Due to my complete lack of interest in reviewing products. I created a business model in which I offer to donate a percentage of the profit made from Amazon purchases to charity. The idea is that people will purchase products (any and all products) from Amazon from my website. I will keep track of all money earned from Amazon. Then I will donate a percentage (up to 80%) to charity. The incentive for people to purchase Amazon products from my website is that instead of the money going to a Amazon or middleman it will go to charity. To make it more interesting I added two polls. One for how much I should donate and the other for which charity the money should be donated to. What do you think of this idea? Flop? Or potential? So far I do not have enough traffic to determine whether it will work. So I am asking for you predictions. The page is http://www.howthiswebsitemakesmoney.com/participate.php Thanks in advance for you input.
Posting this thread is an experience very similar to making a post on my blog. I make a post and then there a kind of tumbleweed blowing through a ghost town kind of silence.
... because this is a dumb idea... the money still goes to amazon and people arent that stupid!!!! just coz your gonna donate the money that amazone gave you which is like ae 4% cut of what they got in the first place!?!? retarded is what that is!!! amazon pays you from money they already got from people buying amazon crap from your site!!!
It's a flop. Stay away from "Donating to charity" schemes, it has the potential to land you in hot water, especially after you see how difficult it is to amass enough traffic to make any money at all from Amazon. It's not a business model, it a gimmick, and the oldest one in the book.
@DrEMiami Thank you for your unrestrained opinion. But I think there might be some confusion. I am not sure why you state, "the money still goes to amazon and people arent that stupid!!!!". I realize the money goes to amazon and the visitors should realize the money goes to amazon. The donations are only from the money I receive. Like you say, 4% of the purchase price. So if a product is $100 then: 1)Amazon keeps $96 2)I get $4 3)From the $4 I donate a percentage Its very simple and I do not see why you think that I am assuming people are stupid. There is no tricky or scamming. It is simply donating a percentage of my revenue. The idea is that instead of me providing the service of reviewing a product, I provide the service of donating a percentage of my revenue. I would appreciate it if you could highlight the exact text that gave you an impression that it is some kind of trick, so that I can revise it and make it more clear. @hmansfield Thank you for you comment. Again I am a little confused. Why are you calling it a gimmick?
I think the point that the above posters are try to make is that this has been tried and tested many times over and is a failed business model. Now if you are honest with yourself you are really doing this so for your benefit right ? and the charity is a gimmick to get people to buy, its not gonna work. Forget this idea and instead have a list of charities on the website that you support and make a donation once every 6 months or so and concentrate on getting traffic to it.