Question about setting up affiliate program...

Overall goal: Set up a 1 or 2 tier affiliate program -- all auto-pilot -- that allows me to sell a 'real' cd product (not digital download).

This q might sound stupid.

I have found some fulfillment houses that will do the physical order filling + sending, etc.

What I want to know is, how do I set up + 'attach' a 1 or 2 tier affiliate program to the fulfillment 'system?'

Is the affiliate program just a function of the shopping cart system I choose?

The fulfillment houses don't seem to address this issue.

Any help to clear this up is appreciated!

Thanks!

-- TW

Your best bet for information...
http://www.google.com/search?q=setti...ient=firefox-a

Phil

Yes, thanks. I did that. Most of the results are about how to JOIN or FIND (already-existing) affiliate programs.

I'm trying to CREATE / SET-UP my own affiliate SYSTEM -- I can do that with paydotcom.com -- but I don't think that allows a 2-tier structure.

-- TW

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by -TW

Overall goal: Set up a 1 or 2 tier affiliate program -- all auto-pilot -- that allows me to sell a 'real' cd product (not digital download).

This q might sound stupid.

I have found some fulfillment houses that will do the physical order filling + sending, etc.

What I want to know is, how do I set up + 'attach' a 1 or 2 tier affiliate program to the fulfillment 'system?'

Is the affiliate program just a function of the shopping cart system I choose?

The fulfillment houses don't seem to address this issue.

Any help to clear this up is appreciated!

Hi TW,

If you want to set up an affiliate program, the affiliate tracking software inserts itself as part of the ordering process. The affiliate tracking software just tracks what has been bought, and through who (which affiliate) the buyer found you through. The software can then calculate how much you owe to your affiliates when the time comes to make payments to your affiliates.

One affiliate tracking software package with 2-tiers (and more) is Post Affiliate Pro http://www.qualityunit.com/postaffiliatepro/ . It's not completely "auto-pilot" though since you still have to instigate the process of paying your affiliates on a monthly (or whatever) basis.

Other affiliate software options (with some reviews) can be found here...

• http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Script...ams/index.html
• http://www.hotscripts.com/CGI_and_Pe...ams/index.html

I can't answer your fulfilment house questions since (so far) I've just dealt with "electronic" products (downloaded products, emailed products, and membership sites). Having said that, I don't think it would change things at all from using any kind of online ordering process, and sending the order to a fulfilment house. That's because the fulfilment house doesn't need to know which affiliate any order came through - they only need to know the details of the order, and who to ship it to. The fulfilment house doesn't need to know any details at all about the affiliate-tracking side of things.

By the way, I haven't used Post Affiliate Pro (or the others), but I investigated them for possible use. I actually started to code my own (very simple) affiliate program to use on my website - since I wanted some customized features! Then, Clickbank introduced most of what I needed, and it was a lot easier to use them than to write my own software (which I was in the process of doing), so I ended up using them... http://www.sowpub.com/affiliates/ (You can only use them for "electronic" products, though.)

I hope that helps!

Best wishes,

Dien

Dien,

Just for your info...

Here's the loophole for selling physical products with Clickbank...

With access to 100,000+ affiliates...

Something to Think about...

Clickbank Allows You to Sell Physical Products
http://www.robertplank.com/clickbank-physical-products/

Phil

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Phil

Dien,

Just for your info...

Here's the loophole for selling physical products with Clickbank...

With access to 100,000+ affiliates...

Something to Think about...

Clickbank Allows You to Sell Physical Products
http://www.robertplank.com/clickbank-physical-products/

Phil

Thanks Phil,

Wow, that's a real eye-opener!

Here's the key part from Robert Plank's blog post...

Here's the loophole for selling physical products with Clickbank... I noticed the following in Clickbank's terms of service:

After having a Clickbank account for 6 years, I never noticed that. What you have to do is provide your members with a hybrid delivery. (Coined by John Reese.) When someone buys this physical product from you, provide 100% of the content in downloadable form -- for instant gratification -- then ship the physical materials as bonuses, for added value.

That's good to know!

Thanks Phil for pointing that out...!

Cheers

Dien

The clickbank loophole is interesting -- but they don't support 2-tier structure.

Here's a nice comparison I found between two diff programs.

http://www.top2compared.com/affiliate-software/

Btw, the page struck me as a good way to market something.

Like a 'review' site, only more direct.

I think the page looks nice + definitely makes the point from a 'third party' point of view.

-- TW

Thanks for the info/comparison, TW. Most helpful!

Sandi Bowman

[Ankesh]

I use quality units Post affiliate Pro script. Its pretty good and easy to setup. But you still need to integrate their script with your payment processor (paypal or merchants a/c) - and that needs some technical know how.

If you have never installed a script, then I would recommend going with 1shoppingcart.com. They charge a recurring monthly fee though. But the good thing is they come with autoresponders too. So following up is easier.

But if you can figure a few things out on your own and don't want to pay a recurring fee, than Post Affiliate Pro by Quality Unit is pretty good for its price.

(I use both - Post Affiliate Pro - and 1shoppingcart. But I'll slowly be getting rid of 1shoppingcart from my sites because sometime back I made a decision: investing in my own custom script would be cheaper in the long run than using 1shoppingcart. And I'll end up with way more features than any affiliate script on the market too.)

Is 1shoppingcart Ted Ciuba's company?