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Product Vendors are Stealing your Commissions!

by E-Newbies
14 replies
I am becoming increasingly frustrated with product vendors overly promoting their affiliate programs.

I see threads here from vendors complaining about affiliates buying through their own links however many vendors blatantly advertise their affiliate program on their sales & even checkout pages.

Affiliates are not dumb, if they wish to promote a product they know where to look to find the affiliate sign up page even in the site map if necessary.

Blatantly promoting affiliate programs on checkout pages is stealing commissions from the promoting affiliate, it openly encourages commission theft.

I personally am pulling all promotions for products that blatantly advertise affiliate sign-ups.

Why spend the time & effort promoting something only to have your lead sign-up & buy through their own link!
#commissions #product #stealing #vendors
  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    Our platform knows when someone tries to buy off their own affiliate link, even if they have blocked cookies, and rewards the last legitimate referrer which is has recorded in its database.

    Also any up to date system should track by both cookie and IP to reduce this issue.

    We also have a module for super affiliates to give incentives using what we call forced coupons on top of our integrated anti affiliate theft solution.

    I can see your concerns and they would be valid if a system tracked by cookie only and did not have other safeguards. Just ask the aff program owner if they use a system that tracks by IP and cookie combined and if they have any other safeguards in place.

    There are ways to screw the thieves and reward the affiliates so that your complaint is not 100% valid all the time. It is however an issue when systems use cookie only for their tracking.
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    • Profile picture of the author E-Newbies
      Originally Posted by Josh Anderson View Post

      Our platform knows when someone tries to buy off their own affiliate link, even if they have blocked cookies, and rewards the last legitimate referrer which is has recorded in its database.

      Also any up to date system should track by both cookie and IP to reduce this issue.

      We also have a module for super affiliates to give incentives using what we call forced coupons on top of our integrated anti affiliate theft solution.

      I can see your concerns and they would be valid if a system tracked by cookie only and did not have other safeguards. Just ask the aff program owner if they use a system that tracks by IP and cookie combined and if they have any other safeguards in place.

      There are ways to screw the thieves and reward the affiliates so that your complaint is not 100% valid all the time. It is however an issue when systems use cookie only for their tracking.
      Thanks Bob I can see potential with what you are recommending however i strongly doubt many Vendors go to this amount of trouble.

      A sale is a sale!
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  • Profile picture of the author Pete Egeler
    The first thing I look for if I'm going to promote a site is that little "Affiliates" or "Make Money" link. If it's there, I'm gone.

    Pete
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    E-newbies,

    There are three types of people......

    1. Those that CHEAT, and many, if not all, affiliates get cheated.
    2. Those that don't understand the infrastructure, and their methods fail in some respect.
    3. Those that DO understand the infrastructure, and their methods work as THEY intend.

    The last system I had a hand in designing, for example, remembered an affiliate with the IP for a time, so even changing the cookie would not change it.

    In any event, MOST people here REALLY don't understand the infrastructure. With THEM, BLAME THE software's AUTHOR!

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author E-Newbies
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      E-newbies,

      There are three types of people......

      1. Those that CHEAT, and many, if not all, affiliates get cheated.
      2. Those that don't understand the infrastructure, and their methods fail in some respect.
      3. Those that DO understand the infrastructure, and their methods work as THEY intend.

      The last system I had a hand in designing, for example, remembered an affiliate with the IP for a time, so even changing the cookie would not change it.

      In any event, MOST people here REALLY don't understand the infrastructure. With THEM, BLAME THE software's AUTHOR!

      Steve
      Steve

      Unfortunately Affiliates are looked down upon by many vendors, in fact to some vendors crediting a new affiliate the commission is more important than crediting the affiliate that got them there. It's a new name on their mailing list.

      I started this thread because there seems to be a growing trend to prominently display Affiliate Program Sign-up's.

      I have very good working relationships with a number of vendors outside of the IM field however since I ventured into the IM market i am dismayed by what i perceive as blatant undermining of existing affiliates hard work.

      If Vendors are doing what you & Josh are saying then why not advertise this. For what my opinion is worth Vendors are expecting all their sales to be as a result of an affiliate sales so are doubling the price & giving 50% commissions.

      I am sure someone will comment on the 0.100%,0,100% model but again this works in the vendors favor the more single sales they get the less they pay out.
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      • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
        Originally Posted by E-Newbies View Post

        If Vendors are doing what you & Josh are saying then why not advertise this.
        Some of our vendors do... affiliates want to know you are working to protect them and it is important to let them know.

