NET-A-PORTER.COM launches exclusively with Affiliate Window!

[Nicky March]

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Affiliate Window are delighted to bring you NET-A-PORTER as a fantastic new merchant within our portfolio! At the moment there are limited spaces on this campaign as this will be a soft launch into network.

NET-A-PORTER is one the world’s leading online fashion retailers with the latest products from more than 100 of the hottest designers. They ship to over 70 countries around the world delivery and duties paid. With an average order value in excess of £450 this is a great opportunity to earn high levels of commission.


If you are interested in promoting this excellent new merchant please sign up to the campaign in the normal manner, you will then be advised if you are able to promote NET-A-PORTER . If you are not able to promote this merchant this time around do not worry your application will be left in pending until more spaces are available so be quick.

Currently this campaign will be closed on the PPC channel.

[pricethat]

Well done to Affiliate Window, i know a number of networks that tried to get this one, though i do have some valid points if i may. Knowing the sales process as i do for Net A Porter they do need a lot of control and a huge brand protection but the terms and conditions are the most worrying of terms. There seems to be a big cross over with this program, our agreements are directly with affiliate window, not with the merchants directly, these terms and conditions constitute a direct agreement with them which go far past what is considered acceptable for a normal affiliate scheme. It seems a case of the merchant wanting all of his or her cake but not carrying the other parts of it.

My main concerns are that the terms state that they can reject sales that may have already been authorised up to 60 days. I appreciate that affiliates make their own decisions when marketing a program but this is against any other scheme i have seen, why should one merchant be allowed to bully a network into these kind of terms? In this case i would suggest that the auto validation is set to the 60 days only so that at least when affiliates do get a sale validated at least they know it is their money and not be clawed back from them.

As pointed out above the terms and conditions create a direct agreement between them and ourselves not with affiliate window which our agreements are with. In event of clawbacks our direct agreement is with affiliate window not with the merchants. Maybe someone should look at this as i can see if merchants go about making up their own terms like this then there will be a lot of cross over between our agreements with AWIN and the merchant directly.

Maybe someone with a little more of a legal eye could look over this, as i said its not a problem in the sense that affiliates make their own choices but as i can see it, networks are prepared to take more and more stringent terms just to get a merchant which obviously filters down on us and makes the job harder, it would be worthwhile putting much more thought and effort into how these terms are structured so we all know what we are doing.

At present for example we know when we will get paid, anything validated is paid towards the end of the month for all merchants, if these inconsistent terms from merchants are allowed to continue then we will have, yes you get paid but this merchant can or might claw you, and this one but not that one, and the rest wont, but could or maybe. As you can appreciate its impossible for an affiliate to be up to date with all the updated terms all of the time and especially NET A Porter, i mean who really has the time to read all that lot and then keep reading it to see if the terms have changed all the time.

As some things are becoming more and more standard wouldnt it be worthwhile just writing them into the networks terms and conditions rather than a set of dictated terms from merchants, for example not allowed to big on the merchants brand name, mispelling or domain names, for all programs Unless stated etc.

If more work was done on what i would refer to as the master agreement then it would remove half the rubbish from the merchants terms and make our life easier. Also those terms and conditions could be used with merchants like this to explain to them that the terms and conditions set out are more than comprehensive, anything more that they want to add to them go against the grain of affiliate marketing and that they cant dictate terms that go against what already is the most agressive terms and conditions in the whole of the industry.

[Lentil-Warrior]

Now that I actually read!

As for Net A Porter T&C, well still looking for a magnifying glass and a spare weekend.

You can have more than one paragraph.

[8601cam]

Thanks for your comprehensive feedback, I will be looking into this progranmmes T&C's in more detail. However as you rightly point out this merchant does want to be cautious and their aim is not to enforce overly strict terms for affiliates so let me investigate further.

Current sales that have been tracked through the Net-a-Porter account were paid in 28 days, 100% approval.

Also Affiliate Window does NOT operate a clawback system on affiliate validated commission.
All validated commissions are honoured by Affiliate Window regardless of susbsequent issues that may arise with the merchant. Our aim is to act as the financial buffer between merchant and affiliate, protecting affiliates earnings at all costs. This has even included several instances where we have still paid commission for merchants who have gone into liquidation and ceased to trade.

