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Guest

Posted
Posted

Dear ODP Editors:

 

We have submitted this website, www.bdtzone.com, under the

Recreation > Drugs > Suppliers and Shops > Detox Products category at least 2-3 months ago, but to no avail.

 

According to our records, we may have resubmitted an additional time, which also went unanswered.

 

All descriptions, correspondence, etc. was done very accurately, politely, and such, so if any ODP editor here that'd be so kind as to look into this for us, we'd greatly appreciate it.

 

Special thanks to Vince, for pointing us to this forum. ODP has an outstanding crew of editors working for them, and we admire and respect your efforts.

 

Thanks again, and looking forward to response.

 

Respectfully Yours,

 

Steven

Webmaster (West Coast)

BDTZone.com

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Dear Sir:

 

Thank you for the reply. Please note that www.BDTZone.com is not (nor ever has been) an affiliate website. The website distributes products by a major manufacture the same way buy.com distributes Sony electronics, but in no way is www.bdtzone.com a simple affiliate website. <img src="/images/icons/confused.gif" alt="" />

 

We have our own secured online store, hundreds of customers, and an enormous number of pages with free content for visitors.

 

With all due respect, we are very curious to know why www.bdtzone.com was considered an affiliate website. If this ruling was an accidental mistake, we certainly understand and have no ill will towards ODP for the mistake, but would like the website to be reviewed properly and listed in the ODP directory.

 

Thanks again, sir, and looking forward to hearing from you soon. We appreciate your diligent support regarding our inquiry. <img src="/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

 

Respectfully Yours,

 

Steven

BDTZone.com Webmaster (West Coast)

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Dear kctipton:

 

Thank you for your prompt reply.

 

Certainly, I'll be happy to discuss the difference between www.BDTZone.com and the Clear Choice company & website (www.TestNegative.com), the first site listed in the URL you provided (http://search.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/search?search=clear+choice), in addition to the entire issue at hand.

 

First and foremost, www.TestNegative.com (or just about any of those sites listed for that matter) is a totally separate company from BDTZone's. In this case, www.TestNegative.com, is owned by Health Tech (d/b/a "Clear Choice"). Note that Clear Choice is a brand name sold in several countries, both online and in brick and mortar stores. BDTZone is not owned by Clear Choice.

 

www.BDTZone.com, on the other hand, is owned by Division One Concepts, LLC, an entirely different company. We are a licensed distributor of Health Tech / Clear Choice's products. You'll find this to be the case for every company listed in the Recreation > Drugs > Suppliers and Shops > Detox Products category that markets Clear Choice's detox products.

 

By now, I'm sure you guys can see the difference. As described in our previous post, Buy.com sells a myriad of consumer electronics from brand name companies, such as SONY. However, this of course does not mean Buy.com is an affiliate webpage of SONY or any other company's products they market.

 

Take this analogy, and you'll have the exact relationship Division One Concepts, LLC, has with Clear Choice (d/b/a Health Tech).

 

BDTZone.com has its own secured (SSL) area for its extremely large and robust shopping cart that sells Clear Choice's detox products at its own price, shipping costs, and so forth.

 

BDTZone is clearly its own website; not an affiliate website. We market the products and generate income from our own warehoused inventory. This is not a setup where we refer traffic to Clear Choice's website (www.testnegative.com) or any other website, and make a percentage.

 

With that said, please feel free to browse www.BDTZone.com and see for yourselves that the claims made herein are 100% accurate. However, we do understand the confusion caused by our promotion of Clear Choice's products, and if we may indeed be an affiliate of theirs. I'm sure this letter has clarified all issues. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

 

In closing, we feel that since we are a distributor with our own website, identity, company, and a vast array of information that deals with detox products, drug testing, et al., then BDTZone.com should therefore be listed in the requested ODP category of

Recreation > Drugs > Suppliers and Shops > Detox Products with its Clear Choice distributor & detox product peers.

 

On behalf of everyone here at Division One Concepts, LLC, thank you for helping us straighten things out pursuant to

our clarification issue. We look forward to joining the growing ODP family.

 

Sincerely Yours,

 

Steven

Webmaster (West Coast)

BDTZone.com

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Dear beebware:

 

Thanks for the post. We carry the full line of Clear Choice products, as do all distributors. I believe there may be a product or two not listed on Clear Choice's website at www.testnegative.com, but am not certain.

 

Irrespective of whether or not Clear Choice sells their full line on their website, with all due respect, it's not the point any more or so we would assume.

