Submitted by Jeremy Palmer on Sat, 07/01/2006 - 08:16.
I have a Share A Sale account, but I must admit it's not really active. Does anybody else here use Share A Sale? Does it make sense to have a Share A Sale forum?
I work with SAS. A few of my cj merchants have moved there or opened simultaneous programs there.
There is FTP access to datafeeds. Merchants must approve your datafeed access, as they pay extra for each aff they allow to access their datafeed. There are many that have auto approval now.
Payment goes out on time, and there is direct deposit available.
afftrack= is the equivalent of SID=
Not sure what we would discuss about SAS that is related specifically to this QYDJ forum.
Ah, well, then there's a few more tips that can be helpful. :D
To deep link, use the url= parameter, and leave off the http:// part of the URL you're targetting. If the URL you're targetting has mutiple paramters also, run it through a URL encoder: http://www.albionresearch.com/misc/urlencode.php .
If you have to wait for FTP approval from a merchant, in the meanwhile you can do either a product search (IMO clunky.. none of the networks touch cj's expertise in product search), or use the MakeAPage function under Get Links. If you use the MakeAPage function, which can be helpful for querying vs. having to look at all the products by a merchant or in a category, you will want to heavily edit the HTML. I've complained about the poor standards compliance in those links, and a few things have been fixed. However, the " marks are still missing in border=0 and such. And you probably won't want the on-page style sheet nor style=sasmakeapage on all your pages. However, it is a reasonable way to pull products until your FTP is approved.
If you run coupons, there is an RSS feed with coupons with your USERID embedded. Or you can go to the coupons section by going to Get Links > Coupons/Deals and searching by specific merchant name, or merchantID - or any given keyword such as "free shipping", "halloween", etc.. Beware the expired coupons.
Keep an eye on your Merchant Status! In an effort to keep merchants from getting "free credit", when a merchant's account is empty, they are offline. You can choose one URL to which to send all your offline merchant clicks. This is controlled in Custom Error Redirect for "Temporarily Offline Merchants" in your Edit Account Settings.
When you view a merchant's details, in View Program Description , you have an option there called Program Uptime History . Always check this bit of data. There are programs which are on auto-deposit (for example http://www.shareasale.com/a-offlinehistory.cfm?merchantID=9003 ), and there are merchants who let their program funds lapse on an all too regular basis (like http://www.shareasale.com/a-offlinehistory.cfm?merchantID=6932 ). Notice on that second example that the program was offline for days during peak Q4 shopping season. You don't want to work with this kind of merchant.
In the Program Description, the little icons in the Vitals area tell you what they are when you mouse over them. If a program has been at SAS for awhile and has a $0 EPC, there is usually a reason.
Many SAS merchants are not quite prime time, but have really good intentions. DO check out their site carefully with an eye on usability and ease of checkout. If you feel there is something that could easily be improved, contact them, or contact the SAS managed marketing team to have them contact the merchant. Carolyn Tang is there, and she rocks.
They have a support forum, link is in the upper right hand corner of the top nav bar when you're logged in.
There are no impression stats, which kind of bites, IMO.
Submitted by Jeremy Palmer on Tue, 07/04/2006 - 20:11.
Excellent post! Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us :)
My impression has always been that SAS is a popular network among affiliates, but they don't have a lot of big name merchants. Is this thinking correct?
Yes, I think so. Though the reasons for its popularity lie largely in Brian's business philosopy more than any actual brass tacks advantage to SAS. And you won't find a big merchant like Audible there...yet.
SAS has an easy way to deep link: "Create a Custom Link to a Page" under "Links." After you've made one, just keep reusing it for that merchant and only change the page name.
Unfortunately, quite a few SAS merchants are amateurs: they run Adsense on their sites and/or have links out to other sites. Doh, they're affiliates also and somehow expect that others are going to be driving free traffic to them? Or they're just a datafeed site with not very unique products.
As Laura says, do your research. If a merchant can't be bothered responding to my questions, well, I can't be bothered representing them. I do check out sites pretty thoroughly, going as far as I can through the purchase process without actually buying.
