Merchant charter

[drivetowin]

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Having just got severely p***ed off at Tele2's no notice imposition of lower commission levels I've just been thinking how good it would be if merchants on whatever network would sign up to an 'affiliate friendly' charter

My thoughts are they should include the following:

1. Clear zero tolerance policy of spyware.

2. Clear commission structure.

3. Will not change commission structure without giving 28 days notice.

4. Where commission is a fixed sum rather than a percentage, to increase commissions at least in line with the government inflation rate annually on the anniversary of programme launch

5. To commit to validate all commissions within 42 days.

6. To commit to pay network invoices within 30 days.

7. To provide full contact details and to respond to affiliate emails within 48 hours.

8. No prominent telephone numbers displayed on site or creative

9. No url displayed on creative

10. To provide complete, regularly updated product feeds (and not attempt to hide url or telephone numbers within product descriptions )

So what's in it for the merchant?

I believe that if merchants agree to the above we should give them something in return, i.e. merchants who sign up to the charter would be guaranteed preferential promotion on our sites compared to non charter merchants.

What do you think - comments from affiliates / merchants / networks equally welcome...

[Qui Gon Jinn]

I was only discussing something similar with a network today a merchant disclaimer / declaration re spyware etc..

As more merchants are working directly with spyware, turning around and saying "if my competitor is using spyware against me, then I am going to do it to them"...a vicious circle of childish petulance.

[jess1]

I think this was discussed back in 2000 and continues to be still just discussions... shame as I feel this would be a huge step in the right direction as too would be to get some standardisation across all the networks. Would make merchants and affiliates life a little easier!

A merchant dropping their commission is not a good sign, had not been thought through b4 launch of program and should probably seek advice from their network!

Some thing affiliates may want to consider... is drafting their own contract with their own terms and conditions a lot of affiliates already do this.

QGJ:

"if my competitor is using spyware against me, then I am going to do it to them"...a vicious circle of childish petulance.

Agree!

jess