TestFreaks will have a non intrusive business model

[Stefan]

We are a business and aim to be a profitable. That being said the most important thing for us is to deliver a user experience that’s uncompromisable by any corporate agenda. We will be very upfront with how we aim to make many and are always up for a discussion with you users on which is the best way to do this without giving you a compromised version of our site. We will always value your privacy at all levels and would never sell or exploit your privacy for short term benefits.

If we implement a successful business model we will always be able to improve TestFreaks in a steady pace and deliver more user value and thus being profitable.

The main business model is to co-operate with price comparison websites and use contextual advertising (such as Google AdSense). Let us know how you would like to see this implemented and even more importantly what you DON’T want to see.

Regards,
Stefan Svensson
TestFreaks

[Lajban]

So what do you mean with a non-intrusive BM? The price comparison sites only lists paying merchants don't they? Have you thought about in-text advertising such Intellitext? Is that non-intrusive? How about video-ads?

Adsense on the side of the page is fine with me.

I don't want to see manipulated listings and ratings. I want to see accurate information.

Are you going to work with one or more pricecomparison sites? Of course it would be better if you can work with several and present the best prices.

Interesting to se if there will be any constructive discussions here

[Mandrake]

First off, I like your initative..

I'm fine with adsense as long as it's not "to much".. advertising shouldn't be in your face..

When it comes to price comparison sites I for one want to be "sure" that you list prices that you display all the priceses you have available. Trust is important and if you will start to display priceses from sponsored or paying e-comerece site above the cheapest price I'm gone..

Intellitext?.. whats that could you give me an example?

[Flame]

Adsense is fine be me but I agree with Mandrake about the trust issue. You guys have to be real carefull.

http://www.vibrantmedia.com/webpublishers/index.asp gives you more information about Intellitxt.. I have seen it on a few sites and it's fine i guess but within reason.. I think tomshardware uses it and it's ok.

[Stefan]

:Lajban
When we say a non-intrusive-business model that is to ensure you that the user experience should be the same as if we were a non-profit organization. Our business goal should never interfere with the users experience and the credibility of what we present on the site.

We will display prices from price comparison partners but we will try our best to make sure that those partners have a complete list of merchants so that you as users can feel confident of that the price you are seeing IS the lowest price on the market. We are well aware of many of the problems price comparison sites face, with "fake price bidding" not knowing all the merchants out there. When it comes to "fake price bidding" from merchants that's something that can be fixed in most cases. However a price comparison site can never guarantee to display all merchants on the market but they should include all that want to be included and do so without the need to pay the price comparison site.

Our site will never be bloated with ads in a way thats intrusive to your experience as a user. We will have ads but we will try our best to see to it that the are relevant and not in your face. You wont see any pop-up ads or anything like that on our site ..

[Lindsay]

Will there be any split revenue programme with us, the users of your site? If I provide for example a new video-review of my latest camera, will you buy if from me? As you probably seen there are a lot of consumer electronic reviews on Youtube and other sites, these would be really cool if you could have on your site. But maybe you could give something back to the users if we publish our materials on your site.

I really like the idea of this site, the user interaction

[Stefan]

Lindsay: I think we will follow the development closely and see how different revenue split programs work. As it seems now the top Youtube users isn't getting that much revenue so I'm not sure if it does more harm than good.

The issue of revenue sharing has many parts to consider and is fairly complex and in the end if the users isn't getting back as much as they think they deserve they will end up being dissatisfied and that’s the last thing we want.

The main thing here with TestFreaks is still that “nothing is impossible” but we will have to wait a while and see how things develop and if we would in a future version of TestFreaks like to implement something like this we want it to truly benefit our users.

It’s good to hear that you appreciate our effort to discuss all the parts of our site with the users since we are making the site for you guys and not for our selves