66 New Posts Today

[Rufus]

Hi All,

I know a lot of you have been asking for this for a while so here goes.

We've just finished setting up a coupon download for you all to use. We are going to be keep this updated as new coupons come in from merchants.

I set up the fields on the file according to information given to me by some of you before and from the forum posts, but if I’ve missed anything or you need anything else for this to work best for you please let me know.

URL: http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...couponfeed.csv

The fields in the feed are as follows. Some of these are obvious but I’ve put a brief description underneath just in case:

Tracking url 1 / Tracking url 2 / Merchant / Start Date / End Date / Coupon Code / Coupon Description / Logo Url: / Date added to feed

Tracking url 1: this is the first part of the tracking code up to where you need to insert your affiliate ID directly after the affiliateID=

Tracking url 2: this is the second part of the tracking url for the coupon and needs to be placed after you affiliate ID.

Merchant: name of the merchant offering the coupon

Start Date: day the coupon starts (we are going to try to give you warning on some of these so they may not be valid right away).

End Date: day the coupon expires.

Coupon Code: code needed to receive discount if need (some coupons are done by url, if so this will be stated in this field and the tracking url will be direct to this url).

Coupon Description: what your user will receive by using the coupon.

Logo Url: We're only going to include the company logos on this file as not all merchants want to provide banners for coupons and they could be different sizes (FYI: all logos will be sized 120x60 but if anyone wants different sizes we will do our best to arrange this).

Date Added to Feed: As stated.

If you have any question or comments about this or need any help setting this up please let me know.

Thanks

Rufus

[flamingoworld]

A suggestion would be to not include already expired coupons.

[Brian_AffiliateFuture]

Hi Flamingo,

Hope all is well. We actually got requests to keep old coupons in the feed so that affiliates can keep track of patterns and when to expect coupons the following season.

Is this something that gets in the way for you?

Best,
Brian

[flamingoworld]

I have no reason to have the old coupons in there. I would think it wil cause problems because not everyone will pay attention and will list expired codes.
It takes enough time to go through stuff, I don't want to have to weed through expired coupons to find current ones.
Perhaps offer a past coupons feed and a current coupons feed if it is that important to some to see past coupons.

[Rufus]

Hi Flamingo / All,

Thanks for the feedback, details on both versions of the feed below:

Version 1: which is on the original url has all coupons--old and new.

URL: http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...couponfeed.csv

Version 2: will only have coupons that are valid.

URL: http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...couponfeed.csv

The fields on both of these are the same so the only change is whether old coupons are on the file.

Hopefully we have everything you need on this now but if you need extra fields or anything else for this please let me know either by posting here or drop me an email.

So you all know I’m going to be doing a daily update on this and will have the file uploaded by 1pm Monday-Friday (no updates on the weekend at the moment) there were a few updates today so please refresh your copies now.

Thanks

[shimmy]

Any chance you can make this also an RSS file, so I can be updated via my RSS reader?

[Rufus]

Hi shimmy,

I'm looking into this for you now, I’m hopping to have a RSS ready for use tomorrow but please don't hold me to this time frame (it might be a bit faster or a little longer), as soon as it's ready I’ll post it in here

Thanks

Rufus

[Rufus]

Hi Shimmy / All,

I've just setup a RSS file for you all to use the link is:

http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...eedRSS.csv.xml

I've set it up so @@affiliatesiteID@@ needs to be replaced with your affiliate id, if you need any help setting this up let me know, but you just need to make this a site variable for you ID.

Other than this everything should be pretty simple but if you have any question let me know.

As will the CSV version we will be updating this by 1pm Monday to Friday.

Thanks

Rufus

[Donuts]

Please add a "last edited" (date/time) field.

It helps some of us use scripts to better catch changes that have been made to any existing coupons / deals / rows.

[Rufus]

Hi Donuts,

the Date should be in there already, it's in the field pubDate is this what you meant or where you after something else? if so let me know what and I’ll have a look for you.

Thanks

Rufus

[Donuts]

Are you referring to what you posted above as "Date Added to Feed"?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I suggest you make it...

Date Added / Edited: Date that deal was added or last edited.

And if you make it work, for your merchants (or who ever is entering the data), that when the make a change (i.e. edit), that "last edited" field gets updated automatically to now(), then it'll work fine for is.

SAS has it. Avantlink has it.

Imagine us downloading a big table, we need to know what's new and what has changed - the added/edited field, as I've described it here (and before for Brian Lim as well), is what we need to more easily automate / script uploads and updates and will get your merchants broader coverage.

