Gets the same value in extra months free on the existing subscription.
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So a referral reward valuable enough that I want to give it, and someone else will want to receive it, but not valuable enough to create a black market.
What if:
The referral giver is never in possession of the referral code, but the code is sent to the new prospect directly from Hubitat. When I want to give a referral I must log in to a referal portal and enter the prospect's email. That way the code is tied to my account, but Hubitat maintains control over every code. I get credit, Hubitat can monitor and control the process, and there is no market because referal codes are one time use only.
That's exactly how the program is set up.
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Kinda love how this is shaping up, well done Bobby (and lots of good questions/comments from us civilians).
[Pssst, Bobby, I'll refer you if you'll refer me. Keep this on the down-low, of course. It's the perfect crime, we'll make...]
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Yes, the new friends and family offering is great for friends and family, who will give you their email without question (you probably already have it). My point was about expanding on that to refer people who probably don't want to give out their email to strangers. It doesn't really matter if we know what the codes are if they are one time use, they expire, and they are tied to an actual Hubitat user who requested them to get the referral bonus.
If I convince someone on the internet to buy a hub, just because I like using Hubitat, it shouldn't really matter if they are friend or family or not, I was still involved in their decision to buy a new Hubitat hub from Hubitat.
As is, I recommend Hubitat in a smart home forum to people looking for a new hub choice, and people just assume I'm getting a kickback when I actually am not. If people are going to think that anyway, I thought maybe there should be a way to actually get something for doing it.
I don't need this to happen. I can afford my subscriptions just fine and I will continue to recommend Hubitat, but I thought that it could be a good for Hubitat to sell more hubs , as it gives an incentive for all Hubitat users to recommend Hubitat to people outside of just friends and family, specifically on social media.
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That’s a great idea! To prevent bots from exploiting the program, we could make the friend’s email optional, so that users could request a unique referral code sent directly to them, which they can then share with the person they’re referring to Hubitat—rather than us sending the code on their behalf.
May want to limit the number you can request then. Also highlight the one time use nature.
You do not want a bot request thousands of them and simply posting lists of codes.
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Yup. Just a few codes at a time would work. I think Hubitat would clearly see abuse arise in this system if it was attempted. The only bot that would be spamming codes around the internet would be one written by a Hubitat user, to get tons of free subscription time. There is no incentive for anyone except a Hubitat user with an account to send a code to someone, so the spammy user would be easy to spot, and the codes could be traced right back to them.
That could be condition of use when requesting a code. Abuse would kick you out of the referral system and take away any subscription time you got from referrals.
I would just request one code, after someone tells me they are now planning to buy a hub based on info I gave them about it. I wouldn't mention any codes until they already came around saying they want to buy a Hubitat hub, as it seems scammy to just say upfront, "Hubitat is great and I can get you 10% off a hub!"
I love it when people say , "Wow, I've never looked into Hubitat before, but with everything you told me about it, I think I'm going to go that way" - then I would DM a code.
I was looking for information about whether something like this existed and came across this thread. I'm going to give my honest opinion about this:
The wheel turns and is round, it's as simple as that, so why do you want to design a square one?
What about spam, what about bad videos on YouTube (as if it weren't already full of them), what about this problem, what about that other problem... really, guys?
There is one reality that is set in stone: if HE doesn't sell more and more, this beautiful project will cease to exist as the business that it is, after all.
There is nothing wrong with marketing. Referral links are one of the techniques that attract the most users, and we have no reason to limit them.
I understand that if it's bots, or AI, or whatever... come on! network administrators don't quite understand that the day these things are gone, they'll be out of a job (a problem-free network doesn't need anyone to take care of it).
That said, I ask you: how many of you have made a YouTube video promoting something? (I'm not referring to the Hubitat team.) It's one of the most difficult things to do, not only because of the cost of buying the equipment and other expenses, but also because of the charisma and communication skills required.
So, those who attract customers should be fairly rewarded, as this helps us grow as a community and helps HE employees earn more. Everyone wins.
Would I like the incentive to be money? Of course... doing all that costs money, and what better incentive than that? Personally, cloud backups don't appeal to me. In fact, I chose Hubitat for its potential to work offline and online, but mainly for the offline aspect.
