WHY does BB not use normal payment methods?
Why does BB, instead of using normal banks or PayPal or bog-standard cheques, use these online payment methods that are not only so inefficient, but are well known historically to be used by all types of scams in the past?
- Unfortunately, there are only a few avenues available to any company that wishes to do business internationally in the direct sales industry. PayPal charges fees to both the sender and the receiver so that's not a path we're going to follow. Anti-money laundering regulations prohibit us from directly depositing into your bank account from ours, we must go through a 3rd party processor. Cheques are direct, but different regions offer different restrictions or penalties for those wanting to use cheques as a payment method. Since there are so many restrictions, we're required to follow the same paths the 'less-than-reputable' companies follow.
If I am going to purchase – yes purchase – money in an online business run by people I don't know and who's past is proven to involve online MLMs and/or PONZIs, then I would not touch it with a bargepole if they refused to use normal payment methods.
- First, you may say you're purchaseing in a car or home, however, to the dealer or agent you're making a purchase. Legally they aren't allowed to call it an purchase because the term is classified legally as subjective.
- Second, association with an MLM doesn't make a person guilty of anything. Avon is an MLM company. MLM describes a payment structure in the Network Marketing and Direct Sales industries. Regardless of whether the company they were involved with was 'dirty' or not, unless that individual ran the company or it was proven that they were aware of 'improprieties', association doesn't make them guilty.
- Lastly, neither I nor anyone in either Stellar Point or BBI has ever been arrested for improprieties involving their association with MLM-based companies. To make an accusation of this nature is a dangerous thing without proof.
I hope this better answers your questions.
Sorry folks, I've been hung up the past 2 days posting over at ...and in meetings.
Let me address what's been posted here, and let me expressly state, that I am the only person who will be speaking to you on behalf of BannersBroker International or Stellar Point. If I don't say it, it's not official. Second, any information that goes out over our Twitter account or official Facebook page is approved by myself before it goes out. I can only address comments made on those 2 official social network platforms currently, however, if you have issues concerning other BBI related commentary from other accounts, please bring them to my attention. Like yoursel, I want to make sure that what's being said is the truth and not misleading or lies.
Now, that being said, let me respond to some of your comments.
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The processors we use aren't 'scam' processors, they're legitimate companies. The issue is, due to the limited availability of processors that allow for international use, we're forced to use the same companies other 'less reputable' companies also use. Paypal unfortunately isn't an option due to the amount they charge as fees. They are much more expensive to use, and cost both the company and affiliate money to move funds around.
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The answer is a resounding yes. In fact, many of our affiliates don't recruit anyone and do quite fine in generating considerable revenue for themselves.
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I'll give you a bunch, AdBrite, Ad Magnet, DoubleClick, ExoClick, Infolinks, Zedo, Right Media, Kontera, Hydra Network, Clickbooth, BuySellAds. The Ad exchanges, due to the volume of ads and the geographic locations the ads come from have several servers on which the ads are distributed from. The biggest central ad server farms are located in Pasadena, CA, and New York, NY. The term central refers to the server farms that the banners are served from, not a specific geographic location.
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We currently have over 300,000 affiliates, which can generate a tremendous number of support tickets. Short of employing a small town to address them, our support staff has had to deal with a move as well, which caused our ability to interact with the ticketing server to become interrupted. Our support staff is currently being expanded in order to accomdate the delays in responding, but it takes time to train people on the software and our procedures before they can start addressing support tickets.
As for your not making your purchase back, once your panels finished propogating their 2nd complimentary cycle, you would have had your purchase back and available to you. I am unsure of why you're having a problem with that?
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You're still confused about how the process works. First, we aren't an advertising company and don't sell advertising. Second, the ads we do serve are done so through the blind network, which doesn't specify where the banner will appear, but only which categories and geographically targeted region the advertiser has selected for their ads to appear.
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In order for any company doing business online to pay their affiliates, they must first have identification on file that properly certifies that the person is who they say they are and validates their address. This regulation has been set out by governments around the world in order to protect both the company and the individual from fraud, as well as to prevent money laundering.
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That information was just released to the Independent Contractors this week, which will then be explained in-depth to the affiliates once they have returned from their summit. As the IC's are responsible for training and marketing in their individual regions, it falls to them to relay that information to their respective regions upon their return.
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I don't know what you are referring to as 'uplines' since we don't use uplines/downlines as part of our terminology in BBI.
Yesterday in fact I was told that over 60,000 new applications were refused due to issues involving missing ID, fraudulent CC attempts, etc.
