Hello, community! Today we continue to immerse you further into the world of affiliate marketing and introduce you to important concepts and processes. Many think that affiliate marketing is deception and making money out of thin air. And, unfortunately, there are those who, by their actions, partially confirm this. But, fortunately, you have us, a reliable source of information, where you can learn about acceptable and not-so-acceptable promotion methods and specialists and continue to consciously avoid violations.

By the way, we recommend reading our article on cloaking, where we explained how it works and selected a few cool services with such a feature.

What will we talk about in this article? If you have been in affiliate marketing for a long time, then you have probably heard the term “firstbiller”. Simply put, it’s an affiliate marketer who tries to get traffic for free. How exactly? We’ll reveal all the cards below and explain whether it’s worth being tempted by such an enticing opportunity and how firstbillers affect online marketing.

HOW DO FIRSTBILLERS OPERATE?

It’s no secret that Facebook’s billing operates on a post-payment basis, meaning that payment for traffic is not immediate. First, you have the opportunity to set up ads, test them, and then the money is taken from your card. Firstbillers take advantage of this.

To launch ads, you need accounts. There are two options: either farm them yourself or buy them. The accounts must be of high quality and have a high trust level.

By the way, it’s often possible to find announcements about intentions to rent an account. And users, not understanding the consequences, agree to this. If the account falls into unscrupulous hands, you can say goodbye to it.

Of course, to launch ads, an affiliate marketer also needs a bank card to be linked to the Ad Account (AA). The account should have a minimum amount of $1-2, as FB needs to first check the validity of this card.

Next, ads are set up and run until the billing limit is exhausted (the moment the first payment is taken). The limit is set automatically by the system after the advertising campaign is launched. At the end of this stage, the affiliate marketer blocks the card so that Facebook cannot withdraw money from it. In this way, he gets free traffic and continues working according to the same scheme, but with a new account and a reissued or new card. 

NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF FIRSTBILLING IN AFFILIATE MARKETING

This way of getting free traffic can boldly be considered fraud. Facebook incurs huge losses, trust in accounts decreases, the number of blocks increases, and accordingly, other businesses lose earnings. Now let’s look at all the consequences in more detail.

  • Illegality. Firstbilling is indeed illegal, but we haven’t come across cases of lawsuits from FB. The losses are significant, but the revenues are still higher. Probably, Meta does not see the point in using its resources to fight such minor fraud. Especially since post-payment still works and there are no hints at its cancellation yet.
  • Promotion Difficulties. The first moderation is always automatic, and webmasters know this. Therefore, they take the opportunity to promote not entirely legal, i.e., gray, verticals and products. They know which creatives to launch to pass moderation. The increase in the number of firstbillers directly affects the quality and speed of moderation. This leads to ads being checked by humans more often. 
  • Devaluation of Trust. Currently, Facebook is the most popular and effective source of traffic for affiliate marketers and everyone involved in online marketing. If they cannot promote through this social network, a large part of them will simply be left without work.
  • Increase in Traffic Cost. If FB incurs losses due to firstbillers, those who honestly pay for all services will cover them. That is, the price of traffic will constantly rise. Let’s remind you that since the beginning of 2022, those who receive services from Meta have to pay a value-added tax of 20%. The logic is simple: the higher the traffic price, the higher the tax that businesses pay out of their pocket. 
  • Lack of Professional Growth. The skill of an affiliate marketer lies in setting up ads as efficiently as possible and getting more leads for less money. When a webmaster uses conditionally free traffic, he lacks motivation to improve his skills and gain valuable experience. Their entire activity is built on taking advantage of system weaknesses. Simply put, he does not grow as a specialist.

WHY DO FIRSTBILLERS STILL EXIST?

There are several sources of this evil: unscrupulous businesses, infopreneurs, greed. 

Even considering all the downsides and negative consequences, businesses actively look for affiliate marketers who work with firstbilling. Probably due to ignorance, or perhaps due to a desire to save money.

Often, when launching a new product, marketers do not know what will work better, so firstbilling seems to them an ideal option for tests.

And how about infopiracy? Yes, in addition to businesses that are too careful with their money (and only make it worse), firstbilling in Affiliate Marketing is actively developed by infopreneurs trying to sell courses teaching this type of fraud.

The target audience of such info-scammers are beginners and those affiliate marketers with zero successful cases who no one wants to work with. Greed and the desire for easy money kick in. Of course, who wouldn’t want to get traffic for free and make income from it? In their view, it’s a complete absence of risks and, in general, a dream job.

If experienced affiliate marketers don’t fall for this, beginners, not understanding the topic, spend money on such courses and then don’t have a normal professional future. Of course, unless someone eventually explains to them the issues with firstbilling and the importance of honest work. 

Will such a phenomenon as firstbilling last long?

Most likely, as long as Facebook does not cancel the possibility of post-payment. Until the social network takes drastic measures (such as lawsuits), firstbillers will use free traffic and complicate the work for all other webmasters.

Yes, there are cases where FB requests payment not at the end of billing, but during the ad spin. This partially reduces the number of firstbillers, but the situation does not change fundamentally.

However, do not be discouraged: experienced businessmen and companies definitely know that for effective long-term cooperation, it is necessary to look for honest webmasters who have vast experience in setting up ads and know what works better. Therefore, honesty in this matter definitely plays into your hands. To which we also urge.

If you have any questions about Firstbilling in Affiliate Marketing or related topics, we await you in our Telegram community, where we are happy to answer them. Also there, you can share your experience and gain insights from other users absolutely for free. Join us!

With respect for honest affiliate marketing, your Geek 🙂

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