Blushingbuyer Program Closing

[steveaich]

We will be closing the Blushingbuyer affiliate program on Awin in 30 days. If any genuine affiliates would like to continue working with us, then please contact us directly, we do have an in house scheme.

We're closing the program as we really can't be bothered with the scheming, theiving, lazy affiliates(I use the term affiliate reservedly, it should be reserved for those who actually do some work) who do nothing but steal existing customers, or the lazy and incompetent networks who are doing nothing to stop them.

Now there are some genuine, hard working affiliates, and we do have a number on our scheme, however they are now unfortunately totally out numbered by those who totally flaunt program t+c's and seem to think it is ok to use underhand methods to basically steal money from merchants.

So all you false voucher cookie stuffers, brand bidding scumbags and cashback theives can go jump.

[befuddle]

Couldn't you just have kicked them off if they broke your T&Cs?

[steveaich]

Looked at the program in detail this month, by the time we kicked off all the dodgy affiliates nearly 50% of the sales were fraudulent, of the remaining probably 80% were from 1 affiliate. I don't need to pay awin a large monthly fee plus overide to process payments to 1 affiliate, I can do that myself.

The monthly fee should mean they actually police their affilaites, they should be policing the T+C's, and removing affiliates, not just from our program, but from the network as a whole.

If an affiliate is found to be say brand bidding when it is against t+c's they should be banned completely and the information shared between the networks, put them out of business, before they ruin this whole industry.

[ChrisJohnson]

Couldn't you just have kicked them off if they broke your T&Cs?

I agree, surely that's the best way to do it, what makes you think your 'genuine' affiliates are going to want to sign up in-house which gives the affiliate more hassle than staying on the network?

[ChrisJohnson]

The monthly fee should mean they actually police their affilaites, they should be policing the T+C's, and removing affiliates, not just from our program, but from the network as a whole.

Have you spoken to them about it?

[mattb811]

Steve,

I would suggest that if you have issues with the management of the campaign by AWin then you should contact them directly. This kind of misguided rant ona public forum does nothing for the industry that we all work in.

Matt

[Elaine]

I wonder how many other merchants - big and small - are going to start looking at who's on the receiving end of their online budget?

maybe this is a wake-up call to all Networks and Agencies to start policing their programmes properly!

[steveaich]

I agree, surely that's the best way to do it, what makes you think your 'genuine' affiliates are going to want to sign up in-house which gives the affiliate more hassle than staying on the network?

Because it means they won't have their commision stolen by the cookie stuffers, brand bidders, cashback virii etc. We can work closely with fewer affiliates and in the end make more money for everyone.

[steveaich]

Steve,

I would suggest that if you have issues with the management of the campaign by AWin then you should contact them directly. This kind of misguided rant ona public forum does nothing for the industry that we all work in.

Matt

Why is it misguided? The industry is damaging itself, these problems can't just be brushed under the carpet, they have to be addressed.

I posted to the public forum as other merchants need to be aware of how much of their money is being wasted.

I have spoken to the netowrk directly, their responce was underwhelming to say the least, they even admitted that they were aware that one the the scum suckers was known for brand bidding! Yet they hadn't got rid of them. (Maybe because they still get their override?)

[mattb811]

Hi Steve,

It is up to both the network and the merchant involved to work together to manage an affiliate campaign in the correct manner. Your original post seemed to suggest that it was purely the fault of AWin that the campaign hasn't worked out.

I would question the decision to pull all activity in house. Fair enough you may be able to work with your top affiliates but how do you aim to go about finding any new ones? And what tools do you have in place to ensure that you won't face the same issues internally?

Matt

[KirstyM]

Steve,

I would suggest that if you have issues with the management of the campaign by AWin then you should contact them directly. This kind of misguided rant ona public forum does nothing for the industry that we all work in.

Matt

Although I do agree with Matt that rants on public forums are often counter-productive... I think that Steve's frustration is quite understandable. Perhaps the outlet and wording isn't the best, but most people would feel the same if someone burgled their house. And for a small business, dodgy affiliates are "Business Burglars" robbing advertising spend and cookies from other affiliates, and misusing promo codes not intended for the affiliate sphere.

Dodgy affiliates do nothing for the industry we work in either, and they lead merchants like Steve (who has a programme that converts very nicely for me) to lose the plot and withdraw their programmes because they don't feel they have the resources to police their activity.

I think Steve's comments serve to show how the less than honest members of the affiliate fraternity make our industry look.

[rich5705]

AW provide a great service to merchants in terms of self service usability but the personal account management leaves a bit to be desired which is probably why this merchant hasn't contacted AW directly to sort this out. I'm on my 4th or 5th account manager in as many months - I'm losing faith in contacting them about ongoing issues because I know they'll probably leave and I'll have to pick up the whole issue afresh with the new AM.

[drivetowin]

Steve

While I can understand that you are frustrated, calling people names and accusing them of fraud and stealing commissions makes you look very unattractive to any potential affiliate - in my personal opinion you are making yourself look just as bad if not worse than the people you are attacking.

I'm not for one moment going to pretend that there are not affiliates who bend the rules (and indeed those who bend the rules to breaking point) and clearly it is for you to decide whether Awin give you value for money in dealing with those (which you clearly believe they haven't).

I wish you luck with your independent programme but as Matt says I suspect you will struggle to find any reasonable volume of affiliates.

Just a couple of questions:

1. What commission rates do you pay on your independent programme - presumably if you are not paying override and high management fees then they are higher than through your Awin programme?

2. I'm not sure if the ppc ad showing on your brand term is yours but if it is I'm intrigued to know what an Embarssing Product is?

[John Jupp]

blushingbuyer - Google Search

zero brand bidders

blushing buyer - Google Search

zero brand bidders

buyer blushing - Google Search

zero brand bidders

Nope. It can't be brand bidding then.

[bazza99]

Isn't that brand bidder using AW links? So presumably not the original merchant.

Have to say that it's disappointing to hear about a merchant facing these problems and yet not surprising. Affiliates breaking clearly defined rules (which I'm assuming to be the case here) is bad news for all of us within the industry and remains a big problem.