 

Simply put, we are not an affiliate, nor are we the same company. If my tone is a bit frustrated, my sincere apologies, as it is not intentionally directed at anyone here. We all know and respect the fact that you folks work very hard for free on ODP. We are just a little confused as to the line of questioning at this stage where we’ve supplied more than sufficient evidence pursuant to our inquiry. If one were to glance at the category we requested a listing in, they’d clearly see that nearly 99% of the site listings are by Clear Choice distributors like ourselves. For those that aren’t selling Clear Choice, they’re selling a competitors brand. There’s not the frequency variance you may be alluding to. All of these websites, and including ours, are similar. See: http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Drugs/Suppliers_and_Shops/Detox_Products

 

We hope to have cleared up the issue that prevented us from being listed in ODP in the first place (suspected of being part of the Clear Choice company or an affiliate), and can look forward to suggestions by the ODP editors on resubmitting or another evaluation.

 

Respectfully Yours,

 

Steven

Webmaster (West Coast)

BDTZone.com

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Dear JustBrowsing,

 

Please do not insinuate these sort of defamatory allegations, because they are patently false. We have no association with that website or company. I am disappointed with the direction this discussion is going in. I sincerely hope the reason ODP denied our listing is not due to this absurd belief.

 

I feel it is time an ODP editor stepped in to assist us with our inquiry. We've done nearly everything we can do, and prefer to forgo any dialogue with members of this forum who wish to argue or falsely accuse us of wrong doing.

 

Thank you.

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Mail Boxes Etc. #3713

 

2953 BIENVILLE BLVD., OCEAN SPRINGS, 39564 Mississippi, United States

 

Tel. (228)875-5616

Fax. (228)875-9891

 

So there is possibly just the mailing addresses in common.

 

Irrespective of whether or not Clear Choice sells their full line on their website, with all due respect, it's not the point any more or so we would assume.

 

Assume wrongly in this case. If Clear Choice sell all the range on their web site your site does not provide UNIQUE content. This is the sticking point here. If your company sells multiple products from multiple vendors and there is a synergy and or pricing benefit to be gained by using your site then it provides unique content and may qualify for listing. If you merely have the same products available from the main supplier at the same prices and offer no additional unique user information, the site does not qualify for listing.

 

Note I have not reviewed the site, and as I do not edit in this part of the tree see no point in me doing so.

 

This is general information and not directed at anything I can see regarding your site.

<img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Dear gimmster:

 

Thanks for the kind post. With respect to the unique content and such, BDTZone has that in spades, and is undoubtedly worthy of an ODP listing -- certainly not an affiliate regardless of what products we distribute or unconventional conspiracy theories derived from our mail center. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

 

But, this is the rub. The editor of the category, rd400d77, must have glanced at the website and thought it was an affiliate spam page. The question is, how can I get him to review it properly, and thus obtain a listing? My supervisor contacted rd400d77 directly, which he replied, and recommended we visit this forum for further assistance.

 

I wish there was something that could be done with rd400d77 and our situation. Do you think he may be reading this by chance?

 

Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts, Gimmster. Glad to see there are some level headed members--and more importantly, editors--overseeing this forum. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

One question would be ?

 

Division One Concepts, LLC.

2953 Bienville Blvd.

PMB 270

Ocean Springs, MS 39564

 

Corporate Inquiries corp@bdtzone.com">corp@bdtzone.com</a>

Question about your order <a href="mailto:sales@bdtzone.com">sales@bdtzone.com</a>

Customer Service <a href="mailto:help@bdtzone.com">help@bdtzone.com</a>

Website related issues <a href="mailto:web@bdtzone.com">web@bdtzone.com</a>

Link Exchange <a href="mailto:links@bdtzone.com">links@bdtzone.com</a>

Affiliate Marketing Help <a href="mailto:marketing@bdtzone.com

 

Why do you have an E-mail address for affiliate marketing help? <img src="/images/icons/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Please let's keep the discussion to the point <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

 

Sites are added to the ODP if they offer unique content. Sites offering the same range of products, or a subset of a given range of products, which can be already found in the manufacturer's (or main distributor, importer, etc.) site, with no differences in prices, packages, etc, are not listed in the ODP and are called "affiliate sites". Notice that the term "affiliate", which is probably confusing you for its sort of a "negative sound", just means for us that there's no difference in the content offered between the manuifacturer's and the vendor's site.

 

We actually don't care much about whether a site is owned by a different company, has its own secured area, own warehouse, etc.; we do care instead about the surfer's experience. In fact, from a surfer's (and editor's) point of view if a website sells multiple products from multiple vendors and there is a synergy and or pricing benefit to be gained by using that site, then said site provides unique content and may qualify for listing. If a site just offers the same range of products, same prices, same packages, etc., with no additional useful unique content, there's no point in visiting it instead of visiting the "main" site.

