Commission Junction's Skimming $10

From: Loren M. Baker <loren_at_webadvantage.net>
Date: Mon 24 Mar 2003 08:24:03 -0600

It has come to my attention that Commission Junction will begin
penalizing its members that have not generated commissions over the past
6 months. Commission Junction will be charging a fee of $10 per month
for accounts which fit this criteria.

"When the new Publisher Service Agreement and productive publisher
program become effective on March 28, 2003, Commission Junction will
begin assessing a monthly fee of USD $10 to publisher accounts that have
not generated any commissions for six consecutive calendar months. The
purpose of this fee is to ensure that publishers in our network are
producing results. Publisher accounts that have not generated any
commissions for six consecutive months and do not have a positive
account balance will be closed. "

This troubles me for the following reason; if affiliates of CJ have
advertised CJ clients on their site, in their newsletters, or via other
various forms of online marketing and not generated revenue for CJ or
its clients, they have still advertised those clients for FREE!!

Even if those affiliate's site users have not purchased an item, they
still may have done one or more of the following:

* become aware of the CJ client by seeing a text link which does not
serve an image or cookie and searched for that client on a search engine
or entered the client's URL into their browser- therefore, bypassing the
CJ measurement system completely, yet perhaps still purchasing an item
(I am guilty myself of sometimes doing this when seeing advertisements
or affiliate links)

* purchased the item or service on a separate computer- for example; you
see the ad at work, check out the site, and decide to purchase it, but
when you get home that evening

* forwarded the product information to a friend, employer or colleague
who has then purchased or become aware of the item

Why is Commission Junction penalizing it's members for giving free
advertising to their affiliates?

Why should members have to pay $10 in order to continue their service.

In my opinion, this is a slap in the face to CJ members, not an
incentive to get them to perform.

I believe that CJ should keep their sticky fingers out of the pockets of
their determined membership and develop other incentives and
informational packets to help their members perform.

What do you think?

Loren M. Baker

WebAdvantage.net <http://www.webadvantage.net>
E-marketing, online advertising, & PR strategy and implementation.
*** Selected by Forbes Magazine as a B2B Best of The Web ***
(410)297-9495 | (410)297-9462 fax EST




Received on Mon Mar 24 2003 - 08:24:03 CST