Affiliate Window Clarification Required

[Frostie]

Can someone from Awin please comment and clarify on the recent wordings we are seeing in emails please?

Pixmania
A few weeks ago, I and others received and email from Pixmania, which I subsequently blogged about, stating;

Pixmania are offering fantastic new codes on appliances and they have extended the expiry date for one TV code! Pixmania are also offering exciting generic codes for all affiliates, except vouchercode sites, and they have a list of their top products for you to promote!

Evans Clothing

Please note the 10% does not apply to voucher code affiliates

Clarification required is;
- what constitues a voucher code website?

is a voucher code site, offering content any different to a content site offering voucher codes

- what consititues a voucher code affiliate?

I have a voucher code site, and more and more people are throwing them up using scripts etc etc. Does this mean ALL affiliates will eventually be classed as a vouchercode affiliate

- what if I centralise my ad's?

If I use a system to serve my adverts such as OpenX (previously PHPAdsNew), will I get full commission for sales from my non-discount sites for Evans Clothing? Can I use Pixmania codes for pushing sales via travel websites?

How and who will distinguish what sales have originated from what site as all tracking will be from my dedicated ad serving domain such as mine.

More and more merchants are placing additional restrictions on voucher code sites and sales generated by them, but there is nothing in place to protect sales from NON voucher code websites which an affiliate may also own.

Can Affiliate Window please comment and clarify so there is no ambiguity and everyone knows the full T&Cs up front so there are no nasty surprises for any party involved?

Cheers

[babrees]

I too would be very interested in the reply.

[renegade]

Hi Frostie,
Same here, I have voucher and non-voucher code sites on the same affiliate IDs for various networks.
Unless every sale is explicitly tracked for voucher use (which means implementing the AW tracking software) any merchant adding this to their T&Cs (like Pixmania) is being unreasonable because of the lack of accountability.

[adamski]

Hi Frostie

You raise some interesting questions.

Merchants' concerns focus around sites built with the sole purpose of delivering voucher codes to users. The recent increase in merchants placing additional restrictions is down to serious question marks over the value of these sites and complaints from content affiliates who feel cookie overwriting as a result of these pure voucher code directories is on the rise.

So what constitutes a voucher code website?

This is essentially a voucher code directory i.e. a site that offers nothing else to users other than voucher codes and discounts. Whilst this could be described as a content site in the loosest possible terms, merchants have an entirely different perception of what a content site is.

What constitutes a voucher code affiliate?

Having spoken to the Evans account manager, what was meant here is a voucher code site as described above. I have stressed the importance of making this absolutely clear in future correspondence.

What happens if I centralise my ads?

In short, this makes it difficult for us to track the origin of your sales. Our suggestion if you do this is to set up separate affiliate accounts for your pure voucher code directories. Other sites you may own which utilise voucher codes but have other content, like the travel website you mentioned, are absolutely fine.

Once we have clearly defined the types of sites to which merchants are happy to supply certain codes, we trust affiliates to take any necessary action however, monitoring of this is not easy so for absolute peace of mind, opening up an additional account to track any voucher code directories is advised.

Hope this offers the clarification you were looking for.

Adam

[Frostie]

Adam

Thanks for the clarification. I think this is going to cause a major headache especially following the introduction of affiliate voucher code scripts that are being given out to each and everyone wanting one.

I appreciate complaints by content affiliates, but personally I think they should be doing something about it such as adding vouchers to their site, rather than bullying a network into making such a stance. Its about adopting to an ever changing industry.

As for creating an additional account, for the time being I will avoid this and simply choose not to work with the merchants who imo are making these ill-informed decisions. I think its a bit much expecting an affiliate to make so much effort and change when at the end of the day the merchant wants sales. I, and others I suspect, will simply promote their competition in their place.

Thanks again for the response, makes it a little clearer!

[renegade]

Originally Posted by adamski ...opening up an additional account to track any voucher code directories is advised.

I already have several AW accounts which makes admin a PITA, that's not the solution.
I can easily steer visitors from my code site to one of my content sites where the code is allowed so it's not even achieving the desired result.
If a merchant is issuing codes then they have to expect them to be promoted on voucher codes sites, anything else is madness - codes that code affiliates can't use - durrrrr.

[ash]

So if i run a voucher code site and a content site (both promoting codes in some form) AW will ALWAYS correctly assertain where the conversion came from and adjust the commission as neccessary?

I don't see why i should setup seperate accounts to handle the different types of sites i may run, that would be incredidbly time consuming to say the least.

I suspect i'd follow Frosties example and simply promote other merchants.

[renegade]

Originally Posted by ash So if i run a voucher code site and a content site (both promoting codes in some form) AW will ALWAYS correctly assertain where the conversion came from and adjust the commission as neccessary?

AIUI they can't easily do that unless the merchant uses their new voucher code management tools.

[befuddle]

Originally Posted by adamski So what constitutes a voucher code website? ... This is essentially a voucher code directory i.e. a site that offers nothing else to users other than voucher codes and discounts.

