Comments on: Is it fair for merchants to promote select affiliates? http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/ Discussion of Online Marketing, SEM, Social Media, Mobile and Video, Micro-Content, and Affiliate Marketing Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:59:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: EileenC http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3762 EileenC Mon, 14 May 2007 13:52:18 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3762 I ordered a "free sample" of Slimscript shakes last year (April 2006) which automatically signed me up for a monthly membership with Slimscript, that I promptly cancelled. I was refunded some of the money they charged me for the 1st month supply, but they wouldn't give me a full refund because somewhere in the fine print it says that I only had 14 days to cancel. Well, I just realized that I was also charged $71.88 last year and again this year by the insiders-club.com for a yearly membership. I didn't realize that I had joined this club when I sent for the free sample. When I inquired about the charge on my bank statement, the bank informed me to call the 800 number for freeshipping.com to investigate the charge. When I did, the customer service dept at freeshipping.com just told me that there was a popup when I first signed up for the "free sample" from Slimscript that automatically signed me up for this insiders-club. The insiders-club agreed to refund me $63.61; not the full $71.88 that I was just charged for the second time. So, my "free sample" from Slimscript has cost me over $90. Don't deal with any vendor who uses freeshipping.com!!!!!!!!!!! I ordered a "free sample" of Slimscript shakes last year (April 2006) which automatically signed me up for a monthly membership with Slimscript, that I promptly cancelled. I was refunded some of the money they charged me for the 1st month supply, but they wouldn't give me a full refund because somewhere in the fine print it says that I only had 14 days to cancel. Well, I just realized that I was also charged $71.88 last year and again this year by the insiders-club.com for a yearly membership. I didn't realize that I had joined this club when I sent for the free sample. When I inquired about the charge on my bank statement, the bank informed me to call the 800 number for freeshipping.com to investigate the charge. When I did, the customer service dept at freeshipping.com just told me that there was a popup when I first signed up for the "free sample" from Slimscript that automatically signed me up for this insiders-club. The insiders-club agreed to refund me $63.61; not the full $71.88 that I was just charged for the second time. So, my "free sample" from Slimscript has cost me over $90. Don't deal with any vendor who uses freeshipping.com!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> By: SandraR http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3761 SandraR Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:08:40 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3761 Thanks for the heads up Jonathan, another one bites the dust with me. Creeps! Thanks for the heads up Jonathan, another one bites the dust with me.

Creeps!

]]> By: Jonathan (Trust) http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3760 Jonathan (Trust) Sat, 17 Feb 2007 08:02:03 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3760 I don't like leaks but if the only way to get to that page is from the very tiny Resources link on the very bottom, probably not losing any traffic/money to that page. Leaks like these are the bad ones: <a href="http://www.youractivepet.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.youractivepet.com</a> Right under Recommended Links, straight 1800Petmeds affiliate link, Your Active Pet a merchant at Linkshare. Above the fold, not hard to miss. I don't like leaks but if the only way to get to that page is from the very tiny Resources link on the very bottom, probably not losing any traffic/money to that page. Leaks like these are the bad ones:

http://www.youractivepet.com

Right under Recommended Links, straight 1800Petmeds affiliate link, Your Active Pet a merchant at Linkshare. Above the fold, not hard to miss.

]]> By: SandraR http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3759 SandraR Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:49:41 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3759 Check out these creeps> Inkgrabber.com Resource Page: <a href="http://www.inkgrabber.com/resources.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.inkgrabber.com/resources.htm</a> The resource page is an affiliate page, if they decide to hide the page I do have a capture. Time to bring this blog post back to life! Check out these creeps>
Inkgrabber.com

Resource Page:
http://www.inkgrabber.com/resources.htm
The resource page is an affiliate page, if they decide to hide the page I do have a capture.

Time to bring this blog post back to life!

]]> By: Eric Ewe http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3758 Eric Ewe Sat, 04 Nov 2006 06:30:17 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3758 I can't understand why dirt devil is sending traffic to circuit city, TriState Camera. From their stand point, a sale is still a sale and since you have the visitor on the product page, why send them elsewhere? I do not think that they are getting a CPC on that as it is powered by where2getit.com They are also siffening affiliate traffic and commission which is messed up! I can't understand why dirt devil is sending traffic to circuit city, TriState Camera. From their stand point, a sale is still a sale and since you have the visitor on the product page, why send them elsewhere? I do not think that they are getting a CPC on that as it is powered by where2getit.com

They are also siffening affiliate traffic and commission which is messed up!

]]> By: Connie Berg http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3757 Connie Berg Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:38:27 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3757 It just keeps getting worse. Today I got an email from Dirt Devil's Affiliate Manager. "From September 15th - September 30th, all Affiliates will receive a 10% commission rate of the sales price" <a href="http://www.dirtdevil.com/Products/productDetail.aspx?id=33187" rel="nofollow">So in checking the link</a>, you can see on the right side all the links to other stores to buy the product from. Sure, I really want to promote this special promotion! Lets send all our visitors there so they can buy from other stores so Dirt Devil makes money and the affiliates did all the work of bringing in the visitor. It just keeps getting worse. Today I got an email from Dirt Devil's Affiliate Manager.

"From September 15th – September 30th, all Affiliates will receive a 10% commission rate of the sales price"

So in checking the link, you can see on the right side all the links to other stores to buy the product from.

Sure, I really want to promote this special promotion! Lets send all our visitors there so they can buy from other stores so Dirt Devil makes money and the affiliates did all the work of bringing in the visitor.

