The master resell rights (MRR) business model involves selling a digital product to a reseller. Alternatively, affiliate marketing involves promoting products and earning a commission for each sale you make. Here are the differences between master resell rights vs affiliate marketing:
Master Resell Rights
$10 - $500 investment.
100% profit.
Control over pricing and product.
Full management: marketing, sales, support, and distribution.
Purchase product, set up platform, customize sales pages, and manage service.
Quick earning: high demand for digital products, especially online courses.
Need high-quality product and strong marketing skills.
Affiliate Marketing
No investment.
5% - 40% commission.
No control over pricing and product.
Promotion only: the company handles the rest.
Join program, get link, and promote.
Slow earning: relies on niche influence.
Need patience, trust with audience, and adaptability to changing terms.
Jonathan Seller earned $15,000 in his first month of selling MRR. He says the key was selling an online course he was passionate about. It also had to be high quality. Since most of his audience was on Instagram, he immediately started posting there. Using his strong marketing skills, he generated over 600 new leads for the course.
Kirsty McCubbin is one successful affiliate marketer. Her affiliate journey began in 2003 after working as an SEO specialist. She built an online business promoting products in niches like travel and finance. Kirsty earns over $1 million from affiliate marketing. This is thanks to her skills in SEO, PPC, and content creation. Today, she runs several successful websites, such as Affiliate Stuff, and enjoys time with her family.
Both MRR and affiliate marketing are relatively low-risk. With both, you can make good money if you have a strong influence in your niche. However, both master resell rights and affiliate marketing come with challenges. a Reddit user says that MRR is already super crowded:
Another Reddit user shared that they focused too much on producing affiliate content without considering the quality. It was only when they switched to high-value content that they started earning:
The goal of both MRR and affiliate marketing is generating passive income. Over the years, I've tried many online business models in search of the purest passive model. Both MRR and affiliate marketing require hours of marketing every single week to remain profitable.
In this article, I’ll break down major differences between master resell rights and affiliate marketing. I'll also highlight the pros, cons, and top reviews.
1. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Business Nature
MRR is buying the rights to resell a digital product (like e-books, software, or courses) as is. The rights to a product can differ, usually outlined in a license agreement. This includes distribution channels, bundling, price limits, modifications, and any other restrictions. However, you get 100% of the profit by selling the product. Also, part of the value your buyers get is the right to resell it themselves.
Affiliate marketing is promoting a company's product or service through referral links. When someone clicks your link and makes a purchase or signs up, you earn a commission. This is typically a percentage of the sale or a flat fee. You don't handle the product or service. Your main job is to get people to click and buy.
2. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Beginner Friendliness
MRR isn't the best for complete beginners. This is because you need to have a business mindset and invest upfront in a digital product. You're the one who handles customer support, refunds, and marketing. You also have to manage pricing, sales platforms, and technical setups like payments. These tasks can be overwhelming for someone without experience.
Affiliate marketing is more beginner-friendly. Your only focus is on promoting a product or service and driving traffic. You don't have to deal with business operations. You don't even need to make any initial investment to get started. This makes it less overwhelming for newcomers.
3. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Cost & Investment
The cost associated with master resell rights can range anywhere from $10 to $500, depending on the product you buy. MRR products like e-books and templates are much cheaper at around $10 to $50. Courses and software tend to reach hundreds of dollars. For example, The Roadmap to Riches course is $497. Some platforms offer membership packages. This gives you access to entire libraries of products for around $19 per month or a one-time payment of $97 to $200. Of course, these prices don't consider your marketing efforts, which can cost $5 to $1,000.
Affiliate marketing is free as it doesn't cost anything to join an affiliate program. But for the most part, affiliate marketers like to spend a bit on marketing. For example, a website or blog needs domain and web hosting, costing $10-$15/year and $3-$10/month respectively. Ads are also important to reach an audience - this is anywhere from less than a dollar to $20 a day. Email marketing tools range from $12 to $100 a month. It's significantly cheaper than MRR.
4. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Potential Profit
MRR stands out due to its potential for higher profits and quicker returns. You can sell the same product to several buyers without additional effort. So if you buy an online course for $300 and sell it to 3 people at the same price, you've made double what you initially spent. And the money you earn is all yours. Some MRR agreements even let you sell for higher, increasing your profits even more. Pretty quickly, you'll be able to cover your investment.
