215 New Posts Today

[kelly626]

Amazingly, I'm being hit with alot of merchant "join us" e-mails this week. Guess how enthusiastic I feel in joining new outfits through CJ when my present merchant commissions aren't showing up in the reports?

You guys who only expect 1 or 2 transactions a day in your reports ...you're not so alarmed that you presently have 50% the norm, or no transactions. To us who consistently average numerous transactions a day, it is absolutely shocking to see only a few transactions show up.

If tomorrow comes and I see 100+ transactions show up, things will be caught up. From my experience over several years, I know that's not likely to happen. I'll be forced to walk away with an enormous loss.

By God, tell the new merchants to stop soliciting at this time. I always reply back, and I've got a big mouth.

Oh, by the way, this thread is titled, "Fix Reporting, I'm losing lots of money".

Good Day.

[TheWebDiva]

I take my hat off and bow to those of you who support families doing this. Thanks to a layoff, I find myself doing affiliate marketing full time (instead of as a hobby), and if I had to support kids while dealing with sleazy merchants, inept networks, and parasite infestations, I would have a head as white as snow and an ulcer that would have eaten through my stomach lining like a Alien. (thank God for severance pay and unemployment)

Do you think I should stop advertising until CJ gets this mess fixed or are they usually pretty quick about this sort of thing? I sent them a message asking that question, but an email I received mentioned that they reply in 72 hours. No need to mention the amount of money I'll lose in 72 hours.

Eve

[Airstrip]

Delay? That would be nice, but I am more inclined to believe LOSS!! My sales are down over 50% as well. I am still getting the clicks, but only 1-2 sales per day. 6-10 is the normal. Isn't about time CJ told us exactly what has gone wrong? I use some PPC campaigns that are costing me bigtime all of a sudden..

Sheeesh!

Originally Posted by TheWebDiva

I take my hat off and bow to those of you who support families doing this. Thanks to a layoff, I find myself doing affiliate marketing full time (instead of as a hobby), and if I had to support kids while dealing with sleazy merchants, inept networks, and parasite infestations, I would have a head as white as snow and an ulcer that would have eaten through my stomach lining like a Alien. (thank God for severance pay and unemployment)

Do you think I should stop advertising until CJ gets this mess fixed or are they usually pretty quick about this sort of thing? I sent them a message asking that question, but an email I received mentioned that they reply in 72 hours. No need to mention the amount of money I'll lose in 72 hours.

Eve

[Snib]

This isn't just a problem with CJ. LinkShare is notorious for this sort of thing. I'm actually finding myself putting more time into CJ lately because of all the problems with LinkShare. I wish ShareASale had more merchants I can use. I really like their system and never have any problems like this.

- Scott

[Grumpy]

In almost 3 years of being a CJ publisher I have never had a month quite as bad as this. I believe there is a problem at CJ which runs deeper than we think and the sooner it's addressed and fixed the better off we will all be. I've written to some of my merchants asking them to check their end and am waiting for replies right now. If I hear anything I will post here again. Not holding my breath on this one though because nobody ever seems to admit that something is wrong.

[ecomcity]

Until we see some merchants come forth and complain that network tracking is so whacked out of shape by re-directing data mining software, only the BHO's will show normal sales. Why? Because the BHO's are immune to all the advertising mindset evils plaguing the domain bound affiliates. They purchase and use the data mining secrets of success, while they operate their forced cookie setting and re-direct magic on every merchant's destination pages.

How can networks address getting to the root of sales tracking black holes without disabling data mining spyware? They can't as their IAB/DMA and Super Affiliate masters demand unfrettered access to who/what/how actually works to generate commissions regardless of broken interfaces. They set their cookies after the data mining act, right at the point of sale assuring themselves of snagging that infected system's sales. If that particular merchant sucks from inability to close consumers ...they popup cookie setting redirects to a competitor, who at least betters the average. If the idiot infested shopper continues to ignor the popup they have already planted the cookie for the loser merchant.

NET result no network can interfer with a shopper purchasing online. Why should they. They can only nuture ways and means to cookie every one of those sales and pray some value-add affiliates influence decisions to buy and push shoppers into the waiting gun sights of their cookie cannons. Shoppers ignoring the cookie cannons often get BHO cookie overwrites regardless of the CoC, since the networks can trust the BHO's to refresh cookies every shopping session.

