Probodybuildingdvd.com (Probodybuilding.com)- affiliate scam at work!

If you were one of the people who sold bodybuilding DVDs through the MesoRx affiliate program, which was formerly run by Millard Baker, you’ve probably noticed that your sales numbers are going down the tubes (ever since last December, 2007).

That’s because you’re being ripped off.

Brian Clapp, owner of RoidStore, BuySteroids.com, and Steroid.com purchased the entire MesoRx DVD business from Millard, started calling it ProBodybuildingDVD.com, and immediately went about the business of figuring out how to rip off the people who had built a good business relationship with Millard. What I think Brian ended up doing was resetting the cookie program in the affiliate program.

I really never had anything to do with any of his businesses in any capacity other than as a steroid-based writer and senior editor, but affiliates have been complaining, and I’ve noticed that people have been searching on google with various terms associated with this business and “Affiliate”…so I contacted some of these affiliates, and this is my best guess (which I think is dead on the money).

Let me explain what a cookie is: When you become an affiliate of an online retailer and put their banner on your site, people who click the banner get a “web cookie” (or HTTP Cookie) placed in their computer temporarily. Most online affiliates place the cookie in the potential customer’s computer for a set amount of time – when Millard Baker was running the business, it was 30 days (which is standard for online affiliate programs – I think this is what EliteFitness uses). This means if the person who clicked the banner on your site decided to purchase a DVD any time during the next 30 days, you got the commission.

At this point, I believe Brian reset the cookies to one day (!) from thirty days. This way, if people didn’t make a purchase within the first 24 hours of clicking the banner, he didn’t have to pay any affiliates a dime. Of course, he didn’t tell any of the affiliates that he was running this scam on them, and they had assumed that everything would be the same as when Millard was running the site.

Again, you need to realize that this is my best guess based on what affiliates have been telling me. Granted some people probably make a purchase as soon as they get to a page, but robbing people of that 29 day grace period would dramatically decrease all of the money affiliates are making, and this is exactly what affiliates have told me has happened, and they have good reason to believe that the cookie has been reset.

Of course, some affiliates just have the videos up, and not a banner, so most people don’t know that their DVDs are coming from PBBDVD.com, they assume they’re coming direct from the site that they’re looking at. If you buy bodybuilding DVDs, you should do your retailer a favor and send them a link to this post, because MesoRx had a HUGE affiliate program, and it’s likely that the person you buy bodybuilding DVDs from is getting ripped off by Brian Clapp.

This is the same scam he runs with “Anabolic Steroids: Ultimate Research Guide”. If you’re one of his members that he convinced to put a banner ad in your signature on various websites around the internet, or a forum owner he convinced to put up an affiliate banner, and you haven’t ever been paid, this is why.

Brian eventually ruined the good-will that Millard had earned through numerous years running the DVD business, and then attempted to purchase bodybuilding filmaker Misuro Okabe‘s business as well, but it fell through. Currently I believe he is trying to work with Quincy Taylor on a new video that he can produce under his own company name, and sell it wholesale as well as retail.

If you are involved in the affiliate program for ProBodybuildingDVD.com or Anabolic Steroids, Ultimate Research Guide, then it’s a good bet you’re getting ripped off. I believe they are now going to be using probodybuilding.com to try to get affiliates for their DVD business, and for direct sales…but let’s face it, the affiliates are getting ripped off here, and they’ve been complaining for months – so why would anyone else sign up.

Really, affiliates should be dropping his banner, and finding another way to sell bodybuilding dvds – working with someone who will actually pay them. And if you know of a bodybuilding site that sells DVDs, send them this link, because they might be getting ripped off!

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