Why would any company want to use my account with so few followers and only a few pictures to represent their brand? Every offer I got I looked into individually as I didn't want to rule out anyone unnecessarily. But so far to this day, I haven't accepted a single offer. This isn't me been fussy or thinking Cooper is 'above' any brand, it's down to one thing... Everything involved me parting with money. 

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I wasn't a complete stranger to the premise, a few clothing companies have approached me before on my personal account with a similar set up. They offer you a 'discount' or a 'start up pack' to buy, and then you get a link to give to your followers, and whatever they buy, you get a cut from... 

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The premise sounds good at first, but often when you break it down, the chances of you ever making your money back is so slim, so unless you're actually interested in the product it's not worthwhile. Although saying that, even if you do like the product, if it's something standard, compare the prices elsewhere. Almost all of the companies that have approached Cooper's Instagram have such highly inflated prices that by the time you use your 'influencer discount', they're often still the same price as elsewhere. 

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If I thought people actually cared what Cooper did or wore, then sure it may be worthwhile, but the reality is, unless you really take off on Insta, your likes and followers will most likely come from people who want you to like/follow them back- they aren't going to be clicking on your links.

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You may be thinking...well smaller companies can't afford to give away free stuff... Which I completely understand and will get to later. HOWEVER, when I looked into the companies who messaged Cooper, I found that the companies 'reps' are commenting on over 100 accounts every day offering these special 'influencer' rates...some of them with minimum spends. If only 10 of those 100 took them up on the offer with a minimum of a £50 spend 'but discounted', that company could be bringing in £500 per rep per day. To me that is NOT a sponsorship or reciprocal deal, that is them taking advantage of people wanting to be sponsored or linked with companies. 

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Another thing to be wary of, and this could be my scepticism coming through...but a few small brands have contacted me and asked if Cooper could model something for them, i.e. a bandana or collar. They then, on accepting, say that you can have the product for free, but you need to pay the postage. Again, going back to the 'small business' dilemma, every company who said this, I gave the benefit of the doubt to and asked the postage rates and what their PayPal account was. Every one replied with a postage rate of between £10-£15 and said that they don't take PayPal. MASSIVE RED FLAG. 

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1. If they're sending you something as small as a bandana or collar, unless it was coming in a gold carriage, the postage would not be that much. If the postage seems excessive, rethink. 

2. If it's a serious business venture they would have some safe way of accepting payments- even if it was from a personal PayPal account (which are free!). Never transfer money direct to someone because if they don't follow through on their end of the deal, it's going to be you that's out of pocket. At least if it goes through PayPal or you pay via credit card, if they don't send you the product you can claim your money back.

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Now to put the shoe on the other foot. Not all companies are operating in this way, which is why I'd just say do your research before accepting any of these 'influencer/brand representative' deals. Some small companies do not have the money to pay what the larger influencers would charge to promote their products so they may genuinely be looking for people to help promote their products. This I am totally for. Everyone has got to start somewhere and helping each other out is a great way of doing it. Leading onto my final little rant...

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This is a bug bear of mine and it winds me up every time I see it happening. Please, please, please, do NOT pester small companies for 'freebies' in return for you posting a picture. If you have a good enough following to help a company, the companies will be coming to you. You'd be amazed now at how many companies track social media accounts, even if they're not following you. They can also track if your followers are real, if your following is all reciprocal, and how much people actually engage with your site. As much as we'd all like lots of free dog stuff, it's not fair to get it at the expense of smaller brands and shops still trying to pave their way into the industry. A lot of smaller brands run competitions to win free stuff- enter away and maybe when they grow they'll contact you.

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Anyway, I've waffled on for enough. I hope it's helped in some way! Scammers do my head in and if reading this saves even one person from been scammed it will be worth it!