Open Letter to all gay sponsors regarding their TOS

TO ALL SPONSORS OUT THERE AN OPEN LETTER

Hi!

Recently I have tried to signup as an affiliate to ______________ (put almost any gay sponsor on the line), for promotion of your sites, but unfortunatly when I wanted to choose my country, which is "Slovenia" I got a not so lovely message in your TOS that you do not allow webmasters from Slovenia to participate in your program.

I don't know why this is the case, but I would like you to re-evaluate your decision.

It is true that these kind of TOS are quite regular on many of the affiliate programs, so I trully hope you could re-think this once again as I can not possibly imagine why my country would be banned.

It's not like there are many webmasters (be it gay) in our country, since there's only a small population of 1.9 million people.... and no, we're not part of the Russia or not even close to it (unfortunatly I get this kind of reply quite often)

Thank you for your time and effort.

Regards

Hi Dalimili,

I'm not going to speak for any sponsor in particular and I don't run an affilitate program myself, but I think you'll find generally that this is a policy based on experience and the norm rather than the exception. Many sponsor programs block countries where they have had continuous bad experience to avoid further incidents.

I would suggest that reputable webmasters who reside in these countries should contact the program customer service departments directly as (sometimes) they will approve webmasters that have a proven track record.

I know it's a pain but I believe it is in the best interest of the industry.

All in all, whilst I don't know you all that well Dalimili, I would say you probably slot in to the exception category and some sponsors may choose to view it that way also - shoot them an email and ask, it'll only take a couple of minutes and you may be surprised at the response or they may ask for a few references from other sites that you promote.

Either way - sponsors will (if you're going to make them money in a reputable way) normally approve you.

Cheers,

Allan

I seriously doubt anyone has ever had any webmaster from Slovenia...

One feels like a second rated citizen of the world...ofcourse there are always some exceptions... but big ones like pridebucks, topbucks, usuck, silvercash, blueloot they just have this in their terms of service, and haven't got a clue why...

Oh well...

If I had an affiliate program (which I will shortly), I would welcome webmasters from Slovenia. But there's no way I'd trust any webmasters from Freedonia or Tomania.

Dalimili:

Hey Slovenia only just joined the EU a few months ago. The whole point of that was to integrate it into the modern European economy. Those rules of prohibition were probably established before that. The whole point of intergration is so others will feel more comfortable doing business there. Hopefully sooner or later doing business in Slovenia will become easier.

Remember, from a western business's perspective, the countries on that list typically don't even have a legal system that would protect them from potential fraud, as opposed to something similar happening in the UK or Germany.

Other webmasters in countries like Turkey, Pakistan or Serbia have experienced similar frustrations. Maybe you can get some kind of maildrop in the Czech Republic or Hungary where it would be easier.

good luck,
Steve

Have you tried signing up to ccbill affiliate programs? I know that CCBill gives program owners the option of banning "known bad countries" - but I cannot find which countries that includes. Plus this option is not only marked as recommended but is also turned on by default. Of course, program owners can override this by manually signing you up as an affiliate. Maybe that is the problem? If you want to give it a try, join hunkmoney and if CCBill rejects your application based on the country, you know that's the issue. Oh, also if you do get rejected and still want to be an affiliate, contact me with your details & I will sign you up manually.

cheers,
Luke

Quote:

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Originally Posted by desslock

Dalimili:

Hey Slovenia only just joined the EU a few months ago. The whole point of that was to integrate it into the modern European economy. Those rules of prohibition were probably established before that. The whole point of intergration is so others will feel more comfortable doing business there. Hopefully sooner or later doing business in Slovenia will become easier.

Remember, from a western business's perspective, the countries on that list typically don't even have a legal system that would protect them from potential fraud, as opposed to something similar happening in the UK or Germany.

Other webmasters in countries like Turkey, Pakistan or Serbia have experienced similar frustrations. Maybe you can get some kind of maildrop in the Czech Republic or Hungary where it would be easier.

good luck,
Steve

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I'm not gonna go into all that Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan etc issue, because that's a whole different thread... and different reasons probably...


Another thing is that there's a whole bunch of those same sponsors that don't accept webmasters from Czech or Hungary also. See.. we're in the almost same position, "those Eastern countries:)"

I remember when I went five years ago to London and met some folks, and after I told them where I'm coming from they started treating me totally different... like they started explaining what is digital television, credit cards, how mobile phones work etc. It was so amusing and at the same time so degrading... I somehow feel the same now...

