I was going to start raping yahoo - open up a bunch of accounts, use my free $100, and go to town. I advertised a high-gravity clickbank product. Out of my $130 in advertising (that I got for depositing a $30 nonrefundable amount) I figured that I would at least break even. The result: $0 (a loss of $30).

Does anybody have a campaign that they have lost money on (but maybe less than 50%) that they are willing to share? All I want is like a $60 return on $130 in clicks.

BTW, the $100 free credit link is at http://sem.smallbusiness.yahoo.com/s...?cc=0&o=US2510 and I did get my $100 after depositing $30.

Tips for using this:

1) Only use Visa/Mastercard GIFT cards with these Yahoos (not reloadable prepaid cards, and especially not a regular credit card). Buy one per each advertising account you want to open. You'll see why in #4 below.

2) They did not phone verify my account, so I presume any phone number/address will do. Just make sure the info you put on the card matches whatever you give to yahoo. You can usually set the billing address on a gift card online after you buy it. you can buy them in bulk.

3) Put only $30 on it, and trash it when you've used your $130 in credits.

4) This is why you want a gift card. All accounts that get the $100 credit are on an "auto reload" feature that requires you to keep 3X your daily budget in your account. When it goes below that, they try to charge the crap out of your credit card. I set my budget at $30/day, and left it over the weekend. Even though I still had money from my $130 in credits in my account, they had charged me "deposits" of $90 as soon as my balance dipped below $100 before I even knew what was happening. They are refunding my $90, as I now consider PPC a waste of time and have closed my account.

But here's the good news: Your account does not shut down if the charges are declined - you just get notices that you are below your 3 days budget. It will only shut down when you reach $0 balance. I know this because after I noticed 3 $30 transactions from Yahoo in 1 day I called and had my card canceled and had the company issue me a new number. They were still trying to charge the old number on a daily basis, but they started getting declined.

So, use a gift card, let them get their $30, but no more. You'll get $130 in clicks.

Advertise

why would anyone give away their PPC niche...?

Well, if it's losing money....