Why might Barnes & Noble have declined my affiliate application- barnes-and-noble.com

[warning_uk]

Hi all.

I recently acquired domain barnes-and-noble.com and have just set up a site ar Barnes and Noble. I'm getting quite a bit of type-in traffic from people guessing the URL for Barnes and Noble, and would l like to capitalise on that.

I've applied to the B&N affiliate scheme, but they've just rejected me:

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Your application may have been declined for one or more of the following reasons:

1. The profile information provided is inconsistent with WHOIS or doesn't match registered domain information.

2. We were unable to access and review your site (e.g. the site was under construction when we tried to access it)

3. We were unable determine your business model based on the URL or profile information provided.

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That's all fairly open-ended, so I wondered if anyone out there had the same experience, and may have any idea why my application was rejected?

Thanks
Dave

 

[redbird]

That's a standard reply, but in any event every merchant I know of will specifically exclude in their sign up terms and conditions you do not use typos or similar domains (such as yours) to their own.

Check the terms and conditions, I doubt it is allowed and if the were to accept you and later found out they would claim all the commission paid back, just not worth the risk in my opinion.



Some merchants even exclude subdomains or folders off unrelated URLs

Dave

 

[jd18]

I have often found however that competitors to the site you may have are very accomodating and allow you to bid, etc / have typos. So it may be worth finding a competitor to barnes and noble and put that site there!

Jason

 

[grantw]

I have often found however that competitors to the site you may have are very accomodating and allow you to bid, etc / have typos. So it may be worth finding a competitor to barnes and noble and put that site there!

Jason

That's probably the worst advice I've ever read! If you want to get sued do what he said ^

Grant

 

[jd18]

interesting point - it would depend on wether you were inpersonating B&N or you make it clear that it isn't

 

[grantw]

Do you really think it would be possible to say you're not passing off as B&N when your running a site affiliated with one of their competitors on the domain name barnes-and-noble.com ??

Grant

 

[jasman]

My advice would be don't bother. The fact that you have contacted them now means you cannot pretend you registered it for some other purpose and never heard of them. They'd win hands down in a (s)WIPO complaint, and if you put competitors' ads on it, you could be sued for passing off. Having the domain name swiped off you would be the least of your worries - if they requested to a court that you pay their legal fees (as well as your own), this could run into £10,000s or much more if the case dragged on. Save yourself a headache and come up with an original idea.