[Rufus]

Hi Donuts,

I thought the date the coupon was added / edited was in the RSS already but i'll have another look shortly and make sure it in there ok as well as the publish date of the whole feed (that should be in there as well).

As I’m going to be playing with this later is there anything else anyone would like to see in the RSS or CSV? I'm hoping to have everything setup and running perfectly for you all by the end of the week so any comments, ideas or suggestions are welcome

Thanks

Rufus

[shimmy]

Hi

I think Donuts is talking about the CSV feed, not the RSS.

As, for the RSS Feed, ther are not any expire dates on it.

[Rufus]

Hi Shimmy / Donuts,

I've update the RSS so all the field are now in their correctly from the CSV version there is now a item pubDate as well as RSS pubDate and the coupon start and end date has been added as well so hopefully this is everything you need, if not please let me know.

Donuts, did you mean the CSV file? if so the coupon added / edited date is the last field called "Date added to feed"

I'm pretty that everything everyone has requested for this is now in place so please let me know if there is still any issue or I forgot something.

Thanks

Rufus

[Donuts]

CSV or RSS is how the data is pumped out. I was talking about what data is stored and how it gets added / auto-updated by the merchant's entering of it...

I think all the data should be delivered, regardless of the pump that sends it... so actually, I was talking about both.

Over deliver data and let affs parse what they need. Keep it granular so we can make choices (like don't mash the code and the description and the restrictions into one data field). Allow some configuration choices to be made by the affiliate so they can be pumped the data they feel they need.

The more flexible, more granular, more diverse download mechanisms, more data you make available, the wider the uptake will be. That's in everyone's interest, affiliate, merchant and network.

[Rufus]

Hi Donuts,

I understand what you’re saying.

Just so you all know I’m following the same format for both the RSS and CSV so if it's in one it should be in the other.

I hope I’ve managed to get everything into both versions that everyone needs in a format that will allow you to use this as you feel fit on your site, but as always you will all know what you want in these so if I’ve missed anything or you can recommend any more change to the latest versions (uploaded at 10am today) please let me know and I’ll do my best to get these added as quickly as I can.

Thanks for everyone help and advice on getting this setup, I’ll be watching with great interest to see how you are all using this

Thanks

Rufus

[Brian_AffiliateFuture]

Hey All--there were a few more coupons/promotions that came in so we have updated the feed again.

Have a great weekend!

[Brian_AffiliateFuture]

Hey All,

Just have a quick question. We have a bunch of Mother's Day coupons up and posted; however it's not in the feed at the moment since they are not active.

I know some affiliates are only looking for current coupons, would you want us to include future coupons or keep them out of the feed until they are valid?

Thanks!
Brian

[MichaelColey]

Can you make it an option? I don't think you'll find a consensus.

[Brian_AffiliateFuture]

Sure. What we'll do from now on, is include all future coupons into version 1 of the coupon feed which is labeled as "couponfeed." The RSS feed will also contain the future coupons.

This feed will contain all coupons--future, past and present.

Version 2 of the feed which is labeled as "currentcouponfeed" will only contain coupons that are currently valid.

If anyone has any issues with this, please let me know!

Thanks,
Brian

[Donuts]

your "option" answer = it's configurable or we can easily manually choose.

yep, giving us options (that are easy for many, with varying needs, to use) means more uptake for you and your merchants, good call on this decision.

[glittered]

I'm interested in the current coupon feed but I'm a bit concerned that it has a whole bunch of promotions with the expiry date as "While supplies last" or "No expiration date" but many of these were added last year or a long time ago. Is anyone keeping these under check?

Now I would prefer to use it as RSS but from what I understand the RSS version inlcudes all the expired ones as well.

Can we please have an RSS version for current coupons only and also have a system in place where outdated ones are deleted.

[Sarah_AffiliateFuture]

Hi Glinted,

We do check periodically, but if you ever have questions about a specific promotion please feel free to get in touch with me directly. As for the "No expiration date" codes, they tend to be open ended free shipping coupons that are listed directly on the site or that are given specifically to AffiliateFuture. We check those as well.

We do feature a Current RSS feed that only includes existing promotions. We offer the versions with expired coupons so that affiliates can see coupon trends.

Current RSS Feed: http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...eedRSS.csv.xml

Please feel free to get in touch with me directly at sarah.sabo@affiliatefuture.com and I'd be happy to answer any other questions you may have.

Best,
Sarah

[glittered]

Ok that sounds great, I will work on it today...

[atxsurf]

is there a similar link for U.K. coupons (vouchers)?