Tracking affiliate sales efficiently

I think I'm being ripped off by the people I am selling for

[georgiek50]

I was wondering if there is an efficient way to track a sale for an affiliate which works by going to the seller's site from clicks on a banner on my site. I am convinced that I am selling much more than I'm given credit for.

[dmorison]

What conversion rate are you getting with the merchant that you are questioning? How does it compare to what you would anticipate for this merchant?

There is not really much _you_ can do in terms of tracking, as it is _their_ site. There is an element of trust involved in affiliation; but at the end of the day if the merchant is not pleasing you as an affiliate then ditch them.

[georgiek50]

Well, the only reporting that is available to me is sales so conversion rate is out of the question in terms of calculating it.

This is how I drew up this conclusion.

1) 50% commission rate (great, but sounds excessive)

2) I sold 4 of their products in 2 weeks and then for almost 2 months nothing. It seemed that I stopped selling the day I added some code into my site. When I asked whether or not this could be conflicting they responded "possibly" but never got back to me as promised. I sent them an e-mail 2 days ago which they didn't reply to but lo and behold I have sold another 2 of their products after almost 2 months of inactivity in the past 2 days.

It's either one HUGE coincidence or I'm getting ripped off.

What do you make of it?

[percentages]

You gotta watch some merchants like hawks.

One of mine, a huge and very "respectible" company that I teleconference with weekly just added their 800 number to their "conversion" page. Boy, will they be in for a roasting on Monday morning! Until then I have redirected all traffic to their competitors.

We are their sales force, not their bit****, cheap tricks and underhand dealings have no place in this environment.

Send them a message....."My version of hardball is way beyond anything you ever considered." :)

[georgiek50]

Hehe, you are absolutely right. I'll get them for this alright. Since my traffic and popularity have been increasing at a good rate lately I am going to offer them cost per impression and if they don't want it, I'm done with them. They are the one's who contacted me in the first place.