 

Would you please therefore point us (as kctipton and beebware asked) to what kind of products are sold on your website that cannot be found on Clear Choice's website, and/or to which additional information your site does provide that cannot be found on Clear Choice's website? That is, could you elaborate on what a surfer can find on the site that makes your site different enough to be listed?

dfy Newbie

dfy

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

I don't know where you got rd400d77's name from, he's not listed as the editor of that category. It's not a good idea to accuse editors of anything if you're not sure that they have actually done it.

beebware Newbie

beebware

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Just agreeing with dfy here and in reference to BDTweb's post of the 29/08/02 at 12:28pm:

 

>> unique content and such, BDTZone has that in spades <<

 

Please point this out, because so far editors have not been able to 'see' all this unique content that you have.

 

>> undoubtedly worthy <<

 

Unfortently, we hear that from every webmaster/SEO out there. Very few people are willing to take a critical 'outsiders look' at their own site - especially where there is money involved...

 

>> how can I get him to review it properly, <<

 

You can't make any editor do anything. We know - we've tried! ODP does have an internal 'review board' (made up of 'meta editors' - but any editor or 'surfer' can report alledged problems) which, when it is suspected that something may be amiss, do examine editors editing records (which store a h--ll of a lot of information!), but even then we can't "force" an editor to anything - we can only stop them causing further damage and make suggestions on how they can improve.

 

>> I wish there was something that could be done with rd400d77 <<

 

If you honestly truly think that any editor is abusing their editing rights, please see http://dmoz.org/help/geninfo.html#abuse . But I've had a brief look into this, and I would say that there has been no abuse whatsover in relation to your site by any editor. To me, rd400d77 has been extremely helpful - editors are not forced to reply to submitters (sometimes we delibertly don't - but that's because people do get, erm, "extremely angry" when they find out their spam-filled page of adverts do not warrant a listing: mail-bombs, malicious mailing list subscriptions, personal attacks etc etc have all happened: all to people that willinging and freely volunteer their spare time to help make ODP better!)

 

>> Do you think he may be reading this by chance? <<

 

Possibly, but that doesn't mean that we would know...Hell- Steve Case or Bill Gates might be reading this (if so, guys - can you hurry up and send that million dollar cheque to me that you owe?)

 

As ettore said, can we please keep this on topic and try and avoid 'mudslinging' etc...

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Forgetting any reference to "affiliate" site, it appears that the site has been declined because the content isn't unique. I did see quite a bit of unique content at the site. The news articles are original, the content is original and there are products listed there that aren't listed at Clear Choice. In fact, it appears that the goal was to gain some of the brand recognition from a product that is an industry leader.

 

I also noticed two sites listed in ODP that sell exactly the same products and this editorial standard of "uniqueness" obviously wasn't applied in the same fashion to those sites.

 

If selling the same products for the same price is the only standard involved in declining the site then perhaps a hard look needs to be given to the thousands of sites listed in the ODP that do EXACTLY that.

 

If the name of the products were changed from Clear Choice to BDTZone would that affect the "uniqueness" of the site? Would the site suddenly become more "unique" by simply renaming the products? If so it would then appear that "branding" is the issue and not the content.

 

My only question I suppose is why two sites that sell Clear Choice products weren't held to the same standards?

 

BitBucket

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

I see that your unique content your reffering to is your news and top secret section.I think that if you added some more products besides clear choice like other maufacturers products maybe even add a forum for people to post veiws and topics and add a dash of editoral insight on drug testing and stuff like that I think you would be more unique and have an easier time getting it listed.

just some sugestions IMHO <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" />

Guest just_browsing

Guest just_browsing

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

Sites are added to the ODP if they offer unique content. Sites offering the same range of products, or a subset of a given range of products, which can be already found in the manufacturer's (or main distributor, importer, etc.) site, with no differences in prices, packages, etc, are not listed in the ODP and are called "affiliate sites". Notice that the term "affiliate", which is probably confusing you for its sort of a "negative sound", just means for us that there's no difference in the content offered between the manuifacturer's and the vendor's site.
As further evidence of this being an affiliate site, the purchaser, whatever they purchase, is told to send receipt back to Clear Choice - this is the ONLY return address given on this site. http://www.bdtzone.com/how_to_order.asp

In the unlikely event that the product does not work as instructed, we will need the following materials for refund evaluation and remittance:

An authentic hard copy of your failed drug test sent to the manufacture.