]]> By: Scott Hazard http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3756 Scott Hazard Sat, 09 Sep 2006 09:10:15 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3756 Connie, I am with you (and others) 100% on this. Quite frankly, it does not matter WHY they have this huge leak on their web site. All that matters is that it is there. As usual, Mr. Molander is applying his own unique sense of right and wrong to this situation, but don't let that bother you. He also said that LMI was great. All I can hope is that Mr. Molander is the jury foreman if I am ever on trial for a serious crime. There is no difference in the FreeShipping.com banner and Adsense or even affiliate links on the merchant's web site, but it is their right to have them there, so all you can do is walk away. Connie,
I am with you (and others) 100% on this. Quite frankly, it does not matter WHY they have this huge leak on their web site. All that matters is that it is there.
As usual, Mr. Molander is applying his own unique sense of right and wrong to this situation, but don't let that bother you. He also said that LMI was great. All I can hope is that Mr. Molander is the jury foreman if I am ever on trial for a serious crime.
There is no difference in the FreeShipping.com banner and Adsense or even affiliate links on the merchant's web site, but it is their right to have them there, so all you can do is walk away.

]]> By: Kellie http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3755 Kellie Sat, 09 Sep 2006 08:12:04 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3755 Connie I personally don't see anything disrespectful about your post. Looking at that link on Paragon Gifts, it appears that Paragon Gifts has become an affiliate of FreeShipping. And I have to agree that for you as an affiliate (and to other affiliates), the WHY behind Paragon's decision isn't relevant. Affiliate's knowing and understanding that this type of thing is increasing within the Industry is important...for their own business decisions. More and more people are wearing more than one hat. They are merchants and affiliates. They are Networks and affiliates. Sometimes they are all three. There is a lot of money floating around in affiliate marketing. There are an increasing number of people who attempting to monetize as many of the different perspectives as possible. Buy.com has an incent affiliate shopping site. DentalPlans has a full blown affiliate shopping portal. SharperImage promotes UPromise all over their site (although not as an affiliate I don't think). This list goes on and on. It's not just about a merchant leak. When a Merchant goes down that road, they are now not just a partner with their affiliates but a competitor as well. Affiliates would be remiss to not talk about it. By nature of the need to track commissions, Merchants and Networks gain a certain degree of insight into their partners businesses. Lots of data is tracked, recorded and aggregated. A whole other can of worms is opened up when those having access to such information become a competitor. There is no way around the potential conflict of interest for the affiliate. Why should an affiliate who is being paid for performance only hand off their traffic not only to someone who is now also their competitor but in this particular case to a competitor who then potentially hands it off to yet another competitor? The disrespect I see when these situations come to light is a disrespect to the affiliate/merchant partnerships within the offending Merchant's own affiliate program. Connie I personally don't see anything disrespectful about your post. Looking at that link on Paragon Gifts, it appears that Paragon Gifts has become an affiliate of FreeShipping. And I have to agree that for you as an affiliate (and to other affiliates), the WHY behind Paragon's decision isn't relevant. Affiliate's knowing and understanding that this type of thing is increasing within the Industry is important…for their own business decisions.

More and more people are wearing more than one hat. They are merchants and affiliates. They are Networks and affiliates. Sometimes they are all three. There is a lot of money floating around in affiliate marketing. There are an increasing number of people who attempting to monetize as many of the different perspectives as possible. Buy.com has an incent affiliate shopping site. DentalPlans has a full blown affiliate shopping portal. SharperImage promotes UPromise all over their site (although not as an affiliate I don't think). This list goes on and on. It's not just about a merchant leak. When a Merchant goes down that road, they are now not just a partner with their affiliates but a competitor as well. Affiliates would be remiss to not talk about it. By nature of the need to track commissions, Merchants and Networks gain a certain degree of insight into their partners businesses. Lots of data is tracked, recorded and aggregated. A whole other can of worms is opened up when those having access to such information become a competitor. There is no way around the potential conflict of interest for the affiliate.

Why should an affiliate who is being paid for performance only hand off their traffic not only to someone who is now also their competitor but in this particular case to a competitor who then potentially hands it off to yet another competitor?

The disrespect I see when these situations come to light is a disrespect to the affiliate/merchant partnerships within the offending Merchant's own affiliate program.

]]> By: Peter Koning http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3754 Peter Koning Fri, 08 Sep 2006 16:48:21 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3754 "But we only work with them for our exit traffic on our site as a way to pool together resources with other merchants." So do your affiliates understand that traffic *they* sent you has a chance to get credited to another affiliate on exit? "But we only work with them for our exit traffic on our site as a way to pool together resources with other merchants."

So do your affiliates understand that traffic *they* sent you has a chance to get credited to another affiliate on exit?

]]> By: Jonathan (Trust) http://www.revenews.com/affiliate-marketing/is-it-fair-for-merchants-to-promote-select-affiliates/#comment-3753 Jonathan (Trust) Fri, 08 Sep 2006 14:30:26 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=777#comment-3753 This really isn't a difficult issue to understand from the affiliate's perspective. Affiliates don't like leaks. Affiliates aren't here to send traffic to merchants so they can take that traffic and try to monetize for themselves without any compensation to affiliates. This really isn't a difficult issue to understand from the affiliate's perspective.

Affiliates don't like leaks.

Affiliates aren't here to send traffic to merchants so they can take that traffic and try to monetize for themselves without any compensation to affiliates.

]]>