We have all countries on our list, http://www.intensecash.com :)

Mark

can't say I blame them
i know im tired of reviewing sites from russians especially with the skinny boys that look like they're 14 and link to shady toplists.
not that webmasters from other countries don't pull any numbers but overwhelmingly I have to say people from Poland and Russia are like the two countries I've probably cought people attempting to play games


if you're established and have some descent sites, most of them would reconsider letting you in. I know it's been done before

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dalimili

I seriously doubt anyone has ever had any webmaster from Slovenia...

---

I have 2 in Slovenia, 1 in Uganda, a couple in Bulgaria and even 1 in Uzbekistan.

They all asked me first and showed me examples of their work and how they promote.

It is amazing what asking first will do for you.

Blame your countrymen (and those from other readily associated countries) for the carte blanche approach, but anything is possible for the right people.

:juggle:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CuriousToyBoy

I have 2 in Slovenia, 1 in Uganda, a couple in Bulgaria and even 1 in Uzbekistan.

They all asked me first and showed me examples of their work and how they promote.

It is amazing what asking first will do for you.

Blame your countrymen (and those from other readily associated countries) for the carte blanche approach, but anything is possible for the right people.

:juggle:

---

I don't intend to blame anyone, I was just asking WHY there are such TOS and nobody here has even managed to reply with a direct reply.

"We do not accept webmasters from these countries, because of the following:
1.__________________
2.__________________
3._____________

I still don't get it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dalimili

I don't intend to blame anyone, I was just asking WHY there are such TOS and nobody here has even managed to reply with a direct reply.

"We do not accept webmasters from these countries, because of the following:
1.__________________
2.__________________
3._____________

I still don't get it

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In a word, fraud.

Rampany, unchecked scamming webmasters from developing/ex-communist countries ripping off everything that moves.

It really is that simple - why I said blame your countrymen etc etc etc.

:goseek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CuriousToyBoy

In a word, fraud.

Rampany, unchecked scamming webmasters from developing/ex-communist countries ripping off everything that moves.

It really is that simple - why I said blame your countrymen etc etc etc.

:goseek:

---

I just love the way you say "ex-communist countries" and "blame your countrymen"

They are not my countrymen! WHat the heck do I have in common with Russia???

We're not even close!

To my fellow GWW'ers: dalimili is a MANcheck webmaster. Any one of you would be privileged to count him in your stable of webmasters. Dalibor works hard, produces good sites, and has followed our rules. He is loyal to our brand. I talk to Dalibor almost daily on AIM, and while I've never met him in person, I can tell you that in my online relationship with him, I've never had reason to pause about anything. If I had 30 more webmasters like Dalibor, I wouldn't have to come to the office.

dalimili,

It's a fact that as the eastern Bloc countries emerged from communism, there was a scramble for everyone to get a piece of the capitalist dream. With no government regulating what people could or couldn't do, sometimes this leads down a road of more crime, fraud, counterfeiting, theft, etc. Slovenia was a part of the former Yugoslavia, which was considered to be a part of the eastern Bloc. So, when rules are applied to that region, unfortunately, it includes Slovenia whether they have ties with Russia or not.

I agree with you that a blanket banning of any country in eastern Europe is not fair. But it's the way it is for now. All I can suggest you do is appeal to programs individually.

I think the banned list might also be coming from the credit card processors themselves who have lists of countries from which they will not process a sale. Slovenia may be one of them.

Feel free to contact me.

Dzinerbear

Thanx michael... but I have to correct you there...

Yugoslavia was not a part of EASTERN BLOC.

Actually we never were deprived of good old american popular culture, be it Levi's who had factories in YU, Pepsi, Coca-Cola... basically we only gained McDonalds and a few less known brands by independence:)

This is what I'm talking about. Most of the people just put us together with the Russia and Hungary and Poland, but we trully have nothing in common.

So I guess, this is where all things are coming from. Ok, It's a bit more clear now.... but it's still so shortsighted

Yugoslavia was a aprt of The Non-Aligned Movement:
The Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. They represent 55 per cent of the planet's people and nearly two-thirds of the UN's membership. (you can read more on Wikipedia)