The truth is that I have always thought that HE's marketing is poor because I don't think there is a better Hub out there, yet the vast majority of people are unaware of it, especially outside North America.
If they ever decide to set up a real referral system that is worthwhile for the HE team but also for us, let me know... I'll be the first to start sharing my good experiences.
Sorry for my english.. I know is NOT the best. 
It's possible you didn't read through the thread.
Yes, I read but it says: You get a free 1-year Cloud Backup
I am not interested on Cloud Backups... I manage that on my own as Internet is a nightmare here and t install HE in places where there is no internet it has no sense.
One of the main powers HE has is the ability to work offline... I have like 5 PC at home.. why should I spend any money on the cloud when I can download a backup locally and make a copy to all my PCs?
But even if I will be interested... this is just only one time reward.
I'm a seller daily and I use to sell more 4 million per year... sellers need motivation to sell otherwise.....you know.
Ok, we will all like you more if you sell Hubitat. Is that motivating?
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The main reason for most people is to be able to save Zigbee and Zwave data for a full hub restore. I don't know why we do not get local backups that include radio data, along with a paid subscription to cloud backups. It seems like part of that subscription is simply the ability to backup Zwave and Zigbee data, so why limit that to just the cloud?
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IIRC it was challenging to devise a completely local restore solution for the zigbee radio, so the cloud-based approach is what they came up with.
I didn't know that... but anyway be straight with me.. how many times did you needed that? HE is trust-able 100% so far to me.
To pair the devices again is just a few minutes process.
But I have nothing against cloud backups...
I am just saying is not a good incentive to make marketing for this projects, the cost rewards is not fair.
So, does one determine what is fair or not?
Really?
We are talking about to grow a project here not how to be important.
I'm just saying that promoting something is not easy. It may seem like it is, but believe me, it's not.
Equipment, stages, etc. are expensive, and it takes a lot of time to prepare and edit videos or whatever else you do to promote something.
I wouldn't dare say how much would be fair, financially speaking, but nowadays motivated salespeople make up to 2-10% in some cases. I'm not saying that's the amount here, I'm just mentioning it as an example. Those salespeople are the ones who perform best because they are motivated, and whether you like it or not, that's how the world works, and in my personal opinion, it's the right thing to do.
Check this example: Affiliate-Program - Costway
Let's think about whether it's fair for a person to promote a product and, thanks to their work, attract 500K new customers, all for 0.00 USD.
I respect your opinion, but I don't understand why you want to go against something that is so normal nowadays.
I think you are misunderstanding what I wrote. I asked a question, which you’ve not really addressed. So let me rephrase it - how much business ($$) would your efforts generate? And what would think is fair compensation for that?
There are Hubitat resellers ….
Ho sorry... remember my English is not the best.
How much business ($$) would your efforts generate? It's a difficult question to answer because there are many aspects to it, but let's look at an example:
I have friends with a YouTube channel with over 300K followers (they have more followers, and I have others with more followers, but just to give you an idea), and that's just on YouTube. Add to that Facebook, Instagram, TikTok (at least those I can remember), and I'm sure I could ask them to help me give visibility to a possible channel that shares real experiences of using Hubitat (I've always thought about that, especially for the Spanish-speaking market, where there isn't much information about this hub).
I think that in countries where the internet is poor, like mine, this hub would be a huge success. So, it's difficult to predict how much it could generate, but let's say that of those 300K, only 0.5% decide to purchase Hubitat, we would be talking about 1,500 new users... If a hub costs 100USD (I know it's more, but to make the calculations easier), that would be 150,000.00USD in sales for the project thanks to a single referral link. Imagine 50 people doing this.
In my case, if the referral system paid 1% of each sale (the example I sent from COSTWAY pays up to 10%), we would be talking about 1,500USD, which could grow depending on what can be achieved.
These numbers are just to give you an idea... everyone wins...
Of course, that 0.5% is actually perhaps lower, but it could well be higher if the marketing is directed at a suitable market, such as country homes where the internet is poor or towns where the electricity supply is inconsistent, such as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, etc.
As I said, there are many aspects to this; it all depends on how good a salesperson you are.