[elalpo]

I am selling quite a few shoes through my site and ShoeBuy generally does well.

Now I have recommended them to my friend - she made a purchase through my link and.. I didn't get paid..

When I inquired why, I got the following answer: "Thanks for your email. After looking into your inquiry, it appears there was a Shoebuy member email discount applied on the order (which we do not give commission on). "

Are they for real???

#1 - They are basically not paying if someone entered some kind of email discount? ShoeBuy at any given time has over 10 coupon codes. It's impossible to "hide" them - customers use whatever they feel like. How would affiliates know about that discount use and why should we get a hit on 17% off commissions!

#2 - I understand that some coupon codes are higher than average ShoeBuy coupon, but shouldn't ShoeBuy.com adjust the commissions to at least lower level, rather than not pay at all.

I am afraid to think how much in commissions I didn't get because of that.

Thanks.

[delsol]

Their aff. manager is usually really nice, however this is a concerning issue.

I agree with the minimum reduced commission versus nothing (and not even any tracking data about this new situation). But even then (with a lower commission) , you would be opening a new "can of worms"..
It could be chaos, with retailers deciding when to apply what commission rate based on data out of the control of their affiliates and such as, in this case, with affiliates not even being aware of the issue.

The proper solution in this case might have been, to ask all their affiliates to pull that certain code and boot the one's that do not comply rapidly.

To make the matter worth, I've recently notice some none compliant affiliates, for weeks now. This new "lax-ness" is also a little concerning about the SB program, since compliant aff. are hurt by the none compliant ones. After weeks, a compliant affiliate nearly has no choice but to "pull the plug" (which I had to start doing)...

I hope this combination: "lax-ness" + "none commissionable code" is a coincidence and not a deliberate tactic to avoid affiliate commissions. Time will tell...

[Trust]

They do have a good affiliate manager, very responsive but they should pay on all sales. You could list only the coupons they have for affiliate use or get your own exclusive but it doesn't stop shoppers to your site using whatever coupon they find on the internet. So as an affiliate, you shouldn't be penalized for that, since it's out of your control.

[elalpo]

Thanks everyone for participation.

Here are the Terms for their affiliate program:

Action: Shoebuy Online Purchase
Action Criteria Customer completes Shoebuy Online Purchase.
Action Referral Period 30 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission 17.00%
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.

Where does it have exclusions? Wouldn't you agree, if the program doesn't have an exclusion, should pay for every single sale going through their affiliate link? From my undersranding, any non-payment/lower payment/etc should be listed in the T&C of merchant!

And obviously - the worst part is not being aware of this. That could've be been a lot of sales & commissions..

.

[Rhia7]

Originally Posted by elalpo

Thanks everyone for participation.

Here are the Terms for their affiliate program:

Action: Shoebuy Online Purchase
Action Criteria Customer completes Shoebuy Online Purchase.
Action Referral Period 30 day(s)
Action Referral Occurrences Unlimited
Commission 17.00%
Locking Period - Standard Actions lock on the 10th of the month, unless extended.
Where does it have exclusions?

The only possible exclusion would be within the definition of a "Standard Action."
Does the conflict of an exterior code or a "Shoebuy member email discount" code constitute something that is not standard?

I agree with you, a customer/visitor might like your site, click on the link, and then have an "exterior code" -- does that create a conflict?
Does a "Shoebuy member email discount" code indicate that this person is already a Shoebuy customer whose participation in an e-mail list has created another category of consumer?

I agree with Trust's post #3. This issue could affect many affiliates.

I received this instruction from a different affiliate manager/program:

*Reminder*
Do not post catalog discount codes on your website. We supply affiliate coupons
and sale creative that has equal value. Affiliates will not be credited for
sales made with other codes. Also, these codes expire which creates confused and unhappy customers.

The only advice I can give is that perhaps you should ask for more clarification from the affiliate manager.

[helpingmoms]

We see a lot of this across different merchants. The thing that I really like about Teresa is that she at least takes the time to tell you whether 1) the customer used a member email code, or 2) the commission was given to a different affiliate. 90% of the affiliate managers just deny the commission and you can never get a straight answer as to why they denied it.

Definitely talk to her about it and have her tell you exactly how they determine when they commission. She's one of the most communicative of the non-ABW affiliate managers (at least I don't recall seeing her here).

[Billy Kay]

R7

That's Fredericks!!!

It's the "we don't pay you on these sales" that earned them the Linkshare Golden award nomination

[tmartini]

It would be nice if Teresa could come to ABW and explain this policy. I wasn't aware of it and I've been in their program for five years. -- Todd