Here is another emerging story : purchasing special 'e-books' available ONLY
via the Internet from famous authors like Stephen King, and journalists and some
investigative reporters, like Jim Marrs ...
There are many links on this website to interesting e-books, some near the top
of this main webpage and others near the end section, from Psi Spies to 'Camino' -
all are great to read, but the problem lies in the 'marketing' ...
SoftLock approached me and offered a 20% sales commission, so I thought I'd
try it awhile - so far, after nearly a year, sales are ZERO - a bit suspicious ... yes, the
folks are resourceful, send graphic banner links, ads, bios, even promotional materials
like contests, all webmaster ready - except the 'links' are always 'different' ... with so
many visitors, I can't believe NO e-books ever sold, although once I earned ONE sales
commission, then it was removed at the end of the month ( a credit card charge back ?)
I decided to buy a copy of Marrs' Psi Spies, the history of Remote Viewing, a topic
I currently write on - you guessed it, NO sale showed up, so I suppose I don't have the
book then ;-)
While I won't post the .PDF file for a free download ( I have scruples ) I may, under
license, offer 'excerpts' from time to time ... still, they DENY that I sold any books at all
They even claim that THEY bought one from my account-linked banner ad as a test - well
guess that was a NO SALE too ... or just perhaps SoftLock.com makes all the profits ...
DON'T BECOME AN E-BOOK RETAILER !
story follows ...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
From: Customer Care (help@SoftLock.com)
To: "'webmaster@psychicspy.com'" (webmaster@psychicspy.com)
Subject: RE: softlock merchant ...
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 11:06:37 -0500
X-Message-Flag: Follow up
Return-Receipt-To: Customer Care (help@SoftLock.com)
Radioman,
The link you provided me is set to credit your affiliate account for
purchases made by clicking on the link. I tested this by purchasing the
"Psi-Spies" book through your link. The sale did register as an affiliate
sale for you. I spoke with our engineering group as well and they assure me
that using your affiliate link it is nearly impossible for you to not be
credited with sales through that link. Your purchase of "Psi-Spies" shows
that it was purchased through one of SoftLock's sales channels: our web
site; by clicking the Buy button on a sample of the book passed to you as an
attachment; through one of our iStores.
Please rest assured that the link you are using is set to credit you, and no
one else, with sales through it.
Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
______________________________
Thomas C. George
Client Account Manager
SoftLock.com
Five Clock Tower Place, Suite 440
Maynard, MA 01754
Phone: 978-461-4133
http://www.softlock.com
______________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: webmaster@psychicspy.com [mailto:webmaster@psychicspy.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2000 9:30 AM
To: Customer Care
Subject: RE: softlock merchant ...
From: Customer Care (help@SoftLock.com)
To: "'webmaster@psychicspy.com'"
(webmaster@psychicspy.com)
Subject: RE: softlock merchant ...
Date sent: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 14:48:29 -0500
Here's the link from my site:
(A HREF=
"http://www.softlock.com/psiwhite/default.asp?SrcAcct=20208")
(IMG SRC="psi1.gif" ALIGN=TOP BORDER=1)(/A)
with parenthesis substituted to read as text ...
radioman
webmaster@psychicspy.com
> Radioman,
>
> JulieAnn asked me to look into this for you. Could you supply me with more
> information regarding your purchase so that I can look into this matter
> further? When did you purchase the book? What steps did you take to purchase
> the book, for example, did you purchase it from a link you were given as an
> Affiliate, from the author's site, by clicking the Buy button at the top of
> the document, etc.? If you purchased the book by clicking on a link, please
> include the link in your reply email.
>
> I apologize if this has caused you any inconvenience. I'll resolve the
> matter as soon as possible.
>
> _________________________________
> Thomas C. George
> Client Account Manager
> SoftLock.com
> Five Clock Tower Place, Suite 440
> Maynard, MA 01754
> Phone: 978-461-4133
> http://www.softlock.com
> _________________________________
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: webmaster@psychicspy.com [mailto:webmaster@psychicspy.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 9:42 AM
> To: JulieAnn Govang
> Subject: Re: softlock merchant ...
>
>
> I recently purchased a copy (printable) of Marr's Psi-Spies via
> credit card ...
> Even used a different ID than radioman ... guess what - the account
> admin for :
>
> radioman@seasurf.com
>
>
> shows NO purchases ... I wonder how many other book sales were
> not
> credited to my merchant account ? A good story for the Drudge
> Report perhaps ?
>
>
> radioman
> webmaster@psychicspy.com
>
> Soft Lock Affiliate - or am I ???
>
>
> ***
>
From: JulieAnn Govang
To: webmaster@psychicspy.com
Copies to: Peter Demers (pdemers@SoftLock.com), Tom George (tgeorge@SoftLock.com)
Subject: RE: SoftLock.com Affiliate ...
Date sent: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 14:40:39 -0500
Good afternoon,
I'm very sorry you had a bad experience with SoftLock.com. I assure you we
do our best to take care of a customer, but in this case, though efforts
were made in our Customer Care department, I'm afraid we weren't able to
answer your question in a manner satisfactory to you.
Regardless, per your request, I have removed your affiliation from our
network, and per Section 8 of the SoftLock.com affiliate agreement, please
immediately remove from your Site all references and Links to SoftLock.com,
our Content Providers and Content as defined in the agreement.
Again, I'm sorry we weren't able to meet your needs.
Best of luck in future endeavors.
JulieAnn
JulieAnn Govang
Marketing Manager
SoftLock.com
(978) 461-4126
jgovang@softlock.com
Where Content Meets Customers.
-----Original Message-----
from the public SOFTLOCK.COM AFFILIATE AGREEMENT
"8. Term and Termination of the Agreement"
"The term of this Agreement will begin upon the acceptance of your application
and will end when terminated by either party. Either party may terminate this
Agreement at any time, with or without cause, by giving the other party written
notice of termination. Affiliates are only eligible to earn referral fees during the
term of this Agreement. SLCK may withhold Affiliates’ final payment for a reasonable
time to account for possible cancellation or refund of sales. Upon termination of this
Agreement Affiliate shall immediately remove from its Site all references and Links to
SLCK, Content Providers and Content as defined herein."
DONE ...
** UPDATE **
article :
September 4, 1999
Useit.Com: Spotlight of SoftLock's website mentioned recently
in Steve Outing's column. Besides having a useless website, I
also fear that SoftLock has a useless product. The only
concrete info I could find was in the customer support section
which stated that it may not be possible to read
copy-protected documents after running Norton Utilities or
other disk utility software.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
<<BACK