AuctionAds - opinions wanted!!

[LazyHippy]

Ok, what do you really think of AuctionAds? - personal opinions of Shoemoney aside!

They state they give 100% of commission to affiliates (here - no post to the contrary since), but don't give us full reporting to confirm this (I want to see purchase amounts, similar to CJ).

To do this they must've been running at a loss as they give 2% of commissions to referrers.

I like the service they provide - the ads are attractive and seem to convert well. They claim to be in the top tier - so paying more than going direct to CJ - but without full reporting I can't help feeling that they are not being honest with us.

What do you guys think?

 

[BlueMendicant]

There was an interview somewhere with shoemoney where he basically said they were giving 100% commissions to attract people to their service so they could get into the highest tier. He then went on to explain that he was hoping to negotiate with ebay a special tier since his service was bringing in so many customers. He could then afford to pay everybody the highest tiers while still making a profit. I think he's being pretty straight forward.

I personally think it has a good chance of getting acquired, as well.

 

[LazyHippy]

I personally think it has a good chance of getting acquired, as well.

Yeah, you're right there.

Going by the fact that they were affected by the tracking problem I assume they are going through CJ. eBay affiliate program terms state that each sub-publisher must have a separate CJ PID, so they must have API access or something to create those on the fly, therefore they should be able to feedback to affiliates the details of the actions.

It would be nice if they could give us some more feedback so it doesn't look them 'doing a google' and not disclosing their cut.

 

[aeiouy]

Split test it and see. I have no reason to disbelieve them. They have spelled out exactly what their intent is. They want to create enough volume to get an even better rate, and skim that for themselves.

It is potentially a win-win for everyone. That being said, you should never trust anyone, so do your own testing. Get a CJ account, sign up, and see how it goes. Since your commission rate is likely to be substantially lower, you will probably see better results with auctionads, but give it a test and see.

 

[LazyHippy]

I might run a ppc campaign to split test - going through my links and through AuctionAds url convertor link. (When I hear back from eBay about whether their new policy excludes redirects or not.) That would take the ad format out of the equation.

Better yet, a few test purchases of exactly the same items would be more accurate... though AuctionAds reporting (or lack of it) makes it hard to track individual sales.

 

[tob]

NeverblueAds has a DIRECT affiliation with eBay and they DO NOT go through CJ at all. This is very nice as I have no interest in being the least bit associated with CJ. They offer higher payouts than CJ because the NeverblueAds network is seen as 1 affiliate, putting them into the highest tier - much like AuctionAds. If you can code and want to make more money and have better support, go with NeverblueAds, if you can't code for shit go with AuctionAds.

I plug NeverblueAds all the time, only because I do 98% of my affiliate marketing with them.

Tob

 

[LazyHippy]

NeverblueAds has a DIRECT affiliation with eBay and they DO NOT go through CJ at all. This is very nice as I have no interest in being the least bit associated with CJ. They offer higher payouts than CJ because the NeverblueAds network is seen as 1 affiliate, putting them into the highest tier - much like AuctionAds. If you can code and want to make more money and have better support, go with NeverblueAds, if you can't code for shit go with AuctionAds.

I plug NeverblueAds all the time, only because I do 98% of my affiliate marketing with them.

Tob

That's interesting... I didn't realise that.

I applied to them but they wanted me to phone them in the States or some shit so I didn't bother and carried on with more international-friendly networks. I'll have to have a look into it.

 

[tob]

Yes, I know they insist you call them. Mostly they just want to touch base and discuss what you're interested in and whether you do search, banner, or email advertising - so that they can suggest and help with campaigns.

Not like CJ where you usually just get approved, NeverblueAds actually takes the time to look at every individual affiliate. Also, once you're approved to the network you are approved for every campaign, you don't have to apply to each one like CJ.

Anyway, I'm using the eBay affiliate API to grab the data and then when I link out I use my neverblue links, it's really effective.

Tob

 

[BlueMendicant]

I applied to them but they wanted me to phone them in the States or some shit so I didn't bother and carried on with more international-friendly networks.

Skype. I made calls from London and Paris to the USA almost everyday for a week and it cost pennies.

 

[cashflowrusty]

I'm not making big bucks with AA, but some money is there. With more traffic to show the ads to, I would probably make more. It is a great fit with a site I have.

As for the payout, Shoe said on a WebmasterRadio show (his?) that it basically cost nothing to set up and run, and he is well funded (has money set aside fr running AA for awhile) so they were going to go 'no-income' for the first 6 months and give it all to affiliates. After that, as was mentioned above, he was going to negotiate with eBay for a tier where he could profit on volumes of sales and a low extra percentage, still passing 100% of the normal high tier pay to the affiliate.

Tracking? From the days of blink link programs (pr0n and not) to AA, I can't worry about it too much. Sure, they COULD give you all the info, and maybe they will sometime in the future, but for now, it's ok for me.

Oh yea, AA is 3 months old now, so 3 more months of 100% payout, at least... Jump abort and try it...

 

[john3232]

I also make calls daily to the USA. If you want to join and earn from affiliate programs then this is sometimes something that you have to do.