I tried to read this thread but in the end I only skimmed it because of all the bitterness... so I will do my best to give you my unbiased opinion as if this whole discussion hadn't happened
First I want to applaud you for having the courage to come here and talk to models directly. For the past couple of years the resentment towards CB models over at affiliate communities like GFY has steadily grown and while it is commonplace to see affiliates attack models behind their backs in those threads, it isn't often you see someone going to the source to try to make a conversation around it. So this shows (a) you think outside the box and (b) you are either optimistic about reaching a solution or you want to stir some controversy, both motivations in spite of their essential difference move this issue forward. I don't think the solution to this problem will come anytime soon, mostly because I don't think a solution exists, or rather, that there is a problem to begin with, but I do have a few ideas and observations that might make you look at this from a fresh perspective.
The complaint I hear the most in affiliate communities comes from small affiliates both veterans and new who suddenly find a drop in earnings and when inspecting their accounts notice that a whale is gone. The big account who used to spend a lot and was the main source of the affiliate income is no longer spending, it's like they vanished, the affiliate finds himself struggling out of the blue when half his income is taken off the table and the conclusion the affiliate gets to is his whale was probably taken over by a model who told him to clear his cookies and sign up again using her link. Outrage ensues when the member imagines this spender's 20% going to someone else's pocket. It's quite unfair and I agree, it is unfair and it shouldn't happen, but here is the problem:
You don't know what happened to your whale. You don't have the details, the information is unavailable. Maybe he was converted by a model, "poached".. yes, maybe, but maybe he was in a car accident and died or got married or abducted by aliens, all probabilities just as likely as the others since we have no information at all. Losing big accounts is a problem for everyone in affiliate marketing when you work in a revshare offer, it isn't exclusive to camsites. It happens with subscriptions all the time. Member 8021913 has been subscribed to Punishtube through my affiliate program for 15 months straight and one day he simply stops paying the subscription. It's a tubesite so nobody stole that signup. What happened? Well, we don't know. Maybe his credit card expired so the autorenew failed. Maybe he found another site he liked better. Maybe his wife found out and made him cancel the subscription WE DONT KNOW but it happens all the time because the term "lifetime revshare" isn't really a lifetime deal, it's a figure of speech... this doesn't mean you will continue to cash on your affiliate accounts until the day you die. It means you will cash on those accounts as long as they are being used and things are constantly changing. Tastes change, circumstances change, money runs out, cards expire. It is extremely rare to find a member who will be a steady spender for a year, most are exhausted within 6 months of their initial purchase, especially the top spenders.
Now, as a model I have privileged information that I didn't have when I was only an affiliate marketer. Models also lose big tippers periodically because not many people can sustain that level of spending for a long time. Very few people can spend a lot all of the time for a long time. Where does the money come from? these are the questions you have to ask yourself. As a model I have talked to many members about this. Many are using credit cards with very high spending limits, say... 80k. They burn through that card in a year time and then they are done, the credit is gone, they are left having to pay for the debt but without wiggle room to keep spending so they simply stop tipping, there is no money to tip with. Others burn through their retirement fund, or their savings. That also runs out eventually. There are some members who are pretty wealthy and they can afford a high tipping habit for a long time, but those too eventually drop it, either out of guilt, because they get tired or because the family finds out. Whales never last. Members who can spend steadily for a long time are usually people who learn to be measured in their spending and only tip when they can and a fraction of the money they normally allocate to "fun" activities. Those are the best members to have because you can rely on them more, and even then, those too tend to eventually expire.
So does poaching happen? Absolutely. Is it a widespread problem and at the root of all the small affiliate accounts struggles with temporary whales? No, not likely.
Here is why... The one thing that matters is the cookie. Chaturbate cookies last FOREVER... it's not Amazon where you have a 1 month window. No, as long as the member doesn't clear his cookies yours will be there. New redirects do not override older cookies so if you send traffic to chaturbate and your member clicks on a model's affiliate link to join the site, the signup will STILL GO TO YOU. The model's cookie does not override yours. So having all the models working extra hard to convert members is a good thing for affiliates, because any members they convert who have your cookie will be credited to you. Even the members clicking on model's buttons that cover CB's signup button, even if they signup through the model's bio link.. doesn't matter, you get the signup, not her.
The problem is only when a model is telling members to clear their cookies and signup with a new account. Because if a member clears his cookies your cookie will be gone and if they signup then the model does get the credit, but Chaturbate support sent warnings to all the models who had worded it that way in their bios and I haven't seen anyone ask for that since. Still it was far from a common practice on the site and it would be extremely difficult to link it to all the affiliate marketers posting their Ls online.
Now, what follows is my own personal opinion... you never find successful affiliates bitching about models stealing their accounts on these threads. It is almost always tiny affiliates, new affiliates with very little experience, and the webmasters are normally from Eastern Europe and South America. The reasons are simple.. successful affiliates are too busy solving their problems and finding alternative solutions to spend their time bitching on an online forum. There are certain things that nobody will change and you just have to choose whether you want to play knowing the rules of the game.
I can give you a few hints on what to do from here on.
1) Drop the whitelabel and start using the links instead. This is because you dont put cookies on visitors to your whitelabel and if they click on a signup link in a model's bio it will take them to actual CB's login form instead of the one on your whitelabel so you end up losing the signup not to mention all the future signups you miss out on.
2) Stop working with shit traffic, build a brand instead. You want to work affiliate marketing with a voice of your own, the traffic is more sparse but much higher quality and you will hook them long-term. Making a CB gossip site is a great idea, just off the top of my head.
3) As long as your income depends on whales you will be having a very inconsistent result. Whales come and go all the time it's a matter of luck. What you want to focus on is on building a revshare program full of accounts that spend moderately and within their own budget. You want as many as those accounts as you can get, because then one of those accounts leaves and you wont even notice it because you have so many and the strength is in the numbers.
4) Revshare is a slow machine. People you signup wont spend for a long time, thye will lurk... until one day they will find the right model or the right reason to tip and they will become spenders. It can take a year sometimes. Whatever effort you put in today you wont reap until half a year has gone by. So be patient and work hard, it will pay off later on.
5) We all want to think our wins are the result of our own talent, and our losses are the result of accidents or 3rd parties screwing it up. Don't be that guy though. That guy never grows. Stop visiting the threads on GFY and Blackhatseo and obsessing over models "poaching" traffic and put that energy into making signups instead. Find better ways to get people interested and signed up. It is possible to do extremely well on this program since CB is the only affiliate who is 100% legit with the revenue and doesn't shave you.
