Which Network Would You Recommend to a Merchant?

[Qui Gon Jinn]

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Considering the current climate like spyware etc....

If a merchant was looking to join just one single network, who WOULD you most recommend?

Q. Which Network WOULD You most Recommend to a Merchant?

[1st Stop]

I would push AF because I think their payment method is the best and I have never had trouble with them!

[Rich]

I voted for POR. They have brought some innovations to the table already (with customer base, reporting & tracking) and give the impression they are going to keep on coming up with new features.

After that I would probably recommend Awin, if it was a merchant that had a big inventory, as there seem to be quite a few ShopWindow sites from affiliates that arn't let using datafeeds in any other way.

[loquax]

POR for transparency, the customer base and the fact they understand affiliate marketing and can explain to the merchants they bring on board what is required by them to try and make a program work.

AF could be good - but payment system aside - I think they need to seriously assess merchants they bring on board and sort out known affiliate grumbles (phone numbers, updated creative, quality creative) for all new and current merchants...

Jason

[Mc661]

OMG for Friendlyness!

[Azam.net]

Looks like most people prefer POR. Not surprised. We voted for 'em, too. They are friendly and responsive to the needs of affiliates. Also they are transparent and honest, unlike some other networks we all know of.

[getvisible]

shame we can't have a proportional representation type vote :-)

[Luke]

You've all got it wrong, I'd recommend they spend loads on adwords so that I can get a decent EPC from Adsense.

[Matthew Wood]

I don't know Luke what are you like? lol

This is a really hard question, as it depends on more variables such as how niche the program is in terms of affiliate appeal, what override deal you can strike, the management and promotion of your program etc... So different programs may well be suited to different networks.

But I suppose it would be either AW, POR, Buy.at or DGM - thats if we take out the finance networks.

[justnozy]

Maybe the point of the poll was to see if not only certain networks were still being supported but were actually being recommended

[Luke]

"I don't know Luke what are you like? lol"

greedy

[Samburu.com]

I've spent some time today checking these guys (and others) out because we are looking for a UK network to join in addition to Shareasale (US). What I find difficult is that many of these networks are positioning themselves as only being paid on results but they are asking us for a big fat set-up fee plus a commission and a monthly maintenance fee on top of that.
We don't mind paying for results at all but that's money we'd rather share with our affiliates (and we do through a 20% commission). When you see see these fees in terms of the number of parcels we'd need to ship before breaking even - it's a lot.

Anyhow, from a merchants point of view the criteria are:
1. Actively match us up with compatible affiliates
2. Get paid a %age of what our affiliates get and don't vex us with montly fees and network charges
3. Give us nice and easy tools and automatically upload our product data-feed straight from our ftp server
4. Show us on their website (before we sign-up) exactly what we'd be paying for and don't expect us to pay for higher positions in their directory.
5. Put their prices on their websites
6. Allow us to put tiers in our commission structure automatically (i.e. sell 5 and your commission goes up to X%)
7. Be open and honest with everyone and pay up on time.
8. Vet all affiliates carefully to ensure that only those who stand a real chance of making a sale are accepted - let's not waste people's time.
9. Run a clean and parasite free operation

Currently, we use www.shareasale.com who do all of these things (apart from 6). With them we can afford to pay 20% commissions. With the companies I looked at today we'd have to cut our commissions in half to make it financially viable (those big fees + 30% overrides would kill our margins). Shareasale have an excellent reputation with the affiliate community and they pay directly in to peoples bank accounts in both the UK and the USA. They don't seem to have many UK affiliates that's why we are looking at UK networks. Being a UK company we'd much rather spend our money at home.

[Qui Gon Jinn]

Yet again, inference gained suggests that the so called "big two", TD & CJ fall significantly behind most of the field.

Let's hope current merchants & new merchants comtemplating these networks take note of the general preferences of affiliates who are actually driving the sales.

[getvisible]

is there any chance we could have a tally of members that work for the networks. I just feel polls like this can be easily skewed by employees.

[David MOUNOU]

Hello,

My name is David MOUNOU, I am French, and our company launched 2 weeks ago its english website www.aunomdelarose.co.uk.

We are looking for a good affiliate network in th UK. I read the previous poll, but it is maybe outdated.

What is acordung to you the best platform for a site like ours (new, flowers delivery business, small budget (exept affiliate commissions))

Thank you for your anwers, and sorry for my English !


David