On the plus side, they have some unique, niche vendors that do convert very well for me. And the biggest plus: parasite free vendors.
Submitted by Ron Goldman (not verified) on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 12:35.
As a merchant we have been with SAS for a number of years and are very pleased with the results. Although their interface is somewhat confusing at times, we do get the results we want at an affordable price.
SAS is truly a network that caters to the small business, which in my opinion could be very lucrative for affiliates who want to target very niche markets. Rather than promoting the big box retailers, affiliates might find programs that offer products that bigger retailers do not.
Case in point, our program at http://www.KimmyShop.com is interesting such that we offer licensed character merchandise not available at the mass market level.
PS If you market to a children's or family market, give us a shout. We would be interested in partnering. Special arrangements can be worked out in terms of custom banners, coupons, newsletters, etc.
I signed up at ShareASale, and was instantly approved. A couple of days later, they withdrew my approval after reviewing my site. They checked the landing page for a mainstream dating service that I represent, and decided that it was adult content. My site had already passed inspection by CJ and Linkshare, and others, including several Christian dating services, all of which have the same policy regarding adult content.
SAS was very responsive to my questions, and was helpful about how I could regain their approval, but they wouldn't budge about the dating service, even if I changed the landing page. They felt there were adult videos at the landing page, which is not true, but whoever inspected my site passed that judgment, and they were sticking with it.
My choice was to drop the dating service, or to give up on SAS. The annoying thing is, they have many members who also represent the same dating service. It' s not my job, or my desire, to blow the whistle on another affiliate site. That won't do ME any good, and may only result in someone else being bounced from SAS. It's unfortunate, and unfair, but once they make a decision they don't reverse it. I was already approved by several merchants on their site when SAS "unapproved" me, including Singles of Faith, Christian dating service, who loved my site and was "excited" to have me as an affiliate.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Naw, we're all waiting for the Google CPA program :wink:
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
I don't do as well with them as with CJ. They do have some unique merchants though.
CJ
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
I work with SAS. A few of my cj merchants have moved there or opened simultaneous programs there.
There is FTP access to datafeeds. Merchants must approve your datafeed access, as they pay extra for each aff they allow to access their datafeed. There are many that have auto approval now.
Payment goes out on time, and there is direct deposit available.
afftrack= is the equivalent of SID=
Not sure what we would discuss about SAS that is related specifically to this QYDJ forum.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Thanks for the SAS tips Laura - you just taught me more in 3 sentences than I've been able to figure out by logging in and surfing around.
Best,
Jeremy
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Ah, well, then there's a few more tips that can be helpful. :D
To deep link, use the url= parameter, and leave off the http:// part of the URL you're targetting. If the URL you're targetting has mutiple paramters also, run it through a URL encoder: http://www.albionresearch.com/misc/urlencode.php .
If you have to wait for FTP approval from a merchant, in the meanwhile you can do either a product search (IMO clunky.. none of the networks touch cj's expertise in product search), or use the MakeAPage function under Get Links. If you use the MakeAPage function, which can be helpful for querying vs. having to look at all the products by a merchant or in a category, you will want to heavily edit the HTML. I've complained about the poor standards compliance in those links, and a few things have been fixed. However, the " marks are still missing in border=0 and such. And you probably won't want the on-page style sheet nor style=sasmakeapage on all your pages. However, it is a reasonable way to pull products until your FTP is approved.
If you run coupons, there is an RSS feed with coupons with your USERID embedded. Or you can go to the coupons section by going to Get Links > Coupons/Deals and searching by specific merchant name, or merchantID - or any given keyword such as "free shipping", "halloween", etc.. Beware the expired coupons.
Keep an eye on your Merchant Status! In an effort to keep merchants from getting "free credit", when a merchant's account is empty, they are offline. You can choose one URL to which to send all your offline merchant clicks. This is controlled in Custom Error Redirect for "Temporarily Offline Merchants" in your Edit Account Settings.
