Quidco no longer working with Affiliate Window

[Tel]

Morning,

Just received this, could have quite an impact for some merchants. Now here's the justification for multiple networks...

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Dear Colin,

We are contacting you to inform you that as of September 1st 2008, Quidco will no longer be operating on the Affiliate Window platform.

We have worked with Affiliate Window since our launch in May 2005 and have enjoyed working closely with them over the last three years. We believe the Affiliate Window team are a great asset to the affiliate community and are strongly committed to raising the profile of the industry.

The rapid growth of Quidco along with the announced entry of Microsoft and Yahoo! into the UK cashback market (through Live Search and Kelkoo respectively) once again indicates that the cashback incentive channel is set to be a major part of any online media strategy.

The increasing mainstream use of cashback has brought greater pressure on the service we offer including the technical integration of Quidco with our network partners. As part of our effort to deeply integrate with network merchants and create bespoke solutions for their needs we have made the decision to reduce the number of our network partners. Unfortunately this means that we will be unable to promote you on the Affiliate Window platform as of September 1st 2008.

Kind Regards,

Paul Nikkel

Director

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Thoughts?

[channel5]

Their margins are very small, so maybe they are trying to cut costs by rationalising the number of platforms they integrate with.

[nim-b]

Hmmm, interesting, very interesting.

What are they going to do about the merchants who are just on AWin? There are quite a few big names, are they just going to do direct deals, or will people just not be able to get cashback for those sites?

I thought most cashback sites worked with all networks on the basis that gave them the greatest coverage of merchants.

[jamcamuk]

<<removed>>

[hpops]

I think they might just mean there own affiliate prog with them.

Nope, they are not going to be promoting merchants on the AWIN platform, frankly if theres not more to this than meets the eye I'd be very suprised. Huge news and the fallout could be even huger.

Perhaps rather than a justification for multi-network policies, its (more) justification for understanding the incremental value of sales (or sales queries) provided by some of the larger publishers in the space. I would imagine that the first effects we'll see as an agency looking at multiple programs is no significant drop in sales but a widening of publishers who contribute sales.

Interesting times ahead methinks.

[D-Mac]

It reads as though Quidco are having difficulty integrating with Awins backend :blush

Jokes aside, the implications of this are massive. Maybe Qudico are leaning on AW? Maybe AW are leaning on QC? I'll be following this with interest.

[Azam.net]

When I met him last Thursday, my mate Dave told me something like this was going to happen and said it was because... drat, I just realised I have a meeting on the other end of London at 2pm; gotta scarper.

[adamski]

Dear all,

The email in question was sent, without our knowledge, to our merchant and associated partners.

Affiliate Window have a long and successful history with Quidco that dates back to March 2005. We have always been advocates of the cashback model and in particular the value cashback can bring to this channel. As one of the network’s partners we have watched cashback interest grow over the past few years to a point where an affiliate is able to leverage considerable influence and restrictions over both networks and merchants.

However, over the past year it has only been Quidco’s influence over our merchants that has concerned us. Whilst we do not doubt that Quidco have a strong commitment to its members, Affiliate Window have become increasingly concerned how Quidco are prepared to sacrifice protection for merchants in favour of its members by securing cashback, in some cases where no cashback is due.

This was highlighted eight months ago when Quidco asked all the networks they work with to enter into the Quidco ‘SureShop’ agreement. This was an obligation designed to guarantee members that networks resolve any Quidco member transaction queries within 28 days or they would be auto-approved. As I am sure you are aware, transaction approval should strictly lie with the merchant and cashback users can often submit requests for transaction queries because they have not received their cashback after making a purchase. The reasons for this are varied and often NOT associated with network tracking but more likely the user failing to access a merchant site via a Quidco link or the user clicked another affiliate link prior to sale, such as a discount voucher site. Nevertheless, we were happy to assist Quidco in processing these queries and as you have seen over the past few months we developed a solution to submit these queries into our system to be reviewed by merchants on the basis that they control how and when this occurs.

