[Chocolate_Chicken]

Is there a way to know whether a merchant has tracking enabled or not?

There are so many merchants who have had their programs active for a year or more, but who have a $0.00 EPC across the board.

Of course a test purchase would do the trick, but it should not be necessary to have to do this.

So how do we know?

[Dave@HomeofDecor.com]

Maybe you could ask Brian to perform a Share A Sale test order through the merchant.

If they've been up for a year, that seems like a pretty reasonable request.

Dave

[Geno Prussakov]

Originally Posted by Chocolate_Chicken

There are so many merchants who have had their programs active for a year or more, but who have a $0.00 EPC across the board.

That is a good point! Time is nothing. Chances are many of them have forgotten they even have an affiliate program... Ask others around ABW for feedback on 'em.

Geno

[Chocolate_Chicken]

Chances are many of them have forgotten they even have an affiliate program

This is exactly the root of my concern. Both this, and that some merchants may make changes to their site and neglect to put in the tracking mechanism, or some may neglect to put it in in the first place. Either of these scenarios can occur deliberately or by innocent ignorance or ineptitude on the part of the merchant's webmasters.

I don't know what the "compliance test" entails, but a merchant who was summarily deactivated a while ago for failure to load tracking pixels had a compliance test earlier the same day that the test purchase failed to track. So a recent "compliance test" listing does nothing to allay my concern.

[Chocolate_Chicken]

Then there are merchants like Elite Jewels, who has been offline for at least two months, yet are showing hefty 7-day and 30-day EPC's.

Those of us who do this for a living really need accurate information to determine whether it will be worthwhile to spend hours or days building sites for a merchant.

$123 7-day EPC on a deactivated merchant? $0.00 EPC on an "active" merchant?

How do we know whether a merchant is worth trying out or is a waste of time? This is what EPC stats are for, but the information provided cannot even give us a clue. We need something to indicate that "sales are tracking for this merchant so it is OK to proceed with promoting them".

Our livelihoods depend on accurate information that allows us to work productively. Shareasale's long-term livelihood depends on this too. If the weeds don't get pulled, the flowers will choke.

[Trust]

Boot em'

[Chocolate_Chicken]

I'm not worried about "who to boot". That's easy after a trial run.

I'm worried about "who to use".

In some cases a merchant's EPC may be $0.00 simply because nobody has put their links up yet. How do we know?

[Trust]

I meant SAS. They do need to work on getting accurate EPC, and then boot all the merchants that are just a drag on the network. They can be Fineclicks filler.

[jerseyjim]

Originally Posted by Chocolate_Chicken

Then there are merchants like Elite Jewels, who has been offline for at least two months, yet are showing hefty 7-day and 30-day EPC's.

Those of us who do this for a living really need accurate information to determine whether it will be worthwhile to spend hours or days building sites for a merchant.

$123 7-day EPC on a deactivated merchant? $0.00 EPC on an "active" merchant?

How do we know whether a merchant is worth trying out or is a waste of time? This is what EPC stats are for, but the information provided cannot even give us a clue. We need something to indicate that "sales are tracking for this merchant so it is OK to proceed with promoting them".

Our livelihoods depend on accurate information that allows us to work productively. Shareasale's long-term livelihood depends on this too. If the weeds don't get pulled, the flowers will choke.

I had several sales with them, one shopper is a neighbor of my, comes from ireland, the ring wasn't sterling silver, but coated brass, and I dropped them fast.All it takes is one unhappy shopper to spread the word,and bye bye sales>Now the news has another clunker, credit card sales are at a record peak, too many people way behind, moslty fuel, but with interests rates going up, it may be a blue xmas.I think this is why I have a lot of traffic, but smaller sales.Last year, it was 100% better.
A very Po'd
JJ

[jerseyjim]

[B]I still think ,and this is my opinion that all the suggestions made on how to make things better should be utilized by those at SAS, and ABW at least they get paid.We don't
JJ

[Travelin Man]

SaS's EPC don't hold a lot of weight with me. I signed on with a new merchant a while back and shortly after I chalked up 5 sales. I thought cool only to have the merchant cancel all the transactions. He said he was doing testing and mistakenly used my affiliate ID. Needless to say that blew big ones! I figure he was just trying to run up his EPC. The scumbag lost me as an affiliate right then and there.

