Voucher Code Sites - Take Action

[channel5]

Well I've ben reading this thread with some interest, I am not a voucher code affiliate, My sites are all content based.

I've never really even looked at voucher code sites, so I took a random product, 3 Mobile, and Googled "3 Mobile discount codes".

I got taken to a site which promised a 3 mobile discount code if I clicked on the big Jpeg saying "click to reveal discount code", when I clicked the image up pops the 3 mobile merchant site (so obviously the cookie was dropped) yet nowhere that I could find on the original site any actual voucher code.

This site appeared to be just taking the cookie and any potential commision.

This is pretty low behaviour as they are helping neither the customer or the mechant.

I don't want to post the site URL just in case there is an actual code on there somewhere that i just can't find, if it does have a code then the site owner needs to make it a lot more obvious where the code is.

[Barry]

I have been running a voucher code site since 2002 and have only found the last two years profitable, thats alot of work put in IMO. Its also alot of work to keep on top of things now on an ongoing basis. I would suggest any 'content' affiliate also gives their users the best deal by including vouchers on their site too. I agree though that if no voucher code is offered or even if you are doing PPC direct to a merchant, this is impossible.


IMO though in this industry to have to take the rough with the smooth, if you can see where you are losing money then maybe its time to change your business model to follow the more successful route.


One idea I think that could be implemented to make things fairer is a mechanism that 'sets' the cookie of the last refer on entering the checkout process. Then if a user goes off at the last stage of the process (because they are prompted by a 'voucher code' box on the merchants site) the initial refer gets the sale.


Just to throw another question in the thread - what do you think of merchants like dixons who are using their own affiliate links through a network and bidding directly on 'dixons + discount code' etc etc and promoting their own vouchers and overwriting 'content' affiliate cookies, are they scum of the earth too? And what about merchants de-duping using their own PPC like pixmania and advertising their own vouchers? Scum too? I personally dont think so.

I think the main issue here as has been said is the forcing of cookies when no vouchers are available. Maybe it is time to all go the shopcodes route?

Ta

Baz

PS - its interesting to see when you search for '3 Mobile discount codes' that 4 of those domains are owned by the same person. IMO. He must be doing something right to get all those results in the serps, lets face it there is no preferential treatment from google, we all have the same chances to get into those results.

[channel5]

Am i just being thick, or is there no actual code on the top result for '3 Mobile discount codes' ?

One way to even things up I have always thought is to move from the "last click wins" method to sharing the commision against all the sites that have dropped a cookie. Every touch point then gets compensated equally depending upon their role.

[Barry]

3Mobile is listed in my No-Vouchers-Yet section so I guess they havn't got one. For this merchant I drive traffic to my cashback site in order for users to get a 'discount' on their order via cashback.

Ta

Baz

[aotagain]

Isn't this all just a simple demand/supply situation. ie. there's a huge demand from shoppers for savings. 90% of advertising mentions the price being cheap. Every day stuff comes through the letterbox offering money off this that and the other. There is chatter all over the net about savings. Huge numbers of publications on the most competitive savings and card rates etc. etc. etc.

So its no surprise that voucher code sites have sprung up. You can't blame them for following demand - its just business. Whether they handle things in a reasonable way with respect to other affiliates is another matter. Whether it is appropriate for networks to be expected to do 'policing' when they get commission whatever happens is debatable.

However, will the usefulness of codes to a merchant ultimately prove viable ? Has it got longevity ? There are loads of me-too code sites cropping up which dilutes the whole area. With enough errors, missing codes, expired codes and general mess, I think at some point merchants will be looking for something else - perhaps anticipating that event is more important.

Online its an unusual combination of circumstances that leads to 'false' cookies being dropped and getting the last cookie commission. I really don't think many merchants get that and understand the effect it will gradually have on their credibility.

Marketing departments are used to print based offers or adverts which expire and get binned. Online, everyone has to visit a code site first to get offers, at which point, on one of the sites a cookie is going to be dropped whether or not there's a real code around or not.

I have a lot of sympathy with content affiliates who have spent loads of time building content, only to find that they now have to build in and manage codes as well as 'insurance'. But is this just a sign of the way the net changes and you can't take anything for granted any more ? When the first code site went up, I thought 'yeah whatever'. In fact it was the start of an important change.

So I've now got a little black book in which any event which looks new or unusual gets recorded, so that (hopefully) I don't miss any implications. Keep it by the loo - just the sort of thing to muse over...

( btw Paypal has a big merchant cashback notice in the login -but that's a subject for another thread !)

[renegade]

Originally Posted by channel5 Am i just being thick, or is there no actual code on the top result for '3 Mobile discount codes' ?

Bear in mind it takes time for new stuff to get picked up and even longer for it to be removed. There may have been a code at some point (I don't remember one though).

[renegade]

(I really don't know why I let myself get drawn into these threads)
I've run a mostly content site since 1999 and was one of the first to offer codes on that site and I sat back and watched as dedicated code sites sprung up around me and could see the only way I was going to compete was to get my own site - so I did, that option is there for ANYONE.
I've put a helleva lot of work into both sites ever since and in the last couple of years all I've read thread after thread of ill-informed abuse.
It really does come across as sour grapes - of course there are code sites that break the (ever-changing) rules and we've been working with the networks and merchants to keep everyone happy but you really can't please all of the people all of the time.
One thing I will say is our visitors come back, merchants offer codes to us, the networks are always talking to us and we're happy too. Right, that's enough. I'm off to Barbados and won't read any replies for a week or so.

[channel5]

I presume its a database driven dynamic site.. it should be simple enough to have a page which no longer has a code say "Sorry no code available" and not have the sneak to drop a cookie.

It could offer a link that says "Visit 3 Mobile" below the "No code available" message so it could still drop a cookie if people want to go to the site anyway, but at least then it is not dropping a cookie on a false promise.

I think a little ethics is required thats all.

[channel5]

Originally Posted by renegade It really does come across as sour grapes

I hope I am not making you think this, I personally have nothing against voucher code sites, there's room for everyone out there and yes the simple answer for content affiliates is to add voucher codes to their sites if they are upset.

I'm just talking about one example on one site where it seems to be operating in a slightly morally duibious manner when it has no code to give out.

[Cheapdvds]

when myvouchercodes does something the other code sites dont agree with they all moan , but when others moan/comment on other code sites that is completely different