Our concerns regarding SureShop were heightened when Quidco members began submitting queries for transactions that had already been presented and declined by merchants. This effectively meant merchants declining a transaction and then subsequently having that same transaction auto-approved if they are unable to review it within the 28 days or bogus/fraudulent transactions being submitted on the off-chance of their approval. I am sure you agree, this system offers no protection to merchants and will inevitably end in a situation where the merchant is paying Quidco members commission for sales that are not valid.

After all any network has to feel confident that it tracks a very high percentage of sales (thus raising a serious question mark over the volume of Quidco transaction queries) or admit that their tracking is flawed and agree that Quidco members should be allowed to submit erroneous transaction queries.

As such, and after careful consideration, Affiliate Window decided to opt out of the SureShop agreement. This meant that the onus for the validity of member transaction queries was also shared with Quidco rather than our merchants alone. We felt this ensured transparency, accountability and above all protection to our merchants, something that we feel has been eroded by Quidco’s representation of the cashback market of late. We would ask all merchants operating in the affiliate industry to consider not just the merit of SureShop but the obvious disadvantages it brings.

This is obviously a carefully timed email designed to apply undue pressure on our clients. This is what we have come to expect of Quidco over recent months. We continue to work with all the other cashback partners many of whom appreciate our stance regarding the protection of merchants. It is well known that cashback users are not loyal to just one site and you will still be able to engage the broader cashback community through alternative partners with added peace of mind.

We would like to take merchants through this in more detail and ensure you have full visibility on the issue so we can address any concerns. Therefore, if you would like to contact us directly to discuss this please don’t hesitate to do so using any of the details below.

Kind Regards


Mark Walters
COO
mark.walters@affiliatewindow.com
020 7553 0360

Kevin Edwards
Partnerships Director
Kevin.edwards@affiliatewindow.com
020 7553 0354

Anthony Clements
Manager, Key Accounts Team
Anthony.clements@affiliatewindow.com
020 7553 0353

[Tel]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the thorough response to this thread.

We'll take up any questions or issues regarding our merchants directly with yourselves.

Cheers,

Col.

[getvisible]

I fully support Awin on this issue.

The nuts and bolts of Affiliate Marketing is that it has to be profitable, accountable, transparent and based on actual performance marketing mechanism for merchants.

If not all of these factors are present then no merchant should should engage in affiliate marketing. Forcing merchants to approve erroneous transactions (taking Awin's statement as true) is doing the industry no good.

Just because Quidco delivers volume it doesn't mean the fundamentals of affiliate marketing should change to suit their needs - the needs of the merchant are paramount. Without merchants we have no industry.

Perhaps other networks should be revising their stance?

[Cheapdvds]

maybe they should visit Cloggs.com or trainerstation as their shoes are clearly way too small for them

[hpops]

Many thanks for the detailed response from Awin, we'll be talking directly with you about the potential impacts here.

For what its worth I believe that you've acted in the best interests of the industry here.

[csn]

As I posted on their blog, I think AW has handled this very well. Not all networks would have responded in a public manor.

I agree with Lee - perhaps other networks need to take a look at this and act before they are forced to act.

(This seems to be a very popular topic - 171 reading as I write this. I've bever seen figures that high before!)

[ChrisJohnson]

Dear all,

Our concerns regarding SureShop were heightened when Quidco members began submitting queries for transactions that had already been presented and declined by merchants. This effectively meant merchants declining a transaction and then subsequently having that same transaction auto-approved if they are unable to review it within the 28 days or bogus/fraudulent transactions being submitted on the off-chance of their approval. I am sure you agree, this system offers no protection to merchants and will inevitably end in a situation where the merchant is paying Quidco members commission for sales that are not valid.

Surely adding a small function to cancel out duplicate transaction queries that have been declined is a simple way to strengthen their offering? Maybe they should re-think the checks they do at their end before sending through these transactions.

Duplication checks, fraudulent checks, invalid order reference numbers - these can all be checked prior to sending over the queries and ensures the network that they are doing all they can to stop fraud/duplications before being sent to the merchants.

wd AW

[Kandevil]

well done Afflilate Window, I think you should be commended for your stance and coming out publicly with it.