Affiliates do you want your data passed over to another network?

[jess1]

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Scenario, merchant or agency have an affiliate program in network A, decides they want to close program in network A and open up on network B. But they need to migrate all their performing affiliates from network A to network B by ciphering off all affiliates details. Essentially email addresses where they can be obtained and all those stats so that Network B can see who has been earning what.

We know that ethically this is not the done thing, yet its common practice that we see happening time and time again. But legally this is a very ambiguous area that I know QGJ has highlighted a number of times in terms of who owns the relationship. I love QGJ for his tenaciousness on this subject, yet the practice still continues. Is that because all networks would not turn their back on a merchant or agency bringing them affiliate data?

So a few questions here…

Do affiliates object to their details, stats being passed from one network to another without their prior consent?

Do affiliates object to their details, stats being passed from one network to another without their consent but will go with the flow and is dependent on their relationship with that merchant/agency.

Would affiliates sue a merchant or agency if they knew their details had been transferred to another network without their consent?

Does this practice of transferring affiliate data (name, website, earnings, commissions, clicks, sales, email, telephone number) breech the data protection act?

[aaclapham]

Very difficult question to answer.

What I have found is that if you do well for one network , get regular sales, you will be spotted on their radar, and then get that little bit extra special treatment.

You then join another network knowing that if you follow the same principals that got you sales you should do well again, however you have to then prove yourself to the new network all over again.

So I guess if data was passed between networks, you could jump the queue a bit.

Of course once you have been in the game for a number of years your reputation precedes you, but until then you are a little fish swimming in a big pond

[Bud]

I would only have one concern about this that would mean I would object to information being passed over:

I may be with a merchant on network A, but don't really like thier interface etc so only do minor promotions (I can think of at least half a dozen right away), praying for the day they move to network B. If that day comes I can then put tremendous efforts into promoting said merchant through network B.

If my information was initially passed across I may not even be accepted by network B due to poor previous sales (actually due to network A and not the merchant).

I've no objection in principle to the sharing of information, I've nothing to hide, but both the merchant and myself could possibly lose out on what should have been a happy relationship.

Good question though and there may be other factors that affect this, but that's my current point of view.

NB: As for suing a merchant/network (we know of at least one network who sell on emails, at best) - if you came round and killed my cat or flew the network's private jet(!) into my house I may have something to say about it, but passing on personal/sales info to another network, I wouldn't lose any sleep. (Leave that sort of nonsense to our cousins across the pond!)

NNB: Curiously, and purely by accident, the last two threads end in 'pond' (Oh, well it did until I added this bit)!

[Hero]

there are a lot of things that need to be taken under consideration:
1. the affiliates give their contact details to the network; that's who they sign up to and that's who is responsible for guarding them, according to the data protection act (DPA). The network does not allow for that data to be shared or migrated to another platform without each affiliate's concent, in compliance with the DPA.
2. most networks have clauses in their merchant contracts preventing the merchant from migrating affiliates introduced by the network.
3. It is extremely bad etiquette (to say the least) to use the network's email suite to invite your existing affiliates to migrate on another network. If the DPA was to be enforced to its extreme, you are only allowed to contact the affiliates through the platform they signed up through
4. merchants are not allowed to give out their account logins to another party without informing their network.
5. not all networks give contact details out to their merchants
6. performance stats for affiliates is sensitive data that should not be shared outside the network-merchant-affiliate triangle.

The understandable fact that the merchant wants to ensure their best affiliates migrate to the new platform does not mean that data and performance can be treated as unimportant and without due respect.

The best thing to do is for the merchant to pull a list with their top affiliates (no contact details, no performance, just the name or website) and give them to their new account manager.
The AM will see if any of them are on their network and therefore already has their contact details, so they can be contacted straight away, If not, the usual tactics of affiliate recruitment need to apply.
Alternatively, the merchant needs to contact the affiliates privately and tell them where their program will be.

[Bud]

As ever Hero, a very sensible and appropriate answer. :tup