Affiliate marketing can generate big profits. However, it's much slower since your income comes from commissions. If you're promoting pet food that costs $99 and you have a commission rate of 10%, you'll only get $9.90 per sale. You'll have to sell quite a lot of pet food to make it profitable. Plus, you only get a commission when a sale is made through your unique link and it's within the cookie timeframe.
5. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Sales Difficulty & Conversion
Although MRR has high returns, it may be harder to convince people to buy these digital products. The main reason is that they think they can find similar content for free online. Trust is a big factor as well as they won't be able to see the product until bought. Many can't justify the price, especially for the more expensive courses or software. The bright side is that the buyers can resell the product and earn high profits themselves.
Affiliate marketing earns less per sale, but it's easier to attract buyers. You can promote a product or service in a very common niche, including health, beauty, and travel. What's more, many affiliate programs are from well-known brands. People are always willing to spend on things they already want or need. Your role is to simply connect them to the brand or seller, making conversions simpler.
6. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Product Variety
With master resell rights, you can buy and sell various digital products. Here are the most common products:
- E-books
- Software
- Video courses
- Membership sites
- Audio files
- Graphics and design assets
- Templates
- Articles and blog content
- Webinars and tutorials
- Email marketing campaigns
- PLR (Private Label Rights) products
- Marketing tools
With affiliate marketing, you can promote any affiliate product or service across different industries. Here are some of the most common categories:
- Physical products (electronics, apparel)
- Digital products (online courses, apps)
- Financial products (credit cards)
- Travel and hospitality (hotel bookings, flights)
- Web hosting and domain services
- Health and wellness (fitness programs, medical services)
- Marketing tools
- Streaming services
- Security products
- Real estate
7. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Product Control
Master resell rights give you more control over the product. You can resell it, set your price, distribute it freely, and offer resell rights to others. If you sell a product with Private Label Rights (PLR), you can even rebrand and customize the product as your own. MRR lets you sell a product as if it’s yours, without the hassle or expense of product development.
Affiliate marketing gives you no control over the product or service. You're not running your own business. You're simply recommending someone else's product and earning a commission when people buy it.
8. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Operational Responsibility
MRR is like running your own e-commerce business. You're in charge of the sales platform, customer service, refunds, and issues that come up after the sale. You'll also handle marketing, sales tracking, and making sure customers access the product.
Affiliate marketing doesn't handle customer service, inventory, or delivery - just the promotion. You don't even need to worry about creating and managing sales platforms or pages.
9. MRR vs Affiliate Marketing: Setup
Setting up an MRR business requires more hands-on involvement. Besides buying a product with resell rights, you'll need to establish a sales platform. This can be a website, an e-commerce store, or a sales funnel. It's important to have compelling copy and design on your sales pages. You'll also have to prepare customer support, transaction handling, and product delivery. Developing a marketing strategy to promote your product is also crucial. It's a more complex but rewarding business model.
Becoming an affiliate marketer has a much simpler setup process. You first join an affiliate program and get your unique referral link. You can then promote your link on a website, blog, or social media platform. You don't need any advanced technical expertise. You only need to know how to promote a product effectively. It's a straightforward and accessible way to start earning commissions online.
Master Resell Rights vs Affiliate Marketing: Pros & Cons
Master Resell Rights Pros
MRR allows you to run a business without creating or managing a product.
You hold resell rights to the product, which can be a valuable long-term asset in your business portfolio.
You can use the product (like studying an online course about digital marketing) and resell it using your new knowledge.
You have control over the pricing and can keep 100% of the revenue from each sale.
You can package products together for a more unique offering.
Affiliate Marketing Pros
You can start without upfront costs, business operation skills, or technical expertise.
You can promote a variety of products within the same niche or across multiple niches, creating diverse streams of income.
Once you've set up effective marketing strategies like SEO and email campaigns, you can enjoy passive income as these continue to drive traffic and sales over time without requiring constant effort.
You can easily switch the affiliate products that don't meet your audience's preferences.
Many successful affiliate marketers prove it works and can lead to significant earnings.
Master Resell Rights Cons
There's financial risk involved in purchasing products that may not sell, especially for beginners with no marketing skills.
Since all buyers can resell the same product, the market can quickly become saturated, causing the product to lose value.
MRR requires consistent active engagement (sales, customer service, marketing) to keep profits coming.
Some people view MRR products as a scam, believing that they are being sold for profit, without regard for their quality or value.
You don't have any say in the product content and quality unless it's with a Private Label Rights (PLR).
Affiliate Marketing Cons
Your income heavily relies on the merchant's commission rates and continuation of products.
