[SpinLife1]

I was watching the news last night and saw Ebates and a few others had a story. The news crew was telling people to shop at these cash back sites. I am not familiar with all of them so maybe not all parasites, but check it out:

http://www.wbns10tv.com/?sec=home&st...311857455.html

[Trust]

Fatwallet is a good one.

Ebates is ebates.

The other I saw a link too, not sure how that one got in. Never heard of it before, site looks kind of blah. But I don't see any toolbars or downloads or anything like that. Looks like the type of rebate site where you actually have to go to and shop thru. Those are ok.

[Zeus]

Originally Posted by SpinLife1

I was watching the news last night and saw Ebates and a few others had a story. The news crew was telling people to shop at these cash back sites. I am not familiar with all of them so maybe not all parasites, but check it out:
http://www.wbns10tv.com/?sec=home&story=sites/10tv/content/pool/200612/1311857455.html

fatwallet.com is a legitimate site, well run.
cashbackster.com is so new they are not really making money, yet and don't have a reminder.
eBates should hide.
"What we do is essentially give the sales commission that we get from our merchant partners back to our users," said Alessandro Isolani, from EBates.com.
Why can't he say, he's also stealing commissions from other affiliates with MMM, just for full disclosure.

[SpinLife1]

Just so everyone knows, I wasn't suggesting that any of these sites were parasites. I understand everyones view of Ebates and wasn't familiar with the others so I figured I throw up a post on the article. I guess I should have put a "?" on the thread title. Thanks for you feedback!

[Chuck Hamrick]

They get spots every year, I am sure it is their PR department at work.

[Kevin]

What's the latest on Weatherbug's app? They sponsor the local weather on the NBC affiliate here....

[Gregg]

Originally Posted by SpinLife1

Just so everyone knows, I wasn't suggesting that any of these sites were parasites. I understand everyones view of Ebates and wasn't familiar with the others so I figured I throw up a post on the article. I guess I should have put a "?" on the thread title. Thanks for you feedback!

As a heads up if you are concerned about parasites you might want to remove SAHS/Belcaro from your program.

I also couldn't help but notice your site has Liveperson...do you still provide commissions to affiliates if Liveperson is used during the transaction? As of June, I believe that answer was no. Have you changed that policy?

[SpinLife1]

Originally Posted by Gregg

As a heads up if you are concerned about parasites you might want to remove SAHS/Belcaro from your program.

Gregg,
Thanks for your concern. I have removed SAHS from our program. They still have our links up and I have sent them an email reminding to remove them ASAP. I will be cleaning out any other parasites I come across as well. Please let me know if you notice any others in our program.

Originally Posted by Gregg

I also couldn't help but notice your site has Liveperson...do you still provide commissions to affiliates if Liveperson is used during the transaction? As of June, I believe that answer was no. Have you changed that policy?

I have to be honest, live person isn't even used that much. People will usually only get on there to ask a quick question. If somone tries to place and order we require them to call in for fraud prevention reasons. No sales are placed through live person I can assure you.

Shortly after the new year I will be making some changes to our program and hopefully offering an in-house option for our affiliates to join which I think will improve drastically upon our current program. Keep a lookout for that coming shortly after the new year!

[Herb ԿԬ]

Originally Posted by Noth

What's the latest on Weatherbug's app? They sponsor the local weather on the NBC affiliate here....

wasn't there a weatherbuddy also?

[Donuts]

Originally Posted by SpinLife1

I will be cleaning out any other parasites I come across as well. Please let me know if you notice any others in our program.

iGive is in your program.

Do you know which ones are parasites? Hire an OPM from ABW or join AffiliateFairPlay and learn to identify them.

ABW OPM's:
http://forum.abestweb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=236

[SpinLife1]

Donuts,

Thanks for the help. I'm in the process of researching some of our affiliates as parasites. I don't want to just start kicking out affiliates prior to gaining knowledge on their practicing methods. I know of affiliatefairplay and will continue to research and remove the parasites from our program.

[Gregg]

Originally Posted by SpinLife1

Gregg,
Thanks for your concern. I have removed SAHS from our program. They still have our links up and I have sent them an email reminding to remove them ASAP. I will be cleaning out any other parasites I come across as well. Please let me know if you notice any others in our program.

Great choice, this really makes sense for both affiliates and your company. Off hand, I won't be doing heavy research, I noticed SAHS because one of the programs I am picking up was with them.

Originally Posted by SpinLife1

I have to be honest, live person isn't even used that much. People will usually only get on there to ask a quick question. If somone tries to place and order we require them to call in for fraud prevention reasons. No sales are placed through live person I can assure you.

Shortly after the new year I will be making some changes to our program and hopefully offering an in-house option for our affiliates to join which I think will improve drastically upon our current program. Keep a lookout for that coming shortly after the new year!

Hmmm...given the cost of many of the products and the nature of purchase (insurance billings, etc) it seems like phone orders would be a pretty common event. Have you considered an affiliate dedicated 1800 number for ordering to assure affiliates are kept in the payout loop? That may be worth looking into for the New Year.

It is nice to see more health related product options show up, good luck with the program.

[SpinLife1]

Gregg,

The dedicated 800 number is route we are looking into, but we have other options in mind to that we are considering. We are looking at this from the affiliate side and want to choose what works best for our affiliates. This will be addressed at the new year as well.