What Happens When Merchants

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What Happens When Merchants...

By: Andrew Wee
2007-07-25

...Dont Play By Affiliate Marketing Rules? As an affiliate marketer, I have to deal with challenges (or you might view them as opportunities)...

...during the course of your campaigns, but when happens when you find out a merchant has been sticking it to you?

A case in point, I'd be promoting web services for a merchant through their in-house affiliate program. It paid about $60 per customer who signed up for their services.

And I discovered a couple of days ago that they're running the same offer on one of the biggest affiliate networks and paying out $90 a customer.

Boy, I was fuming.

I can understand a $5-10 gap differential when the same offer is listed across various affiliate networks (the networks might be willing to cut out a chunk of their profits to give more to affiliates).

But when there's a near 50% commission payout gap I feel it unconscionable.

There is an unspoken affiliate marketers' code of conduct, but there isn't a formal regulatory body which presides over affiliate networks and merchants.

In other words, who watches the watchmen?

Some might say that in a capitalist society, you are welcome to vote with your feet.

I tend to view business as a series of long term business relationships with real people.

I can only guess that:

The various marketing/ad departments within the merchant or the network aren't talking to each other, such that you have a 50% gap in affiliate payouts.

The service provider faced some stiff competition and upped their payouts in real-time to remain competitive. But wouldn't you be talking to your in-house team too?

Affiliates? Who cares.

For the purpose of this post, I prefer not to name the merchant, nor the network, nor the type of service and focus on the core issue instead: Trust.

So does that mean affiliates are going to have to set up a multitude of Google News Alerts to keep track of offers, in addition to promotions, competitive offers and depending on your traffic source - search rankings or PPC campaigns?

Having to look behind my back one less time will certain help me focus more fully on what I want to do: affiliate marketing.

Although I wasn't bringing in a huge amount of volume to the merchant, I think my contribution was fairly decent.

And now I have to decide if I'm going to bite the bullet and switch to the higher paying program, or choose some alternatives.

I know a number of affiliate network people and affiliates visit this blog, so I'm curious to hear your feedback in the comments.

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Tag: Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Networks, Merchants

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About the Author:
Andrew Wee is an Asia-based Internet Marketer focused on blogging, social traffic generation and affiliate marketing. Previously rated as one of Asia's top technology journalists, Andrew covers breaking news and industry developments at WhoIsAndrewWee.com


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