EPC does need more oversight IMO!

[master_watchmaker]

I thought cool only to have the merchant cancel all the transactions. He said he was doing testing and mistakenly used my affiliate ID. Needless to say that blew big ones! I figure he was just trying to run up his EPC.

Just for your info.....Any cancelled transaction will also run up the reversal rates....We all know affiliates hate reversal rates, so I'm not too sure he was trying to raise his EPC....Just a thought.

[Travelin Man]

Originally Posted by master_watchmaker

Just for your info.....Any cancelled transaction will also run up the reversal rates....We all know affiliates hate reversal rates, so I'm not too sure he was trying to raise his EPC....Just a thought.

Nope, zero zip nada reversals were posted. I was checking to see. Could be a problem no?

Edited: Just looked again and the merchant still shows no reversals.

2nd Edit: Also, just checked and it was 8 sales not 5. Why would a merchant do 8 test sales with my affiliate ID?

[master_watchmaker]

Reversal rates aren't done in real time. Check in tomorrow.

Cheers,
Richard

[Travelin Man]

Originally Posted by master_watchmaker

Reversal rates aren't done in real time. Check in tomorrow.

Cheers,
Richard

Dude, this happened last March. There were never any reversals posted! As a matter of fact the merchant reversal listing for this merchant still shows the merchant as "new." Ah, I don't think so. There is a problem IMO.

[Brian - ShareASale]

Travelin Man,

On small volume merchants, the reversal rates don't show until they get to a certain level of sales because otherwise even one reversal can skew the numbers so they look worse than they should.

[Travelin Man]

Originally Posted by Brian - ShareASale

Travelin Man,

On small volume merchants, the reversal rates don't show until they get to a certain level of sales because otherwise even one reversal can skew the numbers so they look worse than they should.

Brain,

Thanks for responding. The stats I'm seeing shows this merchant as doing quite well (EPC wise). I don't suspect a small volume of sales at all...unless the 8 voided sales from last March are the only sales they've had.

I'd be happy to pass the ID of the merchant and the sales to you if that'd help.

[Brian - ShareASale]

Sure...I'll take a look - I am certainly not without mistake on occasion with these stats. My guess is that the volume wasn't high enough to show reversals, but I could be wrong.

One other thing to keep in mind, with merchants who are entering AM for the first time - it is quite common for them to visit affiliate sites, click on a link - and then without thinking about it they place orders on their own computer for order taken on the phone, etc... Those sales will credit to your affiliate account even though they shouldn't... We detail a lot of this information in the welcome letters to merchants, but it still happens frequently....

[Richard - AMWSO]

Brian;
Excellent point. My CEO did 2 test purchases on our new site and I received notification of the sales and when I wrote him and asked he then told me they were test. I then right away wrote the affiliate whose Id was attached and informed him.

Nothing worse than an affiliate thinking he made a sale and then questioning why and what someone borught for $1.00!

Many merchants are less clued in about cookies and such then many of the affiliates and it is an honest mistake.

Richard

[Travelin Man]

Brain,

Thanks for the reply. I'll PM you my information. What ever you determine is a good as gold with me.

I believed the merchant when I received his email about the 8 test sales. What I find interesting is that his EPC didn't change back once the sales were voided. I wonder how many other test sales there were?

I'm all for not penalizing a merchant that’s just getting started and may have made a mistake but a misrepresentation of EPC isn't fair to the affiliate either. Just my thoughts.

Sorry CC if I hijacked your thread. I hope you get an answer to you questions.