...

A receipt of your purchase from BDTZone. Copies are not allowed.

....

Send all above materials via certified mail to the manufacture at the following address:

Health Tech Returns Dept.

P. O. Box 689

Alpharetta, GA 30009The fact that both Division One Concepts, LLC (bdtzone.com) and Health Tech (clear choice) hide behind Box Number addresses, makes it impossible to say whether they are different companies or the same organisation.

 

But they both offer the same range of products and therefore fall into the "affiliate" category, regardless of whether or not they are the same company

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

In regaurds to affiliate programs bdtzone if I am not mistaken can be an affiliate and get a listing as long as it has enough unique content regardless of who's product it sells.Its up to them to decide how mutch time they want to put into branding and separating themselves from the rest of the pack that will determine weather they are

affiliates or bdtzone.com <img src="/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

  • Meta
hutcheson Newbie

hutcheson

Posted
  • Meta
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

>>I am not mistaken can be an affiliate and get a listing as long as it has enough unique content regardless of who's product it sells.

 

At this point, affiliate sales are not eligible for listing as shopping content, and they aren't any other kind of content.

 

If a site is primarily about something else, affiliate links on it may not keep it from being listed.

 

But a site that is primarily about "sales", "marketing", "promotioning", "branding", "different appearances", "audience targeting", "independent representativing", "advertising", or whatever else you want to call the practice of trying to persuade someone to buy something from someone else, isn't supposed to be listed. When we find one accidentally listed, we remove it.

 

Nor do we care about your business model -- you may get paid per doorway page, or click, or fixed fee per sale, or your own markup, or you can give clicks away to your brother-in-law. You may ship from your warehouse or from Mars. You may have more dummy corporations than Enron, or list the same anonymous Tampa, Florida P.O. Box on every single site. You can collect via PayPal, Visa, or only use couriers with brass knuckles and baseball bats. It doesn't matter.

 

I don't understand why this is so confusing.

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Re: http://www.bdtzone.com/

 

>>I don't understand why this is so confusing<< It is not confusing.confusing is what you consider affiliate is it AFF=345354 tags or is it I sell product x from company A and company A is already listed.Because it seems to change depending on how the topic goes .All this guy i think would have to do (im not an editor but) is put his bdt label on it and it would be unique.and to add to that>>We actually don't care much about whether a site is owned by a different company, has its own secured area, own warehouse, etc.; we do care instead about the surfer's experience. In fact, from a surfer's (and editor's) point of view if a website sells multiple products from multiple vendors and there is a synergy and or pricing benefit to be gained by using that site, then said site provides unique content and may qualify for listing.<<All he has to do would be to lower his price.and to add to that >>But a site that is primarily about "sales", "marketing", "promotioning", "branding", "different appearances", "audience targeting", "independent representativing", "advertising", or whatever else you want to call the practice of trying to persuade someone to buy something from someone else, isn't supposed to be listed. When we find one accidentally listed, we remove it.<<that is what modern america is about to today their is not to much unique product that individual companys make. It goes back to my first paragraph all he would have to do is

put his bdt label on it you guys would not know the difference.Companys do it all the time and alot are listed

in the ODP but iT falls down to unique content.going buy what you guys say .for instance i am a reseller of sun mircosystems because sun is listed in ODP that denies me of a listing . im not trying to cause problems im trying to understand thats all and i have no problems if you school me either <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" alt="" />

  • 3 weeks later...
Guest dalguard

Guest dalguard

Posted
Posted

I'm the editor in question. I have no idea where you got the other editor's name from. I received the email you sent but I don't respond to email from submitters (or accept bribes), so I'll answer you here.

 

There are dozens of sites that sell Clear Choice products and nothing but Clear Choice products. A decision had to be made to list all of them or none of them. I made the decision to list none of them, which was in keeping with our policy on affiliates.

 

I will agree that your site is better designed and contains more content than most Clear Choice vendors, but it still doesn't offer unique content. All that stuff about how drug tests work and how to pass them is on lots of other sites.

 

Yours was not the only site that was rejected under this criteria. (You mentioned that you found my Alternate URL bookmarks cat, so you know that's true.) But if I missed one, you can point it out.

 

In the meantime, the category has moved. It is now http://dmoz.org/Shopping/Recreation/Drugs/Detox_Products/ and is no longer under my control. If it were up to me, I still wouldn't list your site, but it isn't up to me anymore.

Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Who is in charge of the new category, because we resubmited the website after making appropriate changes for clear distinction between this affiliate website issue. Please let us know the status on it if you are able to.

 

Thanks!

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