No longer do return days provide meaningful protections for investing in page showcases or PPCSE expenses. The BHO's pop and the cookie stuffers ..stuff.. on both parasite free and infested merchants turning the commission battle into shopping session only battles. Choosing a merchant's particular best converting product or hidden niche' product without viable popup alternatives is the only thing left assuming that merchant's affiliate code tracks.

[affnewbie]

i can't believe that all they have done is post a little alert note on the home page---they haven't even updated it since 48 hours...!!

there should be an affiliate union of sorts where everyone pulls ads, expires merchant relationships until we get an answer and a fix...

i think part of the problem is that it seems affiliates (large and small) have decided that at the end of day they have to just put up with this and CJ/Linkshare and all know they can get away with it...so why not.

EVERYONE: send demanding emails to CJ 3 times a day and send messages to all of your merchants--if that's all we can do then we should atleast do that much...

[kco]

When CJ works, we make lots of sales and money. But I wish CJ would fix the sales reporting on days when sales reporting is obviously statistically way off. My clickthrough and page view traffic is consistently like a bell curve - starting low in the morning and peaking at lunch time then decreasing to the bottom of the curve during the night. Why can't CJ sales be the same with a nice consistent bell curve?

I make the most money of any network with CJ so I do want to tell merchants and affiliates that CJ is good! CJ could just be much, much better - no parasites and better , consistent sales reporting!

[womanht]

I read on another board about an affiliate making a test purchase which never showed up in her report but appeared in some account in Paris.

I also read about an affiliate doing 3 test purchases only 1 of which was reported while the other to were missing. That was before the reporting delays.

I suggest we all start doing test purchases from PCs using IPs that we have never used before to make test purchases. That way, they will not be able to detect we are checking on them. We should all take turns to do it so that everyday, some test purchases are done from different ips each time, and we can tell for sure when tracking is really affected. we should then document down all the non tracking instances and consolidate them.

[Snib]

I do see sales come in from time to time. It doesn't seem too low to me, but then again I don't push too many sales through CJ. I'm trying vigorously to increase them to no avail. My clicks have improved a small amount over the past week, as have my sales. It's really difficult for me to say I'm having any reporting problems, but I'd like to hope I am. My merchants are mostly batch based, so I don't think they're going to be as affected as some other merchants. Hopefully CJ says something soon about the reporting delay they've got posted on their homepage. I'd love to see some backed up sales, but I don't think it'll happen.

- Scott

[admad1]

Originally Posted by womanht

I read on another board about an affiliate making a test purchase which never showed up in her report but appeared in some account in Paris.

I also read about an affiliate doing 3 test purchases only 1 of which was reported while the other to were missing. That was before the reporting delays.

I suggest we all start doing test purchases from PCs using IPs that we have never used before to make test purchases. That way, they will not be able to detect we are checking on them. We should all take turns to do it so that everyday, some test purchases are done from different ips each time, and we can tell for sure when tracking is really affected. we should then document down all the non tracking instances and consolidate them.

I'd like to do a test purchase, but can you explain how I do this without actually entering my credit card details?

Cheers
admad1

[Snib]

admad1,

A test purchase is really just a purchase. You need to buy something to see if it's reported. Unless you have a friend do it, you've got to use your credit card.

- Scott

[womanht]

One way is that whenever you need something, you buy it through one of your links. Record down the date, time and sale amount and then login later to see if it tracks. Ideally, go to a public library or a friend's house to do this purchase. Use your computer, your ip gives you away which defeats the purpose. To find out for sure, make sure they can't tell that you are buying from your own site, then make the purchase. Clear all the cookies first for a clean test.

Also, if a parasite got into that pc, and it does not track, then that parasite is violating the COC by overwriting your link. You could post a thread at abestweb about your results and get advice from the pros who would know what to do next.

[Tami]

I have been making money with CJ for about 4 years and this is the worst month. I feel like I am starting over as a newbie again!

Tami

[admad1]

Originally Posted by Snib

admad1,

A test purchase is really just a purchase. You need to buy something to see if it's reported. Unless you have a friend do it, you've got to use your credit card.

