Before I share my JVZOO Review, let me say one thing: the people from JVZOO I spoke to are wonderful people. I have experienced some of the best support ever.
Of all of the well-known sites, JVZOO is the one it's easiest and fastest to get started. And that is probably why I had the experience that led me to the title of this post: Why I left JVZOO.
In case you have never heard of the site: JVZOO is a site where vendors can offer their products and affiliates can look for products to promote.
JVZOO Review
As a buyer
Do you remember when I suddenly had to post several very negative reviews in a row? The scammy, spammy ones that never lived up to their promises and just wasted my time?
Guess what: They were all from JVZOO. And suddenly I had to open several PayPal cases in just one year. Guess what else: each case was because of unresponsive JVZOO sellers.
I'll say it three times in total (or four, I keep my options open), here comes the second: I am sure there are excellent products on JVZOO. They could not have grown to the size they are now without terrific products.
That said, some of those terrific vendors with terrific products that they sell to terrific clients might use JVZOO as a payment processor without listing their products on there.
Whether it's the "product of the day" or "bestselling tool of the week": I would not know of another site with a similar or faintly similar amount of trashy products as JVZOO. Currently, JVZOO makes Clickbank look like the sophisticated one.
The statistics mean nothing. I have not received a single refund via JVZOO, as would be the rule. Vendors refunded via PP directly, leaving their statistics "refund-free".
Regarding the email you use to sign up and buy on JVZOO ... let me put it like this: If you used a burner email, there is a good chance that the provider will sue you for abusing his system.
It seems that many offers on JVZOO serve only one purpose: Spamming, spamming, spamming.
I see it like this: If I know that 80% (or 60% - it doesn't matter) of mushrooms in the forest are poisonous - why would I feel the need to go searching for the other 20%, always putting myself at risk of poisoning?
Right. I don't. Currently, if a product is related to JVZOO I don't buy it. Period.
That leads me to the next topic: Do I want to bring my buyers in an environment like that? Until they unsubscribe, they will receive daily emails from JVZOO about the crappiest of crap products (and the good ones ... but who wants to find out which is which?).
Well, that's why I left.
As a vendor
Please keep in mind that I am talking about my personal experience only. I am sure (no, I KNOW) that there are tons and tons of wonderful vendors and affiliates on JVZOO do you keep track? No. 3?).
Once you release your first product you will learn that you either have to have existing relationships or you have to do good old sales and win partners to promote your products.
Not so on JVZOO. As soon as you put your product up there, the first 20 affiliates sign up. Or even 60. You don't have to move a finger.
The best is: You can list your products for free. No complicated approval process. Payments (minus a minor fee, less than competitors) land directly in your PayPal account. Wow, right? How are they doing that?
Well, they save money by allowing low-quality products, fraudulent affiliates and all of the bad things on their site.
I stopped using the site after the first week or so.
Why they list tons of categories is unclear to me. They are only acceptable for one industry: "Online business". "Affiliate Marketing".
For self-help products, they are 100% (or more) unfit and inappropriate.
Even if you look at the sales numbers of affiliates - it doesn't mean a thing.
One example: Some of them have fake coupon sites where they basically just steal profit from your honest partners who did the job. Modern link farms. They do not add any value to your business. They are unable to create demand.
Another is spam. It does not help your young business if your URL gets blacklisted with email providers. And the chance of finding your products on "free" download sites are certainly bigger than on other sites as well.
So even if you are in affiliate marketing: I'd wait until JVZOO addresses their issues. Currently, it stands for everything that gives "affiliate marketing" such a bad rep.
As an affiliate
I could not really tell you. The products I purchased from JVZOO were mostly crap and I would not bother signing up for products I dislike. Keep in mind: I am not an affiliate marketer and you find my "real" blog HERE, my unprofessional "real" blog HERE and my sales training site HERE (hahaha, shameless self-promotion).
Knowing that a lot of bad things are going on on this site, I'd probably look for a different site. Rigged statistics, vendors who will spam your clients, sub par products will spoil your reputation. No 4: I am sure there are great vendors. Will they accept someone with 0 sales who just signed up knowing about the huge amount of fraud by dishonest affiliates?
Most probably won't.
Unless you live in a country where you get rejected on every other site, I would look for a different one. I could not tell you which for this is not my expertise or interest.
I found a great new site where I will add my products (it's not yet open to the public.) I'll play around with it first and test everything, then I'll let you know.
Currently, I use a temporary solution, a self-hosted affiliate program, but only for existing partners.
I like JVZOO and hope they will address the issues and rebuild their reputation. And to all vendors and affiliates that don't deserve to be talked about like that: My apologies. You know how they say: "One bad apple ..."
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