Change to Commision Junction Credit Policy

[Jason Baker]

Hello all

We just wanted to make you aware of a change which may affect you. Our contractual policy with advertisers has always been that we have to be paid before we can pay any affiliates. However, in the last few years we have, on occasion, extended additional terms to some advertisers - meaning that we have paid you before the advertiser has paid us.

As belts tighten we have reviewed this unwritten payment option and will now, as of 1st July 2008, only pay affiliates once we have received payment from our advertisers.

We want to make this as painless as possible and so have communicated with our advertisers to give them options on how to ensure regular and up-to-date payments with their affiliates. Indeed, many of our advertisers have already begun to make significant and robust arrangements to ensure that you are always paid on time.

If you have any queries or would like to discuss how this change could affect you then please contact a member of our UK publisher team. Their details can be found Commission Junction Contact Details. If you are concerned about specific programmes you are promoting then please PM me and I will deal with all enquiries on an individual basis.


Many thanks,


Jason Baker


Publisher Account Director, UK and Ireland

Commission Junction, A ValueClick Company
Oxford House
180 Upper Richmond Road
Putney, London
SW15 2SH

P: 0208 785 5859
F: 0208 785 5444
E: jbaker@cj.com

[Qui Gon Jinn]

a) Do any merchants prepay?

b) Who gets paid first, the affiliate or the network?

c) What happens when a merchant leaves still owing pending or validated commissions?

d) Does the network act as a guarantor in the case of c)

I am trying to ascertain if the deal is better for affiliates, historically KBTOYS & ETOYS comes to mind or do we have to do a podcast to get a ticket resolved.

Questions a) to d) could be asked for any network, but as this is the CJ section, i would like to put these questions forward as it's been brought up please.

[Jason Baker]

Hey – in response to your questions below:

a) Do any merchants prepay?

Yes

b)Who gets paid first, the affiliate or the network?

The funds are received by the network first, then passed on to the affiliate. If a merchant has payment problems then any recovered funds are passed onto the affiliate first, Commission Junction second.

c) What happens when a merchant leaves still owing pending or validating commissions?

This would depend on the reason for the merchant leaving. If the closure if due to the merchant moving to a new network or for any reasons not associated with payment difficulties, the affiliate will be paid as normal. However, if the merchant closes because their business has gone into receivership (for example) Commission Junction will pay the affiliates from any recovered funds as outlined in ‘b’ above.

d) Does the network act as guarantor in the case of ‘c’

We do not guarantee affiliate payments if the merchant fails to pay Commission Junction. In the past 5 years since the likes of ETOYS went into receivership the affiliate marketing arena has matured vastly. In any business there is a risk of bad debt and affiliate marketing is no different. Commission Junction works closely with our advertisers to minimise this risk as much as possible and we take every measure to try to collect money on behalf of our affiliates.

Hope this helps.

Jason Baker


Publisher Account Director, UK and Ireland

Commission Junction, A ValueClick Company
Oxford House
180 Upper Richmond Road
Putney, London
SW15 2SH

P: 0208 785 5859
F: 0208 785 5444
E: jbaker@cj.com

[Qui Gon Jinn]

for c) and d) would trade credit insurance be a route worth exploring offering peace of mind to affiliates and even a selling point.

Cash Flow Management - Trade Credit Insurance

reetoys & kbtoys example they remained on the network for a period after.

[Jason Baker]

Morning Qui Gon Jinn

Thank you for the feedback and suggestions.

Along with diligent management of credit and receivables, trade insurance can be used to protect against risk. Generally speaking, trade insurance would not provide additional risk coverage as the insurer would follow the same risk guidelines that we would use internally. In a nutshell, if we do not find a merchant safe for payment terms, then it is unlikely that the trade insurer would cover them either.

Bad debt is a risk of doing business in the best of times. However, with the safe guards we have put in place it is very unlikely that either Commission Junction or its affiliates will be placed in a non payment scenario.

Our Affiliates should be assured that Commission Junction will always pursue any legitimate debt in the most stringent manner possible on behalf of both our Publishers and our own company.

Thanks


Jason Baker
Publisher Account Director, UK and Ireland

Commission Junction, A ValueClick Company
Oxford House
180 Upper Richmond Road
Putney, London
SW15 2SH

P: 0208 785 5859
F: 0208 785 5444
E: jbaker@cj.com