Training falls under the responsibility of the Independent Contractor in that region. They are currently here at the BBI HQ in a summit being briefed on new procedures, products, and compliance regulations which they will be bringing back to the affiliates in their regions.
The ad/pub combo is 'pushed' as you put it, because it's the affiliate program. It allows affiliates to generate credits towads activating and propogating their panels quicker, and helps others to take advantage of the revenue generating program. It's not required, but it is recommended if you want to grow your business faster.
As I said, the Ad-Pub combo is the affiliate program. A person doesn't need in-depth knowledge of the advertising industry, or how online publishing works to benefit. They need to be able to follow the guides and training as offered by the IC's for their region as set out by BBI, which explains what the panels are, how they work, what traffic impressions are, how they're applied to the panels, and how the process works once the panels have propogated. The benefit is in the easy creation of an online business, that generates an income specific to the efforts of the affiliate running the business. There are very few programs like it.
The profit level is proprietary information and will not be released.
If an affiliate is found to be in violation of the compliance regulations or TOS, their account is first frozen and the affiliate is given an opportunity to correct the issue. If the violation is serious enough, the account is permanently locked, the affiliate banned, and in some cases involving stolen credit cards, their information is passed to the appropriate authorities for purchaseigation.
We are currently tracking down all leads on affiliates who have misrepresented the company and its products, and locking the accounts pending an purchaseigation. Legally we must purchaseigate every violation. The unfortunate part is, there will always be people who slip through the cracks and cause havoc, so it's extremely time consuming doing the research to track these people down. Honestly, this is where these "anti-scam" sites should be coming in, to help us identify these individuals so we can purchaseigate and have them removed from doing harm to anyone else.
The company had experienced incredible growth over the past 2 years, but, had grown faster than its infrastructure was capable of keeping pace with. When the opportunity was discovered that I could help the company start to answer the growing number of voices asking for help or addressing the claims about the type of company it was, I accepted. It's just going to take time to undo the negativity that's been put out there, and to remove the undesireable elements to get back on track.
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All that has been said is what was openly brought to my attention. The IC in this case has had their account frozen, and been removed from any position of authority. The issue isn't that they took $ from affiliates and misappropriated it, it's that he had a side venture going that he promoted to BBI affiliates which presented a conflict of interest. It doesn't affect BBI affiliates as much as it affects BBI, so I hope that clarifies that. No affiliates accounts were affected. My apologies for not being clearer when I mentioned this, and the authorities have been contacted and the purchaseigation commenced.
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Unless you have proof that you aren't going to get a return on your purchase, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from stating so. IF you followed the process of activating your panels, and they fulfilled the two complimentary cycles, your initial purchase value would be available to you to remove with the equivilent in panel inventory to build your business with. Stating you aren't getting anything back says to me that you didn't follow the simple instructions explaining how the system works, and how you could remove any funds due to you. In light of there being nothing stating that you were unable to do so, what you're saying is misleading.
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You are incorrect. The prices do not keep inflating. The cost of panels and traffic that BBI makes available to all affiliates is the same price. Prices do not inflate from affiliate to affiliate. No company sells a product for what they purchase, and no company states publicly what their profit margin on their products is.
You are under the misconception that the company needs affiliates. It doesn't need them, it has built a business model around them so that many may share in the business model, similarly to how many companies that offer affiliate-based programs do. MLM is just another industry that uses this model, it's not the only one.
Most Importantly @.....
The Facebook page you've referrred to is NOT a BBI official page, and the information posted there is not sanctioned by BBI or Stellar Point. In fact, it's thanks to this blog that we've been alerted to their post, and are in contact with them to have it removed. Further to this, due to the confusion, all non-BBI facebook, Twitter and other such social media accounts are being notified that they are in violation of our TOS and are being asked to state on their accounts/posts that they are not official BBI accounts. If there is further issue, I encourage you to contact me directly to have action taken.
Formally I offer my sincerest apologies on behalf of Stellar Point and BBI if the content of that posting has caused you any inconvenience or grief. It is currently being dealt with by our compliance team and we hope to have it corrected soon.
I also confirm Martin's statement about not being an affiliate of BBI. He has never been involved with the company as per our purchaseigation to confirm this statement.
Re: India,
I'm sorry, but because the case is still being purchaseigated and researched, I can not comment on the activities of the Indian Police or the purchaseigation. I can only state that we have provided the Indian Authorities purchaseigating the claims against BBI with every resource and document that they have requested in order to see this through to a positive end, and that currently, the Independent Contractor that was arrested has been released pending the outcome of the purchaseigation.
If you don't hear from me, it's because responding to these posts are time consuming, and I have other duties that require my attention. I have not disappeared, I'm simply busy.
