Cashback sites - the future of affiliate marketing?

[Sinbad]

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With cashback sites becoming increasingly popular, how do you think this will affect the future of affiliate marketing?

For example will regular sites see a decrease in sales as more people purchase through cashback sites?

Also some sites pass on 100% cashback except for a small yearly admin fee, is this really a profitable setup?

What do the merchants make of cashback sites?

[csn]

I think cashback sites are a fad.

Something new will come along and we'll all jump aboard that.

With companies such as Sainsburys doing it, it has become the norm, just as blogs are now the norm over static content.

[shyguy0507]

i'm not so sure it's just a 'fad', after all it's money off your online shopping a bit like a loyalty card from tesco or like the nectar card (and online related program).

As the cashback sites add more functionality like price comparison etc i think they will have a long life ahead of them, i don't think they will crush all other aspects of affiliate marketing but i do think they will remain a solid model in the affiliate marketing world at least for those sites that users trust.

At least that's my 2p

[mallyord]

I've been looking for a cashback type script for a while. I'm surprized with some merchants that allow cashback sites to be affiliates as some commissions are actually worth more than the cost of the product.

[Paul Wright]

There's some interesting stuff hapenning in the states at the moment which have taken cashback/reward sites to the next level. As of yet i haven't seen anything like it in the UK. I don't think cashback sites wil fall over anytime soon but to be the best of the bunch you'll certianly have to offer something different than what's currently out there.

Paul.

[Adeel]

There's some interesting stuff hapenning in the states at the moment which have taken cashback/reward sites to the next level. As of yet i haven't seen anything like it in the UK. I don't think cashback sites wil fall over anytime soon but to be the best of the bunch you'll certianly have to offer something different than what's currently out there.

Paul.

wt interesting stuff happening wid cashback sites in USA?

[tomraffe]

Obiously too interesting to let us know...

[zinc]

I don't think cashback sites wil fall over anytime soon but to be the best of the bunch you'll certianly have to offer something different than what's currently out there.

I agree with Paul

[mallyord]

I think he may be on about agloco

That promises (when running) to give you a share of all earnings received when your surfing the net.

I remember rpoints tried introducing a tool bar that recognised if you were on a site with cashback available. I don't think at the time the software was available to do it though..

It looks like agloco will offer a share of everything including google adwords etc

[GeoffB]

Weren't they doing that years ago with something called All Advantage?

So long ago I forget the name.

[Junije]

Man, those were the times when Alladvantage was up and alive...many people made some seriuos cash with it...

[shusha]

There's some interesting stuff hapenning in the states at the moment which have taken cashback/reward sites to the next level. As of yet i haven't seen anything like it in the UK. I don't think cashback sites wil fall over anytime soon but to be the best of the bunch you'll certianly have to offer something different than what's currently out there.

Paul.

Right Paul. Internet visitors like to be rewarded & cash back - as all we do.

I'm dealing with several cashback sites (ex.FillYourTank4Free.co.uk) -I was really surprised with the voulume of traffic they've generated with good conversion to sale.

[loquax]

For example will regular sites see a decrease in sales as more people purchase through cashback sites?

We see it - you tell your users about an offer, and whilst some will take it up through your own link, others are quick to realise that they can get cashback on top of the offer by using Quidco, Greasypalm etc. It's frustrating to say the least - which is why I guess exclusive discounts/offers for non-cashback sites might a good thing to introduce,

However, as in Matt's recent podcast with Fraser he says that 40% of a network's earnings are through cashback/rewards - affiliate marketing for non-PPC and non-rewards sites is going to get squeezed. Whether it's in merchants/networks long term interest to allow SEO, content and community sites to be squeezed out of the affiliate mix is another question.

If you assume that PPC is the dominant arena in AM, and take Matt's figures and pluck a random 70% of AM accounts for this, then only 30% is left for SEO, content and community - and then you have email lists to consider too. (perhaps a network would be willing to adjust the figures if they're wildly inaccurate).

What I expect will happen (and it already is) is we will see more "freesomethingorother" type sites, and "winfreesomethingorother" which personally I don't think is a good think for users or for affiliate marketing. To take a "winfreesomethingorother" example... I looked at one this week that had 80 co-reg offers plonked after it! Now that's not quality imo - and if internet users get fed up with that kind of offering, then it may effect other sites and services.

Also, with the "freesomethingorother" things - if consumers realise that they're not getting their freesomethingorother (and I do wonder %age wise how many rewards are actually rewarded) - then again eventually that may be effected.

But the freebie is a powerful thing - it makes people sign up for stuff they usually wouldn't want, or need. I've even seen people submit their personal details on a total sham of a site for the chance to get something for nowt. So, imo those who run reward/cashback sites have a serious responsibility to make sure they promote quality offers to their customers.

Jason

[LouisaR]

Definately agree with you Jason; quality is key for cashback and reward sites. But, can users actually distinguish between a genuine and quality site and one which is unscrupulous?

I think that people are becoming fed up of giving their email address out to sites where they think they might receive countless emails. Therefore this may dissuade them from signing up to the quality sites.

Louisa

[tbp]

One problem with cash back sites for merchants, and i`ve seen this first hand recently, is that if some one goes to the merchants site through the cash back site, and then the cashback site doesn't give them money back for the sale, they then go to the merchant and complain about it.

When it comes down to it, its nothing to do with the merchant, its the cashback site that agreed to reimburse the customer.

I think this will become more frequent as more people use cashback sites, and it might end up becoming a bit nuisance to the merchants.