        Many vendors just don't think or know much about how important this is which is (as Steve mentioned) why so many people still sell their products on popular networks that have notorious problems with tacking and affiliate theft. Some of them do it despite knowing the issues those solutions have with tracking which I think is a slap in their affiliate's faces.
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    Sorry, but this is just foolish.

    Any business is going to advertise their affiliate program.

    As an affiliate, the game has changed. This isn't 2001. The rabid competition for affiliate commissions means you need to be adding value to the sales process. If you are just a "traffic broker" sending traffic from one page to the next, then there is always going to be a small segment of people that will steal commissions by buying through their own link.

    Your job as a marketer is to add value to the process so the prospect actually WANTS to buy through your link.
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    • Profile picture of the author E-Newbies
      Originally Posted by LB View Post

      Sorry, but this is just foolish.

      Any business is going to advertise their affiliate program.

      As an affiliate, the game has changed. This isn't 2001. The rabid competition for affiliate commissions means you need to be adding value to the sales process. If you are just a "traffic broker" sending traffic from one page to the next, then there is always going to be a small segment of people that will steal commissions by buying through their own link.

      Your job as a marketer is to add value to the process so the prospect actually WANTS to buy through your link.
      LB

      Your opinion is noted

      Just to clarify i have no issue with a "webmasters" or even "affiliate" link in the footer if vendors are looking for affiliates then we all know where to look.
      What set me off on a rant today was a blatant advert of an affiliate program & its commissions on a checkout page. What other purpose does an ad on the checkout page have other than to encourage prospective customers to sign up advertise on the download page if your just looking for affiliates?

      You are correct affiliate marketing has changed but being a solutions provider has not. People are searching for solutions, directing these people in the right direction is very lucrative but it appears not in the IM field.

      Point taken
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  • Profile picture of the author LookItsMeTerryG
    Just another of the several reasons why I sell my own products. In most cases, affiliate programs favor the vendor not the publisher.
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  • Profile picture of the author jakesellers
    A particularly scummy practice I saw on the paths of some of these is the "you must clear your cookies" to get free videos, ebooks, whatever. Not only is it an attempt to screw affiliates driving traffic to these offers, but if whoever drove the traffic has other revenue streams, it's blowing away their other potential commissions, not to mention screwing up whatever other tracking an affiliate might rely on.
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  • Profile picture of the author kimothy777
    I must be very ignorant. I thought it was OK for me to buy a product using an affiliate link if I was going to check out the product and promote it. Why would I promote a product that I haven't looked at?

    Last year, a company in the US emailed me asking me to promote a program of theirs because we were in the same niche (physical, with DVDs, CDs, workbook, etc). I told them that if they wanted me to promote their goods I would need a copy of their program. The following week I received the full program via mail, free of charge (this was a $400 program). That was a company I was happy to work with. I tested their product and was very happy with it.

    I started promoting it, making $85 per sale. Everyone is happy. The vendor and me (the affiliate). There are happy affiliate stories...
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    • Profile picture of the author E-Newbies
      Originally Posted by kimothy777 View Post


      I started promoting it, making $85 per sale. Everyone is happy. The vendor and me (the affiliate). There are happy affiliate stories...
      I too have very good working relationships with a number of great vendors, my only gripe is with the ones that don't appreciate your efforts getting pre-qualified prospects to their site.
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  • Profile picture of the author petevamp
    The vendors have been placing their affiliate links on the pages for decades now. The difference is most people do not know what affiliate really is for websites so they in my eyes would not spend the time just to go to that page. Not to mention most people think that being affiliated with a certain product simply means some one who works for the company. Another note this is also why I only choose clickbank products that embed cookies on the potenial buys computer for say even 10 days is more then enough. Since most of the time they found your affiliated page through a ppc campaign or what not. If they looked around and did not find what they where looking for they will just head right back to the page again and buy. The cookie allows use to promote worry free.
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    What set me off on a rant today was a blatant advert of an affiliate program & its commissions on a checkout page. What other purpose does an ad on the checkout page have other than to encourage prospective customers to sign up advertise on the download page if your just looking for affiliates?
    I agree that seems like pretty poor placement.

    Ideally, that info would appear AFTER the transaction.
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