6 Good Reasons why Reseller Programs are better than Affiliate Programs

Many people confuse the difference between reseller programs and affiliate programs, and at times even use the two definitions interchangeably, however there are distinct differences between them.

An affiliate will host a link or banner promoting another company's website or product. When someone makes a purchase through that website or link that affiliate will earn a commission which is processed through affiliate software tracking their unique affiliate ID.

A reseller is actually purchasing a product or resource from another company and then reselling to an end user for a profit. Reseller programs usually include resale rights, which allow the reseller to advertise, package and present that product or resource as if it were their own.

Both affiliate and reseller programs can be profitable, however, when comparing the two as a business opportunity, and before you decide which way you should go, consider these 6 reasons I have outlined below.

1. Credibility. What kind of feeling do you get from a particular website offering when you realize that the offering you see is a link to another website? Let me take this one step further: Have you ever discovered a product or service that you were interested in while browsing someone else's site; moused over it, then noticed it was an affiliate link to another website? Didn't that site loose some credibility in your mind? You then typed the URL directly into your address bar, and went straight to the originator of that product while bypassing the commission for the affiliate who introduced you to the product in the first place. You never did that? OK, Fine, but this happens all the time in affiliate marketing, and forces the webmaster to put additional lines of code in to prevent that affiliate link from ever being displayed until it's actually clicked on. This in itself is not enough and does nothing to increase credibility. A business model with its own unique product and content will always lend itself to greater credibility.

2. Competition. Affiliate Programs grow exponentially. Even if your lucky enough to be the first one to sign up for a brand new shiny affiliate program and the only one on your block with the latest and greatest product to sell, you can bet that in no time there will be thousands of affiliates competing with you, selling the very same product, many of whom will have more experience and better marketing skills than you do.

3. Price Control. You can't discount something that doesn't belong to you in the first place. To stay competitive in any market you have to have some control over the selling price. When you're shopping in the department store doesn't your interest peak on items marked for sale? With affiliate marketing you have no control over the price. On the other hand a reseller maintains complete control over the final selling price. In the case for a reseller selling digital products for example there is no more overhead involved in selling 1 or 1000 for download, a reseller of these types of products can always afford to offer a sale price.

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