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So what's the opinion on Commission Junction?

by Talltom1
9 replies
Mornin' Everybody....

My task/project for the day is to update the monetization on my sites and in my weekly newsletter with various banner ads, etc from affiliates I'm promoting.

I came across a thread here yesterday (I think it was yesterday) that didn't have many good things to say about CJ. So before I spend any time coding in the links to my advertisers from CJ, I wanted to confirm the general opinion regarding the overall working relationship with Commission Junction.

Personally, in my view, CJ has always had a pretty good reputation (unlike Clickbank). On the other hand, I have had horrible experiences with Clixgalore out of Australia.

Generally, I'm looking for more upscale established merchants to promote, and CJ seems to have a solid selection of those available.

Your thoughts, suggestions for the warrior crowd?

Talltom
#commission #junction #opinion
  • Profile picture of the author indexphp
    CJ has a TON of good merchants. They are pretty much a leader in the space, so I think you should open a CJ account.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eric Lorence
      Explore your options as well, study the CPA boards below this one.

      There are at least a couple dozen options besides CJ.

      CJ did just settle a lawsuit recently over payouts, I would Google that and explore further if you still want to do business with them.

      Good luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author sarahjones
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        • Profile picture of the author Talltom1
          One bit of research that I've been doing, is that many of the merchants on these affiliate sites like Linkshare and CJ also have their own in-house affiliate programs. That seems to be a viable option.

          One of the things I'm concerned about, especially if I'm spread across a number of these affiliate programs, is keeping on top of each affiliate site's policies, such as closing 'inactive' accounts after 60 days, and losing any accrued balances. I'm fed up with a lot of these 'silent' gotcha's that jump out of the woodwork periodically which always seem stacked in someone else's favor.

          I really only want to establish a working relationship with a reputable merchant, and get paid when I sell or send leads. Anytime somebody gets in the middle, the water starts to get muddy.

          Talltom
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  • Profile picture of the author sunnyman
    I have used CJ for a number of years. They are playing on a different level than Clickbank.

    The only real problem is that some merchants are really anal about who to accept as affiliate. You can be rejected simply because you don't live in the US for instance.
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  • Profile picture of the author sunnyman
    Are you refering to this....?
    VCLK/CJ deny all allegations in both cases but agree to the following settlement (summarized):

    1. $1 Million to be paid into a Common Settlement Fund. Both Advertisers and Publishers will be compensated from this fund. Thirty (30) percent of the fund will be allocated to Advertisers and seventy (70) percent to Publishers of the class. The first document linked above defines both classes and outlines how the fund will be dispersed.

    2. An independent audit of CJ's Network Quality practices and efforts related to detection, prevention and response to third parties using software to force or hijack clicks on CJ. The Auditor will submit a report and make recommendations on how CJ can improve and enhance Network Quality practices. The parties will then issue a statement to Class Members summarizing the measures to be implemented by CJ in response to the Audit and report.

    3. CJ will begin tracking additional data/information and will implement enhancements of its primary investigative tools and automated software investigative tools. This additional data includes (quoted from the Settlement Agreement): /snipped/
    Seems it has to do with hacker activities.

    PS: Maybe something similar should be implemented over at Clickbank...?!
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    • Profile picture of the author jbsmith
      Definnitely worth signing up and doing your affiliate research - they have a huge network.

      On the downside...

      1. Their merchants can be fickle - often take a long time to approve
      2. Many of their merchants offer low commissions - then again most of these are physical goods where margins are smaller than info products available on Clickbank
      3. I've had situations where I've had small balances in a certain account (because I tried out a merchant on one of mysites) and then no activity for 60-days - they close the account and you lose whatever you had earned. Not a big deal if you use it consistently and bring in decent commissions.

      Jeff
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Million
    It's a double edged sword...I love accessing 1000s of vendors via CJ, but it's very annoying and time consuming to get approved for products.

    How do I get around this?

    I generally pick one or two of the highest paying (or highest converting) products related to that niche. Then, I write reviews on all the other products to get their buyer traffic, but I do not link to the vendor. Instead, I funnel them to my top rated offer.

    Saves time and I've experienced higher conversions on sales since I started implementing this model on affiliate review sites a couple weeks ago.

    Of course, this model doesn't work in every scenario. If you have a very specific niche site on digital cameras, per say, it works great, but if you have a site on all different types of candy...it's much harder to get someone looking for Butterfinger to buy a Snickers...follow me?
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    • Profile picture of the author dukeoferl
      I've a love hate relationship with CJ, seems to be the norm.
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  • Profile picture of the author sridhar
    CJ or the merchants that advertise on it seem very narrow-minded. Here's how their process works from my experience.

    Apply for a program -> Automatic check to see if the applicant is from US -> If not, reject straight away.
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