M&S Product Feed Live

[drivetowin]

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When I've queried this with them before I've been told "someone has to pay for the bandwidth and the admin costs of setting up ftp"

Strange how smaller networks and merchants seem to achieve it and absorb the cost.....

[Mogga]

Didn't CJ introduce a charge for affiliates who don't make any money within 6 months too a while back? I know it probably doesn't apply to many people here (maybe lots of lurkers though) but I thought that was pretty low.
Usuaully a word from someone in the know can turn around non-performance - something that would make them more money than charging someone in the long term.

[Andy]

Isn't the threshold $10k a year? I don't make $10k a month but have not been charged.

KBudden, I don't think you would be charged but best to discuss with CJ.

[Wardy]

Originally posted by Andy
Isn't the threshold $10k a year? I don't make $10k a month but have not been charged.

KBudden, I don't think you would be charged but best to discuss with CJ.

I asked to have it enabled for me and they sent me the following reply...

"Dear Commission Junction Publisher,

We have received your request to enable Product Data functionality for your Commission Junction account. In order for us to integrate Product Data functionality for your Commission Junction publisher account a $200 one-time set-up fee will be required for access and deducted directly from your account balance. This integration fee is applied for the initial implementation of Product Catalog data transfer functionality and will be charged at the time of the integration.

However, this charge will be waived if your account has earned at least $10,000 in advertiser sales revenue for one month during your lifetime within our network. Again, if you do not meet this criteria, the $200 integration fee will apply. If you are no longer interested in this additional functionality simply do not respond to this email.

However, if you are interested in continuing, please review the documentation downloadable below, it has the new format of the Product Data File:

Scheduled Data Transfer Guide - Product Data Feed for Publishers
http://www.cj.com/downloads/tech/sch...oduct_data.pdf


In addition please answer, as best you can, the questions listed below:

1- In which format would you like to receive your data? Choose from one of the following: TAB : CSV : PIPE : XML : EXCEL formats.

2- Which method of transfer would you like to use to receive your product data? Choose from one of the following: CJ FTP (you access to our FTP servers) : Client FTP (we access to your FTP servers to push the file(s)) w/ any login and password information needed for access : HTTP (you access our HTTP Web servers).

3-Due to the potential size of your feed, it is recommended that you limit your feed to your top five (5) Advertisers. Please let us know which five (5) Advertisers you would consider are your strongest revenue generators?

Once we receive the answers to the questions above we will enable your account to receive product data and send you technical documentation that will assist your technical team in integrating this functionality. In order to answer the questions above simply respond to this email.

To update this incident via email, you MUST reply to this specific email and address the reply to cj@custhelp.com. NOTE THAT THIS ADDRESS IS NOT THE DEFAULT ADDRESS. In the reply to message, scroll to the end and enter your reply in the space provided. Text entered into any other part of this message will be discarded. . Your request will be processed within 72 hours.

Sincerely,

Technical Integration and Support Services"

Cheers
Wardy

[Andy]

<quote>However, this charge will be waived if your account has earned at least $10,000 in advertiser <b>sales</b>revenue for one month during your lifetime within our network. </quote>
LOL!
The monthly $10k threshold applies to sales revenue generated and not commissions. BIG DIFFERENCE!

[drivetowin]

It is a big difference but the underlying principle remains the same - why should they charge when other networks don't - especially as one of the options is to allow you to ftp into their server - so what's the cost of that to them in administration - five minutes to email you a username and password.

While we're doing several thousand pounds of salesrevenue with CJ a month it's not yet 10K so we either wait and wait or cough up $200.

[Mogga]

I wish I hadn't looked cos theres a big difference between sales and commission.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by kbudden
When I've queried this with them before I've been told "someone has to pay for the bandwidth and the admin costs of setting up ftp"

Strange how smaller networks and merchants seem to achieve it and absorb the cost.....

CJ generate each product file specifically for you, so you just get the data for your merchants. These files can be huge, (Gigabytes), so it's costly in terms of bandwidth and storage, and the processor time it takes to generate them. So I can understand why they want to discourage people from getting them unless they're going to make use of them. You can't really compare this to the much smaller product files on offer from UK networks.

The current system is great if you run a site where you want to get all the product data in one chunk so you can import it to a database (I wish the other networks would do the same thing), but I think they should also offer an option for people who just want to be able to get a product file for a merchant as and when they need it, without having to jump through hoops to get it. If CJ could provide a basic product file for each merchant that anyone could download I'm sure a lot of people would make use of it.

[drivetowin]

Originally posted by Jeff
So I can understand why they want to discourage people from getting them unless they're going to make use of them.

Sure, but I am planning to make use of it otherwise I wouldn't be asking - I'm already promoting TD, AW, DGM and AF merchants on my sites using product feeds supplied by all of them.

Do you think it's worth me contacting CJ in the UK directly and showing them some of my sites to show we are using product feeds actively and see if they will waive the fee?

If so, does anyone have a good contact at CJ UK they can pm me with so I can approach them - thanks.

[Andy]

While I am grateful that CJ provide feeds, the feeds are massive and need to be unzipped. They include a great deal of redundant info that I doubt any affiliates use.

Simple concise feeds would be much better. I find refreshing my databases with CJ feeds a right carry-on whereas with specific merchant feeds provided by AWIN & TD, I have been able to set-up my website to automatically refresh the databases daily.

[nick]

M&S product links in the feed are still directing to the homepage and not the individual products.

[Pete Taylor]

Originally posted by Andy
<quote>However, this charge will be waived if your account has earned at least $10,000 in advertiser <b>sales</b>revenue for one month during your lifetime within our network. </quote>
LOL!
The monthly $10k threshold applies to sales revenue generated and not commissions. BIG DIFFERENCE!

Seems that they have reworded this, to now read "<b>Is there a cost associated with the product feeds? </b>

Yes, the cost for setting up the feed is currently $200. If you are earning over $10,000 dollars in commissions per month this fee may be waived at CJ's discretion."

[stevel]

Can anyone tell me how I go about getting CJ product data feeds?

thanks