Affiliate association, yes or no

[Dazza30]

Im new to affiliate maketing just three weeks in, but im not new to business or the internet.
One thing that has amazed me since deciding to join in on this business model is how big the market for it is, limitless would be how id put it.
Now teachers have codes of practice and unions, so do bin men, but not affiliates. Is this because merchants have all the power and some how see us differently to lets say google or yahoo, are we seen as expendable or not apreciated and not as providers of a service.
Or would merchants simply runaway from a affiliate who was tied to a union.

Sorry if this seems like a bit of an uninformed rant but im trying to make sence of all the information i gather while traveling this forum.
Also does anyone think the affiliate association will ever come about?

[pricethat]

I would so love to disagree with what you just said but i dare not fear the wrath of anyone here who might be married to a binman or teacher. For one you can't even use those as examples as they are paid to do a job, not that they are more than capable of doing another job if they dont like the conditions but some prefer to join a union to keep the job as they want it to be i guess.

Whereas us, we are independent businesses. There is no nanny club or fair game. It is business and we can put a merchant into place easily enough if they step out of line. Also if we are so responsible for the way merchants behave then the networks start to become surpless to requirements as we might as well then just handle the payments ourselves.

Further down the road for an association to have any meaning it must deliver a value to someone somewhere, enough to make people respect it which would cost probably 100,000 pounds in year one alone. There is a lot of talk but not so many people are ready to part with the cash to that amount. Alternatively someone would have to work pretty much full time or more and others to establish something without getting paid, some cant do it despite wanting to and some peoples mouths are bigger than their arms that work. (no point mincing with words)

I know many people that couldnt give a monkeys whether their was an affiliate organisation or not and certainly are far above any association that the association just couldnt get to these people to bring them aboard. And when apathy rules it takes many many years to establish an association with credibility.

The final thing you forget is teachers and dustbin men are not in competition with each other, whilst we are friendly enough in here don't kid yourself that everyone is all cuddling up to each other when it comes to business and what they are doing. Most of the larger posters in here are above that but i bet there is a larger proportion of people that see everyone and anyone as competition.

[Brendon]

I think it'll happen one day, but don't hold your breath. The guys making big bucks don't need it, by definition, and why would they want to help out the competition too much?

Besides, I think the model most likely to succeed is a "professional body" rather than a union. There just isn't enough professionalism in the game to make it work yet, I'm afraid

[drivetowin]

A few of us have been working on an affiliate association 'behind the scenes' for some time now.

Admittedly progress has been slow but there will be an announcement before the summer - sorry I can't be more definite on timing but there are a fair number of loose threads to pull together (not the least of which is funding).

It will be much more of a "professional body" than a trades union though (which is not to imply trades unions are unprofessional before anyone leaps down my throat)

[Dazza30]

That good news kbudden could you kep me posted.