Hi All,
Interested in a discussion here.
I
am like many others here Im sure, being constantly turned away from closed bidding groups on brand names for merchants which I know have brand bidding agreements with a number of "select affiliates".
My thoughts are that this is bad for me as the affiliates that are allowed to brand bid are getting their sales at a cheaper cost than me, attaining more traffic, more sales and more exposure for their sites at the cost of the brand owner and thus making greater profits than me. While this is all part of the game these profits are invariably being invested back into the business and probably being used to cover other merchants and sectors that I operate in, again making this more difficult for me to compete and driving me out of the market.
Surely isn't the existence of selected affilaite having brand bidding rights anti-competitive and thus illegal. Isn't this just form of a glorifed cartel of some sorts?
I don't understand really why anyone with a closed bidding groupd would allow brand bidding anyway. Surely it creates confusion amongst end users ??? Or is it just a case of more exposure for the brand, in which case why offer only to a select few affilliates.
Do you think that if this was taken to court on anti-competitive legislation there might be a result in that all brand bidding would cease or be opened up to ALL affiliates ???
Anyhow, rant over.
Mike