This does not include isolated instances where accidental validations take place and are of course, immediately reversed.

I hope this gives you a level of confidence that reagardless of what happens post validation for any Affiliate Window merchant, you are covered.

Kind Regards

The Affiliate Window Team

[pricethat]

I have every confidence in affiliate window and one day hope to do a fair bit more than we do now but my post was with reference to the terms specifically, your all kind hearted chaps but its not what the terms say that will be too much for some affiliates to deal with.

Im not going to paint doom and gloom to everything but i do see that as a development.

For example in the old days most networks would just list a merchant and it shows in the programs list, then came the time when networks had to rethink that and allocate them into categories, electricals, finance etc and so on, i do think these terms need to have some kind of structure to them rather than just the mess that i see will come one day.

The more terms that people are aware of in one set the better for us all, i still kind of think if merchants would want to press for more than a very good set of standard terms then the answer would probably be sod off. (for want of better words).

All i am seeing is merchants pushing for more and more, and certainly the part in these terms for example they quite clearly state that they can claw back up to 60 days even if a sale is validated which is just against what is normal and differs to what i know awin to do. As i see these cross overs are going to become more and more unless someone puts a stop or more structure into them.

Regards and thanks to awin for looking at it

[ethical]

Forgive me if I'm being a bit thick but;

"Current sales that have been tracked through the Net-a-Porter account were paid in 28 days, 100% approval"

Are these sales that occurred on another network because if they only launched today on Affiliate Window how can sales have been paid in 28 days?



Thanks,

ethical

[8601cam]

No, you're not being thick at all. The Net-a-Porter programme required some customised integration, so a small number of affiliates were approached for a 'soft launch'. This was so we could be sure everything was fine prior to opening it up to the network.

I'm will also have further feedback regarding the T&C's hopefully today.

I do agree that the variety of merchant T&C's makes it difficult for affiliates to know what they can and can't do for each programme. I do feel that a standard document would be ideal and any amends to that being highlighted in Bold, so affiliates can see where specific changes have been implemented.

It would be naive to think that merchants should be made to accept a standard document without adding any specific changes as each programme varies in a number of ways from validation cycle and method to keyword restrictions and brand policy.

I do feel the way forward is a balance of the two, streamlining the T&C's process so affiliates can get an immediate appreciation of the pro's and con's of the programme and then make their own decisions from there.

I've planned a talk with our legal team to explore making this a reality.

Kind Regards

The Affiliate Window Team

[ethical]

Thanks for clarifying.

I thought Dr Who was an account manager at AW for a moment

ethical

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Have to agree with most of what Pricethat said ... the trend in complex additional T&C's is a little disconcerting .. to the point that we are rejecting more & more merchants unless they wish to pay for our solicitor fees to go through with a fine toothcomb .. Any network shouldn't allow these go through in the first place, it's not just the network being bullied it's also the affiliate, a network which says no to these kind of excessive T&C's will gain more respect.

[Indigo]

BTW - The Net A Porter "Join" link on the front page of AW goes to a 404 page.

[Nicky March]

Hi Indigo

I have just taken a look into your query and everything seemed to be working ok here, are you getting to the T's & C's page?

Could you let me know some more details and we can investigate this further.

Thanks

[Fraser]

I get a 404 error too.

Log in to AW, click Join for Net-a-porter and it takes me to

http://www.affiliatewindow.com/terms...s.php?mid=1208

"404 The Page You Requested Does Not Exist "

[darrenw]

For me, this has been showing as "Your application to this merchant is still pending approval" for just over 24 hours now...

[sticky]

I have to admit I looked at the T&Cs and thought I cant be bothered with that I wont bother applying! Think this should be simplified a bit - generally most companies are happy with PPC restrictions. To be honest I dont know what half the words mean!

[CompareStore]

Nicky/Fraser/Indigo, I had the error too but I found that it only occurred if NetaPorter were the first merchant in the list on the home page. If you use the "Join New Programmes" option and find them that way it works fine.

I have been pending for a few days now too so I assume I missed the cut this time.