Merchants Rating...

[mike_01]

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Hi All,

I am wondering if there is something like RATING of MERCHANTS should be introduced on the AF Networks on the basis of turn around time, proper communication with the affiliates, payment cycle and other important things that matters alot (spl. to affiliates) as there are number of instances where merchants are not responding properly (at all...) to the affiliates for their issues and problems. The fear to keep the rating (obviously of merchants..) high will bring in the good atmosphere to work and that would surely bring more and more business to both of them.

How many of you agree .....

Come on..take the pain to answer.

Mike...

[jess1]

Nice idea
I have to say that I was a bit sceptical about the old EPC stats.
My only concern is that affiliate may veer or be more inclined to select merchants based on past performance and less willing to give the new merchants a chance. In theory, I think this is good.

[mike_01]

What if some OLD but a BIG merchant is not responding to your mails with a silly reason that you are not bringing GOOD business (giving business bt not on High volume)?

Introducing rating system will definitely bring all GOOD as well as BAD point about a merchant...and they dont even have to worry if they are doing the business properly keeping all aspects in mind...

Now final thing ... what would you rate a MERCHANT not responding to mails (just to know the simple reason of cancellation of a sale) for more then 17 days ??? (not even a single mail)

Its not about to take the bread out of the new merchants plate...but its just to keep the oldies remembered about the affiliates (be the big or the small one...).

[jess1]

What if some OLD but a BIG merchant is not responding to your mails with a silly reason that you are not bringing GOOD business (giving business bt not on High volume)?

Has the merchant got an affiliate manager or network account manager and go through them. There should be no occasion where by emails go unanswered regardless of what business you are bringing in. If there are cases like this, I hope there are not... then dont waste your time promoting that merchant? Move on.
It is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff from an affiliate’s perspective and an affiliate lead rating system would be useful.

[mike_01]

then dont waste your time promoting that merchant? Move on.

Thats what i wanted to ask..whether not promoting that particular merchant makes any impact on that merchant....
And the obvious answer is a big "NO".. i know this very well and want to make sure that everyone should have space to present the views in front of others.

Its nt the matter of the commission of a sale or two but its about bringing such serious matters publically so that no one else would make the same mistake.

I am in touch with the network account managers but they says they are HELPLESS... (quite funny...yah) and they cant commit anything untill and unless they recieve confirmation from the merchant...

[drivetowin]

Have you tried phoning the merchant? - email is good but sometimes a 1 minute phone call can resolve things much more easily.

As for a merchant rating system, the problem is I think how you define the ratings, i.e. if a merchant took 3 days to answer an email, some would say that was good, some would say it was fair and some would say it was abysmal - ratings will always be subjective.

[jess1]

Thats what i wanted to ask..whether not promoting that particular merchant makes any impact on that merchant....

Truth? Probably very little impact unless you are bringing in substantial sales. Bottom line is all your going to get is empathy.

[pricethat]

I think also it would probably not be such a positive thing as 99% of people will always take the time to complain. Probably on the day they are wound up about the subject as well and it would probably turn into a right joke. I have not got the time to sit there tickng every merchant we serve to rate them. Nor would i probably. However if something went wrong i can see my attention to it being a lot more than when things are running fine.

I think the forum serves as pretty good warning to others as it is really, but lately some of these merchants are frankly taking the piss with reversals to the point i can see tempers flying. I wonder what impact or any a rating system would of had on the whole sagas.

[Shane]

"99% of people will always take the time to complain"

true but the top 25% of the most pi$$ed off of them wont bother as they are so angered/apathetic to the company that they won't waste another minute on them ... but they will quite happily ***** like mad to anyone that asks them about that company.

I always think that you should take the worst feed back you get and multiply it by another 25% volume wise to get the true top end figure of unsatisfied/pi$$ed off customer numbers.

could be way out.. haven't done a degree in it but seems to be the case from what I've seen across several jobs and industries over the last 18 years where customers are involved.

[pistol101]

Unfortunately some of the data is commercially sensitive. It's something we have been discussing for 3 years and never come up with a sensible approach for it.

Just contact us if your ever unsure who to promote and we'll help you. Some things change very quickly.

[mobiles4everyone]

I think this is a good idea, in principle, but have decided to vote against it.

In my experience, the performance of merchants can change from one month to the next. This makes a reliable rating system quite difficult. Even the best merchants have difficulties now and again and it would be unfair for an affiliate to rate them poorly due to to single problem.

If you want to choose one merchant from a particular category then ask for advice on the forum or ask the affiliate network who's performing best at that time.

Or try this... Sign up for a few merchants from that category and cycle or randomise your ads between each of them. Over time, remove the worst performing merchants and eventually you'll be left with the best one.

[mike_01]

"""""" In my experience, the performance of merchants can change from one month to the next. This makes a reliable rating system quite difficult. Even the best merchants have difficulties now and again and it would be unfair for an affiliate to rate them poorly due to to single problem. """"""


I agree with you darren, but i never meant to ask for the space where i or some other affiliate can rate the merchant poorly on a single problem but the main question is how fair is this to take 19 days (and moving ...still no reply) to reply?

I just want a space where affiliate can put up there experience (not just bad but good too) with the merchant so that all new affiliates can get the details before they join and start promoting them(start spending money and time both). And i hope i am not asking for a big thing...