Shade Station Should Be Shamed
Lazy? Ignorant? Funny? How else can I describe an affiliate account manager that has declined a commission for a valid sale, with a reason that I can back up not to be true.
Now please forgive me about my rage on a £1.65 commission that wouldn’t buy me a pint on the streets of Leeds but this is just utter rubbish.
Whilst doing my accounts tonight I was doing a running total when over at Affiliate Future I saw that there was one cancelled transaction. Curious, I clicked the link to be shocked to read “no brand name bidding” as given as the reason for a Shade Station cancellation.
Brand bid? For shades in January!!!??? Come on!
Well Lazy Shade Station Account Manager (… hang on I don’t know who that person is, so I shouldn’t be rude. So I’ll just do a search within my emails for “shade station” and “shadestation” and there’s not one single email.)
I DO NOT BRAND BID!!
And do you want to know why?
I DO NOT PARTAKE IN PAY-PER-CLICK!!!
All my £1.25m worth of annual sales (which should be £30 higher) are obtained by organic search traffic and Shop Codes loyal visitors.
I have long documented and said to those who’ll listen that it’s not profitable for me to PPC as I earn 26p per site visitor but PPC costs over 25p.
Just so you have some proof, here’s a screengrab of my Google Adwords account for the past week. I’ve spent zilch mate.
Below is a screen grab of a small section of my site that proves I promote you directly using both an 88×31 micro bar creative and a text link.
As you are lazy to research your facts properly, I shall give you a hint that the page within the Shop Codes sitemap begins with an “S”.
That link won’t be there no more once the dust on this blog post has settled.
The only blessing in this sorry tale is that there was a reason given for the declined sale.
One of my christmas purchases has gone the same way. I’m just waiting for the sorry tale to conclude one way or the other before posting.
Its disgusting that commission for a genuine sale can be deleted in such an easy manner. How many more examples are there that we we don’t notice?
I reckon it happens all the time with certain merchants who don’t know their internet arse from their elbows. Absolutely ridiculous. The fact that in many cases, we have no recourse to appeal these decisions with the network is really poor.
2008 will hopefully be the year when networks finally stand up for their affiliates.
I have long wondered about such practises going on. I do get suspicious when things are reversed, especially those big transactions. We do have to rely a lot on the honest of everyone involved.
Have you contacted them about this directly? I would be interested to know their response. It’s the principle that’s the point.
You are right mate to get annoyed whatever the amount, If you let someone get away with a penny they’ll take 10 pence and so on. Also as someone else stated how many people would not notice / chase up such an amount.
[...] Re: Shade Station – Deleted Sales Maybe worthwhile reading this blog before considering Shade Station befuddled me? ? affiliate marketing blog for the dazed and confused ? ramblings ? Shade Station Should Be Shamed __________________ DisclaimerThis communication contains information which is confidential and/or maybe privileged. All information contained herein is without prejudice.Blog Moose On The Loose. [...]
You might not be aware, but the current PPC restriction policy which is place was changed without notifying affiliates & affiliates are having commissiosn reversed as as result of the merchants ineptness.
I received this email on January 8th – one day after I wrote this post:
Subject: PPC Policy Reminder
Message: Affiliates are not allowed to bid on our brand name ‘Shade Station’ in any form. Please see the current PPC policy below:
No PPC bidding on the Trade Mark ‘Shade Station’, misspellings or variations
It was sent from a virgin.net email account with no signature.