Forum Moderators: skibum
Out of around $6,000 in sales (average item $200), more than 36,5% of comissions was corrected!
The reason was mostly payment with "Invalid Credit Card" and just a few times "Returned Merchandise" (aside: what if merchandise is returned for replacement?).
I have also noticed that about 90% of corrections was claimed by a single company, a reputable electronics retailer, while they made about 55-60% of my total sales.
I will surely contact the advertiser for an explanation and also to be sure that the corrections were really made from their side.
If so, I will have no choice but to replace them with someone else.
It is simply hard to believe in these numbers, but I would like to know if anyone else have had similar experiences?
Their past is not so bright (non-credited sales - a lot of complaints, allowing partners using stealware, etc.).
They now claim being a very professional company, having devoted team for fighting fraud, etc., but you know, somewhere behind, there is always the feeling: Once a crook...
Sure, Afternic is a good example of real positive changes, but Afternic has been run by new ownership.
CJ is still in the same hands and just a bit of $ shaking IMO, would be enough for them to go sideline.
They know very well that trust and honesty is finally in and they try to play the game, but I don't think it's their real face.
How to explain that if you want to have a simple price tag in your product link, you have to $ SUBSCRIBE to their feed or to add the prices manually? Senseless.
Where else can you find a deduction of $10 each month for inactive accounts?
Well OK, they pay on time, at least.
I understand some of what you say, and no they aren't perfect. But if a merchant is shortchanging affiliates on commissions, CJ are getting shortchanged as well.
To not "trust" CJ to want to get this sorted out, doesn't make sense, IMO.
Lots of good reasons merchants don't want their feeds in just anyone's hands, but that is for another thread.
You will need to contact the advertiser directly to get more information regarding the corrections. You can contact the advertiser through your CJ Account Manager. From your homepage, click on the "Mail" tab, then "Compose," and then select the advertiser from the dropdown box.
Thank you,
Client Services"
So much for their interest in the matter.
Well OK, they responded timely.
Additionally, the claims that CJ doesn't get paid if we don't get paid are totally bogus. There is no way of auditing/crosschecking their records to see if they are, for example, crediting us with only 10 sales or leads while getting paid for 25 sales or leads from the merchants. Without having full access to both CJ's records and the merchant's records, we have no way of knowing whether they skim commissions or not.
There is another board online with literally THOUSANDS of complaints involving CJ tracking problems. I won't give the link for fear it will be labeled as spam, but if you type the right words into google (e.g. CJ tracking problems) it's not very hard to find.
I didn't say they didn't get paid. Of course there are fees and minimums, but the merchants cranking out the commissions are the real earners for CJ. No real commissions = no real earners.
CJ is the biggest, most active affiliate network out there. Just like any other company, they ain't perfect. So naturally, there will be more complaints than smaller networks.
I don't know of any merchant that would give a third party full access to their transaction data. Besides, I don't need proof to know a merchant is shaving.
If you're driving serious sales, work with different merchants, networks and tracking mechanisms, you know what to expect. Smart affiliates separate the wheat from the chaff on a daily basis.
I'm not taking up for cj, have had better success with some programs they offer, elsewhere.
If you're good at affiliate marketing, fixing tracking problems can be as simple as switching to another network or merchant.
If the tracking mechanism doesn't work, and they won't fix it, find another one.
If the merchant sucks for whatever reason, find another one.
You are in the driver's seat, you are in control of your traffic. If you don't like what you're getting, do something about it.
If you're good at affiliate marketing, fixing tracking problems can be as simple as switching to another network or merchant.
The problem is that CJ is probably the biggest in the market, with the most advertisers involved and they know it.
Even if their side is completely fair, (e.g. not shaving), their relationship towards average publisher is not so.
They have (had?) an eight memeber team devoted to detecting fraud - by publishers (for their few PPC programs).
But, if you are cheated by an advertiser, you are on your own.
This is the final answer from CJ which explains the policy:
It is within the advertiser's rights to correct transactions as they deem necessary...
Congratulations.
And? It doesn't mean you have to use them. I know affiliates who make a solid living ++ and won't touch CJ.
>It is within the advertiser's rights to correct transactions as they deem necessary...
Right on. And it's within publishers' rights to dump CJ and/or their merchants.
This business is very simple in my eyes. Publishers drive traffic and sales. Advertisers pay for the traffic and sales.
Sometimes our traffic doesn't make the conversions with the advertiser. It could be our traffic doesn't line up well with what they're selling. It could be a technical problem, or incompetency on the merchant's part or their tracking mechanism. It could be the merchant shaving. Lots of different things.
What's a publisher to do? The way I see it, there are two courses of action:
1) Join affiliate boards and jump up and down, scream, and complain about how you're getting shafted. Why this sucks and that sucks, and shout about how your conversions just ain't up to snuff. (not pointing at you activeco, I just see this a lot)
2) Take care of business. Send your traffic somewhere else. Somewhere that will make you (more) money.
Affiliates who take emotion out of the equation and look at the bottom line, adjust and morph their alliances as necessary, are the one who make more money and sleep great at night.
>It is within the advertiser's rights to correct transactions as they deem necessary...Right on. And it's within publishers' rights to dump CJ and/or their merchants.
This business is very simple in my eyes. Publishers drive traffic and sales. Advertisers pay for the traffic and sales.
Exactly.
And I don't want to jump and scream around, I sleep well at night. ;)
However, it gives some bitter taste. Pity that something so well developed fails in many ways.
The same for any other network.
I think there is a goldmine here, waiting for the right approach.
Google, where are you?