- Scott

Blimey! I'm not going to buy something I dont want with my card, anyone got a dodgey credit card number. Lol.... Only kidding, there must be another way of testing?

[Snib]

Why are you selling things you don't want? You should be able to find a link for at least something you want. I wish I could have a lot of the things I sell, I even buy smaller things from time to time just because I've sold myself on them. I don't even do it for testing purposes, but it's always good to ensure it tracks.

- Scott

[kelly626]

Saturday was down by about 50-60%, alittle better than the 80-90% loss for Thursday and Friday.

Did Thursday and Friday's sales finally show up? No ...just as suspected. About an hour to 3 hours delay for the sales that did get reported for Saturday ...so it seems like transactions delayed beyond a few hours or so, kiss them goodbye.

Strange enough, on Wednesday, a day before all this, one of my top merchants e-mails me and wants to talk about some ways we can improve sales. I thought it was odd, because sales were way up, especially for that day ...then the next day, this reporting crisis. Coincidence?

[womanht]

I will believe that reporting is delayed when I see transactions for the long delayed periods post into my account once reporting has caught up.

If not, then it means reporting is screwy, not delayed.

[Leader]

Why are you selling things you don't want?

I don't know about him, but I do it because other people want them! If I limited myself to what I want, I could only sell video games, other software, and trips to Central Florida. I have merchants where I'd be very hard-pressed to find one single thing I wanted, that I do very well with! It's not because there's anything "wrong" with the stuff. But there are some things that I, personally, just have no use for.

Only kidding, there must be another way of testing?~admad1

Sorry...

[affnewbie]

i keep hearing about parasites...how can you find out if that's happening with your links?

[affnewbie]

anyone ever thought of an online petition...which tells CJ that this many affiliates are concerned about/questioning the integrity of reports during a specific down time?

don't know if it would help...but if some of you who have been with CJ over a year are seeing huge drop in sales it could make a good point...

[womanht]

I have been with CJ for over a year and have seen a huge drop in sales. As a result, somemerchants are cutting my commissions. CJ treats me like a has been. You think they care?

Lost sales? Too bad. We all know who they consider REAL superaffiliates to be. They announced that at the igive hosted thing didn't they?

I checked. My traffic is still healthy. There should be far more sales than what I see, so I ask AAQ, but they tell me tracking is working fine. It is like hitting your head against the wall. From my traffic, I know I must be making sales. Just wonder who is getting credit for them.

[kelly626]

I've been with CJ for what seems forever. Several years. I've always known that reporting wasn't completely accurate.

Upon a severe tracking/reporting crisis (such as is occuring now), CJ has always denied the tracking problem part of it ...always that it is merely a reporting delay. Reporting never would catch up for previous days of what we quickly came to realize as tracking outages.

Other clues we would get during those times came from a few merchants who would e-mail and explain that there were "tracking problems" ...and they would humbly accept it as their problem, not knowing that it was exactly the very same problem many other CJ merchants were experiencing at that time.

The following was recently sent by a CJ merchant, explaining problems with tracking:

"We began experiencing problems with the tracking pixels on the site yesterday. I assure you they are being collected properly and we will manually enter them once we have the problem figured out."

But after working on the problem, I think they finally discovered it wasn't on their end ?? Then they send the following message:

"We are still working on resolving the tracking problem. In the meantime, all transactions that did not post automatically have been entered through noon, February 19th. I will continue to manually enter them until the problem is fixed."

[shmoogle]

I wish my favorite merchants would do this, but it seems they are taking a free ride on us in this
obvious tracking crisis.. for 3 days we dropped to about 20 sales a day, with an average of 40 per
day for the earlier days of this month... EPC also running around 50% of normal (traffic is fine).
A significant portion of this is made by PPC... Much respect for Kelly656's merchant who does
handcredit the missing transactions!!

[womanht]

Why can't they just tell us what is wrong, fix the problem and give us the commissions due to us. Aren't they supposed to be the trusted third party?

If they made a mistake, can't they just admit it and rectify the problem and do what they can to retrieve the lost sales.

Sweeping things under the carpet just leads to an eventual loss of trust