When you view a merchant's details, in View Program Description , you have an option there called Program Uptime History . Always check this bit of data. There are programs which are on auto-deposit (for example http://www.shareasale.com/a-offlinehistory.cfm?merchantID=9003 ), and there are merchants who let their program funds lapse on an all too regular basis (like http://www.shareasale.com/a-offlinehistory.cfm?merchantID=6932 ). Notice on that second example that the program was offline for days during peak Q4 shopping season. You don't want to work with this kind of merchant.
In the Program Description, the little icons in the Vitals area tell you what they are when you mouse over them. If a program has been at SAS for awhile and has a $0 EPC, there is usually a reason.
Many SAS merchants are not quite prime time, but have really good intentions. DO check out their site carefully with an eye on usability and ease of checkout. If you feel there is something that could easily be improved, contact them, or contact the SAS managed marketing team to have them contact the merchant. Carolyn Tang is there, and she rocks.
They have a support forum, link is in the upper right hand corner of the top nav bar when you're logged in.
There are no impression stats, which kind of bites, IMO.
HTH.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Excellent post! Thanks for taking the time to share with all of us :)
My impression has always been that SAS is a popular network among affiliates, but they don't have a lot of big name merchants. Is this thinking correct?
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Yes, I think so. Though the reasons for its popularity lie largely in Brian's business philosopy more than any actual brass tacks advantage to SAS. And you won't find a big merchant like Audible there...yet.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
SAS has an easy way to deep link: "Create a Custom Link to a Page" under "Links." After you've made one, just keep reusing it for that merchant and only change the page name.
Unfortunately, quite a few SAS merchants are amateurs: they run Adsense on their sites and/or have links out to other sites. Doh, they're affiliates also and somehow expect that others are going to be driving free traffic to them? Or they're just a datafeed site with not very unique products.
As Laura says, do your research. If a merchant can't be bothered responding to my questions, well, I can't be bothered representing them. I do check out sites pretty thoroughly, going as far as I can through the purchase process without actually buying.
On the plus side, they have some unique, niche vendors that do convert very well for me. And the biggest plus: parasite free vendors.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale
Thanks for the great info.
I am going to try SAS and have some questions:
Why would i use a URL encoder when there are multiple parameters?
What are parasite free vendors?
Thanks in advance!
Good Network
As a merchant we have been with SAS for a number of years and are very pleased with the results. Although their interface is somewhat confusing at times, we do get the results we want at an affordable price.
SAS is truly a network that caters to the small business, which in my opinion could be very lucrative for affiliates who want to target very niche markets. Rather than promoting the big box retailers, affiliates might find programs that offer products that bigger retailers do not.
Case in point, our program at http://www.KimmyShop.com is interesting such that we offer licensed character merchandise not available at the mass market level.
More information on our program can be found at:
http://www.kimmyshop.com/affiliate.aspx
Ron
PS If you market to a children's or family market, give us a shout. We would be interested in partnering. Special arrangements can be worked out in terms of custom banners, coupons, newsletters, etc.
Does anybody here work with ShareASale?
I signed up at ShareASale, and was instantly approved. A couple of days later, they withdrew my approval after reviewing my site. They checked the landing page for a mainstream dating service that I represent, and decided that it was adult content. My site had already passed inspection by CJ and Linkshare, and others, including several Christian dating services, all of which have the same policy regarding adult content.
SAS was very responsive to my questions, and was helpful about how I could regain their approval, but they wouldn't budge about the dating service, even if I changed the landing page. They felt there were adult videos at the landing page, which is not true, but whoever inspected my site passed that judgment, and they were sticking with it.
My choice was to drop the dating service, or to give up on SAS. The annoying thing is, they have many members who also represent the same dating service. It' s not my job, or my desire, to blow the whistle on another affiliate site. That won't do ME any good, and may only result in someone else being bounced from SAS. It's unfortunate, and unfair, but once they make a decision they don't reverse it. I was already approved by several merchants on their site when SAS "unapproved" me, including Singles of Faith, Christian dating service, who loved my site and was "excited" to have me as an affiliate.
Go figure.
Tejas