MoolaVine Review [Affiliate Marketing Without A Website]

MoolaVine has been steadily popular among my clients. I hear that they make good money from it. It's not a scam, no. It's a commission-sharing chain program, it's interesting, it's free to join, and the method is approved by ClickBank and JVZoo (apparently), two major affiliate networks. But you'll have to spend money to make it work. My MoolaVine review will explain who it's suitable for and how useful it can be (or not at all).

MoolaVine - How Does It Work?

Here's how it works.

1. I have a MoolaVine account and refer it to you. You join MoolaVine for free and become my referral. I'm your referrer.
2. You buy a product from ClickBank or JVZoo (yes, buy something. Anything!)
3. But you don't just buy it directly from them. First, you find a product that you want to buy and request for a "link".
4. I get a notification, so I provide you a link, which is my affiliate link. You buy it through the link, so I will receive a commission. Thank you.
5. Now you do the same to others. First join ClickBank and JVZoo affiliate programs respectively if you haven't. Refer MoolaVine to other people.
6. Your referral finds a product to buy from CB or JVZ, request for your affiliate link. You give them your link, they make a purchase and you'll receive a commission.
7. The more referrals you have, the more commissions you'll get. Potentially. That's the idea.

But why would you buy something via my affiliate link to let me win? Why would you buy anything in the first place? Because that's how you can become eligible, explained below.

Eligibility Rule

You have to buy something via your referrer's affiliate link to enable your own referral system work. And it's time sensitive. This is how it works;

1. If a product you purchased (from your referrer's affiliate link) is $17, you'll receive 17 "Green Day" points.
2. A point will be deducted each day from your MoolaVine account. Means your account is in "Green" for 17 days.
3. You are only eligible to monetize (i.e. receive commissions from your referrals' purchases) while your account is in the green.
4. In this case, if one of your referrals want to purchase a product on the 18th day (i.e. your account's gone back in the red) you won't be able to provide your affiliate link to that person.
5. So if you want to qualify for receiving your affiliate commissions at all times, you should keep buying something via your referrer's link and maintain your account in the green. $1 = day, means you'll be spending $30 per month / $365 per year on ClickBank/JVZoo products.

Usability

MoolaVine is simple, easily navigable and easy to understand. The creator Bryan leaves helpful tips here and there. I like the fact that it's not overhyped and the system is transparent.

How Much Can You Make?

How much you can potentially make depends how many people you can refer to, and how many of them stay active in this "MoolaVine Chain", i.e. keep buying stuff from ClickBank/JVZoo via your affiliate link to keep their account in the green.

CB/JVZ commission rates vary anywhere around 30%-70%. Your referral will spend $30 per month, then you'll receive a commission of somewhere between $9-$21.

Say, the commissions are all 50%, then each of your referral spends $30 per month, and you'll receive $15 per month. If you have 100 active referrals, your potential income will be $150 per month. If you have 1,000 active referrals, your potential income will be $1,500 per month.

Of course, that's the most optimistic scenario. If you get hundreds of people to sign up for free but none of them makes any purchases and stays inactive then, you won't make any money.

Unlimited Green Day Plan

If you don't want to purchase anything, there is a way to keep your MoolaVine account in the green and monetized. Join the "Unlimited Green Day Plan" by paying $30 per month.

And if any of your referrals join the unlimited plan, you'll also receive $10 per month per referral. This seems fair, because as I mentioned earlier, if each of your referral purchases CB/JVZ products, your monthly commission will be anywhere between $9-$21.

Similar To Pyramid Scheme

The only criticism of Unlimited Green Plan I can think is that this plan is making the system similar to a pyramid scheme. No multi-levels, but in the sense that paying a membership fee in order to receive a commission on someone else's membership fee. Effectively, you'll be paying $20 to MoolaVine and $10 to your referrer, and if any of your downlines joins the Unlimited plan, they'll do the same - pay $20 to MoolaVine and $10 to you, for the sake of the chain.

How You Can Advertise

Upon joining MoolaVine, you'll be given your unique referral link which you can promote in any way you want to - via social media, to your own email subscribers, use solo ad traffic services.

There are also some banners that are ready for you to use, and there are over 100 suggested advertising sites that you can place your ads (some free, some paid).

MoolaVine also offers a solo ad traffic service ("MV Traffic Share"). You pay $40 every month, and it will advertise your referral link on your behalf once a month for you. It says it guarantees some signups but it cannot guarantee the minimum number, which sounds fair enough. It will send follow-up emails to your referrals for you, which is a good bonus extra.

Once you start to take the MV Traffic Share service, $40 will automatically be charged to your card account every month, but you can cancel it any time.

If I paid $40 to a solo ad traffic vendor, I'd expect him to deliver 100+ clicks and around 35-40% opt-ins (35-40 signups). I would say, if MV Traffic Share can give you 40 referrals then that's great. But remember, having referrals doesn't mean you'll make money. If none of them purchases CB/JVZ products via your affiliate link or become an Unlimited member, you won't receive your commission.

Purchasing Products

I personally like to try out products from ClickBank and JVZoo and there's always something that I can buy (unless it a scam! Then I'll ask for a refund. And write a "scam exposed" review!) Both networks sell a lot of internet marketing / e-business related products, but not exclusively. They do sell some pretty innovative household items, and also a lot of health-related products, so you might want to take a good look if you haven't already. You can access the sites directly or access from your MoolaVine dashboard.

Requesting A Link / Providing Your Affiliate Link

Once you've found a product that you buy, you request your referrer for a link, and it can be an annoying experience if your referrer doesn't respond quickly. Because with a digital product especially, you want to receive it whenever you decide to buy it!

Equally, if your downline requests a link you'll receive an email notification from MoolaVine, so you might want to take action quickly. It's easy and instant to get your affiliate link from ClickBank, but it can take up to a few days from JVZoo (depending on the seller who lists the product).

Your Referrals Have To Be Affiliate Marketers

I think this is the most tricky bit. If you want your Moolavine chain to be your sustainable income source, you have to refer to people who already have some level of knowledge in affiliate marketing.

If they are not confident in their prospect search, they won't purchase any products in the first place. If they're brand new to the business, they might need to learn very basic stuff, for example how to get their own affiliate link. If they struggle to understand that they'll likely to have to buy traffic (i.e. spend more money), they'll soon give up. So they might buy something once in the beginning, then leave.