. Free email address, no contact...! If people do actually get genuine business this way, I'll bet they would get a lot more with a credible post.

Maybe if people soliciting for leads to buy or sell had to give their contact details - compulsory sig? : Name, postion, company, telephone number, website. Maybe even having to state what they will pay for leads / or want to sell them for. This won't stop fraud completely, though gives people an idea to see who they are dealing with first.

Another option to make people pay a notional amount / forum subscription when offering to buy or sell leads? Apart from encouraging only people who are serious in buying and selling leads it would provide another audit trail apart from the ip address and email they signed up with.

This is just me thinking outloud and am aware some of the above may be unworkable, or even sound unreasonable though long term I think it would start to establish a lot more credibility to the leadgen forums and the people who post here.

This thread has the beginings of an interesting debate ....anyone else any ideas ?

[rob.co.uk]

Please do you research and use due diligence at all times.

I would agree with the comments above, a4u can be an element of that research so to not allow negative comments would hinder it.

Hopefully a happy medium can be found thats both useful and legally sound.

[anshul123]

yes.. this has happened to me 3 times now, but i was third time lucky so got some back .. thank god Micheal from Affiliate marketing school was there to help me out.

[anshul123]

I think a great way to tackle this is to have a Thread titled "Has anyone used ...............?"

No body has to put bad comments directly on the forum but members could pm the person that has asked with their true thoughts.

I have used Digital Point forums as well, they use to have feature like Trader's rating, which is build by sorts of dealing you do on forum.. purely based on the feedback from the member you are buying and selling to

At least can give good idea about someone, but people who are there on forums and are old know each other very much.. the issue that get's unsolved is how to deal with some new Member with post count like 1-2 and offering you good deals.. seems like a blind game

[bapages]

I have an idea for those who want to publish names of these companies, put them on your sites and I am sure Matt and the team might provide a link for people to follow.