So myvouchercodes isn't a voucher code website then. As they also include a shopping product directory.

My site ShopCodes includes Affiliate Window widgets, so that is something other than voucher codes and discounts.

[loquax]

The recent increase in merchants placing additional restrictions is down to serious question marks over the value of these sites and complaints from content affiliates who feel cookie overwriting as a result of these pure voucher code directories is on the rise.

Out of interest, if enough affiliates complain about cashback, especially those where it's impossible for a content site to compete (i.e. 100%) will Awin adopt the same policy?

Voucher code sites I can compete with... 100% cashback I can't...

Jason

[adamski]

Originally Posted by Frostie Adam I appreciate complaints by content affiliates, but personally I think they should be doing something about it such as adding vouchers to their site, rather than bullying a network into making such a stance. Its about adopting to an ever changing industry. As for creating an additional account, for the time being I will avoid this and simply choose not to work with the merchants who imo are making these ill-informed decisions. I think its a bit much expecting an affiliate to make so much effort and change when at the end of the day the merchant wants sales. I, and others I suspect, will simply promote their competition in their place.

I think the merchants in question are not acting on the basis of complaints from content affiliates alone. That forms part of the decision but there are other concerns about the methods employed by some voucher code sites. We do stress the importance of not tarring all voucher code affiliates with the same brush and I would urge you to have a conversation with the relelvant account managers to discuss your personal situation.

For Pixmania, please contact:
Rachel Humphreys
Email: rachel.humphreys@affiliatewindow.com
MSN: rachelhumphreys2@hotmail.com

For Evans, please contact:
Greg Endean
Email: greg.endean@affiliatewindow.com
MSN: gregendean@hotmail.com

In the case of Evans, the merchant had concerns over codes published in their catalogues making their way online. They were just asking affiliates to avoid using codes published offline.

Originally Posted by ash So if i run a voucher code site and a content site (both promoting codes in some form) AW will ALWAYS correctly assertain where the conversion came from and adjust the commission as neccessary?

We cannot always ascertain the source of your traffic but if a merchant asks us to delve a little deeper, we can do. Once again I would advise speaking to the relevant account managers for full clarity as each merchant has different objectives. This is not a network stance.

Originally Posted by befuddle So myvouchercodes isn't a voucher code website then. As they also include a shopping product directory. My site ShopCodes includes Affiliate Window widgets, so that is something other than voucher codes and discounts.

I should have been more clear. The merchants in question mean sites where the primary purpose is delivering voucher codes.

Originally Posted by loquax Out of interest, if enough affiliates complain about cashback, especially those where it's impossible for a content site to compete (i.e. 100%) will Awin adopt the same policy? Voucher code sites I can compete with... 100% cashback I can't... Jason

This is not a network policy so it is not a case of us responding to complaints from content affiliates. Each merchant makes their own decisions about how they work with affiliates. We are here to advise and offer them assistance in managing policies they put in place.

Adam

[babrees]

hmm, I have content sites that instead of placing affiliate links on them I have a link to my bargain site. It is NOT primarily a voucher site (and never has been) but gives ALL bargains I can find on the www, some of which are not affiliate links, but just some I found of interest. It includes free gifts and samples, free trials, merchant sales, non-voucher special offers and discounts as well as voucher code discounts, etc.

Would my bargain site be classified as a voucher site and therefore should I not put the discounts on my content sites instead of linking to my bargain site, which means of course more work for me?

[Frostie]

Originally Posted by adamski I would urge you to have a conversation with the relelvant account managers to discuss your personal situation

I would urge them to contact me before I drop merchants left right and centre and promote alternative ones via Awin or another network! I would also urge them to contact me and other affiliates before these silly decisions are made and/or communicated.

Originally Posted by babrees Would my bargain site be classified as a voucher site

I would guess so, but who knows? Clear as mud if you ask me. I think I will follow Rays example, put some widgets up and then declare myself as a content website too!

Originally Posted by loquax Out of interest, if enough affiliates complain about cashback, especially those where it's impossible for a content site to compete (i.e. 100%) will Awin adopt the same policy?

Something I've been banging on about and asking for the past year, not network specific, but industry wide. Infact its something I raised when people started whinging about discount code websites and their value!

[Frostie]

After speaking to Adam, some of my fears have been allayed.

I'm now confident that this decision was 100% Pixmania's and it was not related to any bullying from content affiliates nor is it likely to become a network wide policy. Infact Adam reminded me of a cashback site that left Awin as they wouldn't meet their demands not so long ago.

Pixmania have decided to proceed down their intended route and I guess time will tell in the end as to whether they were correct or not, to do so. In the meantime all my Pixmania SEO'd pages will be directing visitors to an alternative camera supplier.

I'm still unable to understand Pixmania's decisions and sincerely hope they correct it in the very near future. If not, then lets hope they dont come running to me and other voucher code sites, asking to push them over Christmas time!