Discount Code Sites and Forced Clicks & IFRAMES

[Frostie]

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sorry but i guess for me anyway its because when i search discount codes , u are number one so that is the one i looked at

hahahaa :tup Here is an example of the next step that needs to be tackled.

- Visitor heads off to: UK Promo Codes Vouchers Free Shipping Coupons for ElectricalDiscountUK.co.uk GadgetsUK.com
- According to this website, there is... "Next.co.uk (1 Promo Code / Free Delivery)"
- When visitor clicks on the link, it then changes to simply say "Next.co.uk save money at Next"
- At this point, cookie is dropped and merchant page is loaded. The website then goes on to say "Coupon Code: No Code is Needed - Expires: Unknown"

The truth? There was no promo code. There was no way of saving any money. The affiliate has a cookie dropped. Way to go

I'm aware that this isn't specific to a merchant or any network in particular, and as we already know Awins, Webgains and PORs stance on this, I have asked Buy.At and Affilinet to pop along here to comment in general, and on this particular case.

[Andy-QuidsInUK]

Next's Specific terms, Buy.at:

Voucher Codes

Affiliates are not permitted to use free delivery or any other voucher codes under any circumstances.

Any affiliate found to be in breach of the above terms will have commissions reversed and may be removed from the program.

:sneaky

[Tyson Pearcey]

Thanks for the I.M.on this one Frosted Flakes.

one of the team will be on here to put our thoughts down for ya.

cheers
Tyson

[chrismockford]

I would agree with the general sentiments so far in this thread that there are many grey areas related to the wordings on discount code site that do need to be tightened up and reflected in our program terms and conditions.

I am sure the "is it a forced click or not" debate will rage on - personally I do not believe it is a forced click, but I do not believe it is acceptable for sites to purport to have codes when they in fact do not - Frostie clearly the situation you have outlined is an example of this, and whilst by definition they have not broken the term suggested by Andy above as they havent actually used a code they are still misrepresenting the brand and this will be investigated.

On a technical side buy.at have put in significant resource to build solutions where we can match exclusive codes with affiliates, which also allows us to delete or reattribute sales that are coming through from other affiliates- this does involve action on the merchants side so please discuss how this can work for you with the relevant programs account manager.

I hope this clears up the buy.at position and we will look to make ongoing improvements in our offering to affiliates in this area

Regards

Chris Mockford
Affiliate Development Manager

[loquax]

Thanks Chris for posting up the info!

Jason

[Barry]

Hi chris and buy.at I would love to know more please about your system.

If you have any exclusives running on your system that are tied to merchants I would love to know about them.

Ta

[aotagain]

Just playing devils advocate for a moment...

Given that the discount code sites have what you might call a market advantage over content sites (in that the general public now use them en mass in the hunt for savings), it is inevitable that content affiliates will lose visitors to the code sites.

So is it right that any code site should drop any cookie at any time if there isn't a code present at that time ? You could take the view that if a code site is being run properly then there would hardly ever be old codes on it. ie. enough manpower should be put into it to ensure that customers are not misled and merchants have their codes used absolutely accurately.

Of course that would eat into margins, but that's a viability question, in the same way that some content sites viability is probably being affected by code site cookies.

Or, given a Thatcherite view, you could take the view that the code sites have simply been entrepreneurial enough to exploit a large demand in the market and the market will sort itself out.

ie. if a content sites content is out of date, people stop using it and if a code sites codes don't work, people won't use it either.

[sgpratley]

I assume merchants inform affiliates of expiry dates for codes?

Not always I'm afraid, although they usually start to to when their customer service lines start ringing off the hook because their checkout is 'broken'.

[befuddle]

You could take the view that if a code site is being run properly then there would hardly ever be old codes on it. ie. enough manpower should be put into it to ensure that customers are not misled and merchants have their codes used absolutely accurately.

I've no intentions to increase my manpower from 1 from 2. It would get a bit crammed in my bedroom ... so I'll continue my policy of removing old merchants expired codes when they send me a new one to replace it with.

[befuddle]

I assume merchants inform affiliates of expiry dates for codes?

Don't assume anything. It is the code site owners who send emails back to the merchant asking for an expiry date ... and then it's the code site owners testing the code on the merchants site and emailing to say the code isn't yet valid.

Well that's how I feel I spend my time

[Mogga]

I would normally totally agree as thats business. But when you're such a stern believer in something it's a very quick roll over to the previous "dark side". What next? We all start adding codes that never existed? :tup

Yes time to be the supreme voucher code site and list vouchers that are not yet in existance.

[aotagain]

Don't assume anything. It is the code site owners who send emails back to the merchant asking for an expiry date ... and then it's the code site owners testing the code on the merchants site and emailing to say the code isn't yet valid.

Thats an interesting point - I've very occasionally used a code on our site and it would be nice to have some sort of format from merchants where the code and its expiry date are easy to see in the emails, rather than having to trawl through. Some of them go on forever.

If the expiry dates are easy to get and correct, its just one extra variable in a database query to test the date vs. today's date and automatically select the in-date codes, replacing the out of date ones with some sort of message.

That's not a big job for the bigger sites, but it does depend what quality of information goes into the database. When an offer is first typed into a site backoffice, putting the expiry date in as well takes another 5 seconds and then the cut-off will be automatic. So no need to have someone constantly checking the dates.

Re: earlier point: yes doubling your manpower is obviously unrealistic, and recruitment could be tricky, depending on how grubby one's bedroom is ;-)

[aotagain]

Yes time to be the supreme voucher code site and list vouchers that are not yet in existance.

You could run a competition site where members of the public guess the next code for well-known merchants and get exclusive use of the code at the merchant if they get it right ;-) Bit like supermarket sweep...

[Mogga]

You could run a competition site where members of the public guess the next code for well-known merchants and get exclusive use of the code at the merchant if they get it right ;-) Bit like supermarket sweep...

Is fakevouchercodes.co.uk gone already?

You could have a code maker to invent codes based on people's names.



OK ok I know this was a serious thread but it's disturbing to see any condemnation of underhand tactics that voucher sites seem to be moving towards. It will ultimately damage the affiliates and needs a unified approach from networks, merchants and affiliates.

[loquax]

Reveal or No Reveal... the new discount code game show... you're offered 20 odd boxes and only a couple have valid in date codes.

Negotiate with the banker for a higher or lower discount depending on your chances of picking up the in date discount!

Seriously now...

putting the expiry date in as well takes another 5 seconds and then the cut-off will be automatic

That's what we've done... and it means no cookies set or old codes on site. It does mean losses in content - but at least there are no wild goose cookie cutting chases.

All we need now is some codes... as if we have all the network available ones, there's a bloomin huge difference in "made available by network" vs "number of codes some code sites have" (and even accounting for exclusives etc).

Jason