Many affiliate niches are highly competitive, making it harder to rank content and drive traffic to your links.
You must convince people to buy a product before the link cookies expire and you lose out on commissions.
Since you only earn a percentage of the sale, it takes a lot more time and effort to gain profits.
You can't build your own customer base or brand loyalty as you're driving traffic to someone else’s product.
Is Master Resell Rights a Pyramid Scheme or MLM?
Master resell rights is not a pyramid scheme or MLM. This is because, though you keep 100% of your profits, you don’t make money by recruiting others. So it isn't illegal. However, you must always stick to the product creator’s license agreement. This usually includes restrictions on modification and rebranding, pricing limits, or ownership claims. If you don’t obey, you could lose your rights to sell the product or face legal action.
Although MRR is legal, many people on Reddit and YouTube say it's a complete scam with no value.
Another person on Quora compares master resell rights to the flea market of the internet. They say you go and find a product you love. You can enjoy it for a time, and then resell it to someone else.
Moccee Lawme turned her $497 MRR investment in the Roadmap to Riches course into a profit. The course taught her all she needed to know about digital marketing. With her newfound knowledge, she convinced others to buy the online course from her. She claims that she earned a profit of $1,500 from it.
Chalene and Brock Johnson, a mother and son duo, have a middle-ground stance on MRR. In their Build Your Tribe podcast, they agree that it isn't a pyramid scheme or MLM. In fact, they like the idea of being able to sell a digital product without creating it. What they don't like is how it's often marketed. They say many sellers don't fully understand the product they're offering - some don't even check it out. They simply sell it to earn profit. To avoid this, they advise researching MRRs that you believe in instead of following the hype.
Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam?
Affiliate marketing is not a scam. You often hear about many successful affiliate marketers. Pat Flynn is a well-known figure who earns over $3M from affiliate income alone. He shares tips and tricks for success through his Smart Passive Income blog and YouTube.
Michael Rogers is another successful affiliate marketer. He promoted certified online driving courses and later branched out to other niches. Just recently, he released his affiliate earnings from January to September 2023. He earned $145,171 from commissions. Here’s a screenshot from his website Affiliate Marketer Training:
Users from Reddit and Quora share their experience with affiliate marketing. One person says they enjoyed $7k commissions for several months before dropping to $2K. Pradeep from Quora says he earned $55K in a single month for 7 months.
However, there are people who say that affiliate marketing in 2024 isn't as lucrative as it used to be. A Redditor noted that Google now prioritizes news and forum sites, causing affiliate websites to drop rankings.
Another person says it's much harder starting from scratch than a few years ago. People must find a way to stand out as so many others are doing the same thing. They also note that it will take time and effort to succeed in affiliate marketing.
One affiliate marketer worries about the unpredictability of affiliate marketing's future, especially with the impact of AI. He says that you can lose everything overnight and that people shouldn't risk it in 2024.
Master Resell Rights vs Affiliate Marketing: Which is the Best Online Business to Start in 2024
Affiliate marketing is the best online business to start in 2024 if you're a beginner. It’s well-established, making it easy to learn. You also only focus on promoting products from trusted companies. Plus, most programs give you marketing materials to help you get started quickly. But there are a few challenges. You only earn commissions. You’ll need many sales to earn big. Some companies can change commission rates or stop a product, cutting off your income. Competition is also high, so standing out can be tough. Finally, building trust with your audience takes time.
The master resell rights model is a good online business if you already have authority in your niche and strong marketing skills. Since you’re selling a product directly, your followers are more likely to buy if they already trust you. The best part is that you can get a return on investment (ROI) pretty quickly as you keep 100% of the profits from each sale. However, many master resell rights courses and products are low-quality or outdated. You must find a quality MRR product to avoid ruining your reputation. Worse, MRR is often mistaken for MLMs or pyramid schemes, making people skeptical about it. Master resell rights is oversaturated as lots of people buy the rights to the same product.
Why Local Lead Generation Is Better Than Master Resell Rights and Affiliate Marketing?
Local lead generation is better than master resell rights and affiliate marketing because:
Local lead generation starts with creating a home service website for a local area. For example, "Plumbing services in Sacramento, CA". You then rank the website through local SEO, using local keywords. Once it drives tons of visitors, you can rent it out to a local business within the same location and industry.
I've tried both master resell rights and affiliate marketing. Although I've earned a decent amount, I found local lead generation beats them by a mile. That's why I've put all my focus on this business model. I now rent out 10 service websites and earn an income stream of $50,000+ a month.
