Linkshare vs. Commission Junction

There are two big players in the affiliate market place. Linkshare.com and Commission Junction. One of the first questions our clients ask, when they are planning to launch this phase of marketing is : Which one is best?

Here is a review. First the price for setup for both are different. Both companies charge a client a setup fee. It can range from 3-8k depending upon the client. We are not sure why the price is so variable. We have noticed that linkshare is now available through the Yahoo store interface. And they still charge 3k to setup/turn it on.

How they work. For the most part both affiliate networks operate using the same method. They have a network of site who have signed to be affiliates. Linkshare and Commission Junction act as a middle man to manage the administrative tasks required for this type of marketing. They both take a percentage of the sale item and share that percentage with the affiliate. They both offer flexible term packages for a client to offer different percentages and payment terms depending upon affiliate performance.

The difference is in the integration and setup. Commission Junction setup is quick and easy. A client adds some JS code to the receipt or checkout page. This JavaScript code contains the order information, items and amounts. This JavaScript solutions make integration for a client very fast. It takes only a few hours of code to setup, test and launch.

Linkshare setup and integration is not so easy. But have substantial benefits. Linkshare setup requires more time and resources for a client. They offer a number of process for reporting sales back; XML, URL etc. While this setup process can take several weeks which means more expense for a client, it does have some nice long term benefits, mainly in the clients options for getting credits for cancelations, returns or changes.

Additionally because Linkshare must review and certify an integration, the mapping of customer product data to the LInkshare data dictionary is more effective. It took a several days to meet the certification. During this process we were able to tune the daily product feed so that it was most effective.

What are Returns & Cancelations? When a affiliate site refers a customer to your site and it results in a sale the site owner get paid. Usually percentage of the order. Linkshare handles the reporting and payment. If the customer ends up cancelling the order several hours later, you have the option to get a credit for the commission payment. You do not have to request a credit. And there are some very good reasons to forget about getting a credit.

When affiliates evaluate the sites they want to join, they looks at a number of metrics: conversion rates, payment terms etc. They want to make sure that if they affiliate and present your products, that a click through will result in a sale.  So the conversion rate tells the affiliate how open they will get paid for click. If you have a high rate of returns which result in credits, your conversion rate can suffer. So some of our clients do not request the credit. They see the cost of these commission payment as part of the cost of the affiliate/marketing costs and as a result can keep their conversion rates high.

Hint: We recommend that you monitor your affiliates closely and think about which are worth having. If a site drives a lot of traffic, the it might be better to forget about returns for them and keep them happy. But for a less valuable affiliate you might decide that the commission on a canceled orders should be handle differently.

We built a returns report and management system the lets our clients micromanage the returns.

First Stab

Where to start with e-commerce? Since I have a hard time knowing where to start writing about it, I can only assume that I am not alone trying to wrap my mind around it. There are so many layers, elements and components to e-commerce that it often seems the mount Everest of topics. We are an e-commerce consulting company. We build our own technology and have spent the past few years using it in the field. We work on a daily basis to find and implement the techniques our clients need to remain effective online. Our business models makes this possible. We are not a T&M company. We sent out few bills for hourly work. We succeed when our clients grow their businesses.

So this blog is our starting point for exploring the elements and daily challenges we find and face as we work in the online commerce industry. This blog will be very, very free form. I believe it is important for both our clients and the rest of the world to see the small battles that make up our days.

So the first issue. How to Handle Overseas Credit Card? We have been asked a number of times; how to handle over seas credit card. While move merchant service companies will process them without a problem, few offer credit card address verification. This posses a substantial problem. If you ship a product to Kewait and find that the credit card is invalid or stolen, there is little recourse for the merchant. Many of companies simply refuse to ship to address which can not be verified by either the credit card processing company at the time of purchase or by phone. so we are left with the US and Canada.

The Demand – There is an amazing demand by customers outside the US for online companies to ship. The cost of shipping does not seem to be an issue. This is particularly true for high end consumer products. If you can not get it overseas, the US is a good source. The weak dollar makes our products substantially cheaper then similiar products out of the EU.

There are other solutions. Several companies exist that will offer AVS services for overseas credit cards. They charge a fee for transactions. No charge for rejected addresses. They then perform the address verification and provide insurance for the value of the order.

The bad news is that the one company we have found; www.FraudSciences.com was just bought by Paypal. So we looking for new vendors. And new ways to get around this problem. As the brick and motor econmoey tightens, and the focus on growing online sales increases, this issue becomes more important. Any source of potential sales is important. The weak dollar and the hight price of some consumer products in Europe make shipping overseas very attractive.

If anyone knows any vendors that supply this service, we are all ears!