Re: Commission Junction's Skimming $10

From: Mark Brownlow <mark.brownlow_at_netway.at>
Date: Tue 25 Mar 2003 08:47:15 -0600

Loren M. Baker <loren_at_webadvantage.net> wrote:

> 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.

I understand the anger this move has caused in some circles, but there are
three reasons for me why this is an absolute non-issue.

1. CJ is not a merchant or on the merchant's side. They are an independent
facilitator, bringing merchants and affiliates together. To date they have
only charged merchants for this service. Now they're charging affiliates
(but only non-performers) for access to the many publisher services and
tools CJ offers.

If there are no trackable sales resulting from an affiliate, then CJ gets no
money through its relationship with that affiliate. All the free advertising
etc. is fine for the merchant, but CJ gets nothing out of that. (You might
argue it keeps merchants happy, but it's an intangible benefit.)

That affiliate is then just a cost to CJ - in bandwidth, customer service
etc.

Which would be OK, if said affiliate then grew to be a useful partner,
but...

2. With all due respect to small operations, a charge barrier of 1 sale or
lead in 6 months is laughably trivial.

Anyone even remotely serious about affiliate marketing can achieve this. You
only need to get a friend to buy some paperclips to escape the charge.

And even if you fail to reach this target, CJ allows you to sign up afresh
and start the six month timeline anew. In other words, they're just clearing
out the inactive deadwood from the database.

PR-wise, they might have handled it differently, but I suspect the $10/month
charge is just a way of running down and eliminating inactive accounts.

After all, you have the option to close the account and cash your balance
without incurring the charge. And those with a zero balance will not incur
additional charges; the account just gets closed.

3. No affiliate should be showing free advertising beyond a test period. If
a merchant isn't making you any money, dump them and move on.

Mark Brownlow
http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/





Received on Tue Mar 25 2003 - 08:47:15 CST