what is typical for setup/monthly fees?

[sem_scotty]

when working with CJ and LS, what are your fees for setup and monthly maintenance? not including payouts.

thanks!

[purplecape]

I don't think I've ever paid them anything.

[Marcia]

Don't take this as authoritative, it's just what I've heard and/or read and may not be totally accurate or current.

I believe merchant setup for CJ and LS is around $5K, and that CJ does have minimums for volume and/or sales. Then, it's a healthy percentage of sales as fees, plus extras. Linkshare also has an exclusivity provision.

Shareasale (if I'm up on what's current) is $350 startup plus a deposit toward affiliate payments and somewhere around 20% of net commmissions. Last I understand Avantlink (with cutting edge technology features) was I *think* around $1K startup with a very tiny percentage of sales charged, something like 3%, and are diligent with pre-screening on behalf of merchants. They both offer free feed capability to affiliates (without charge - CJ and LS both charge affiliates $200-250 to be able to use feeds), and both SAS and Avantlink are considered the top networks where ethical practices are concerned.

DoubleClick Performics is currently, from what I've read, down to $1K for merchant startup (with some CJ merchants migrating over to them for that reason), but no idea what continuing percentages or costs are. They completely control and manage as intermediaries, which some consider as limiting to the affiliate/merchant relationship and communications.

There are others, but those are the ones I'm personally most familiar with. And there are big differences in the interfaces between those.