Walmart’s Pitch for Amazon Affiliates (WSJ Blog)

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   brandonhart100posted 14 years ago

   blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/03/02/walmarts-pitch-for-amazon-affiliates/
   
   Interesting, I wonder if this will open any doors for Hubbers in years to come with Wal-mart.

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   1. 66

      brandonhart100posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Here's a quote from the article:
      
      "Walmart.com said Wednesday that it “welcomes Amazon and Overstock California affiliates,” or websites that direct traffic to the online retailers. The move comes after Amazon said late last month that it would cut ties with California affiliates if legislators passed a law that would require Amazon to collect state sales tax because of its relationship with the affiliates."

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2. 0

   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   Have your read the Wal-Mart TOS?
   
   Commissions
   Toys, Home, Garden, Baby, Sports, Tires, Apparel, Jewelry, Gifts, Optical & All Others 4%
   
   Electronics, Video Games, Movies, Music, Books, Photo, Health & Beauty 1%
   
   I'm also trying to find the list of products they pay zero commission on. This is the paragraph that can get you zero commission without realizing it.
   
   Because of the volume and breadth of items that we carry on our Site and our practice of continuing to add new items over time, certain items may not be listed in the Referral Fee database at the time purchases are made through your website. In addition, we reserve the absolute right and discretion to exclude items from our Referral Fee database (see e.g., purchases from Sam's Club and Samsclub.com, Pharmacy, Travel, Financial Services, tires, optical, Wal-Mart Connect Internet Service, Gift Cards, and Online Gift Cards). Therefore, you acknowledge and agree that we cannot and do not warrant or guarantee that you will be paid a referral fee on any item(s) or that all items eligible for a referral fee will be paid in accordance with the Referral Fee Rates listed on the Affiliate Portal. You acknowledge that in such circumstances, you will accept the Referral Fee Rates and payouts actually paid to you. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of this Referral Fee Schedule, at any time. If you have any questions concerning whether a certain item is eligible for a referral fee, please contact affiliates@walmart.com.

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   1. 59

      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      4% of something is better than 8.5% of nothing. I tell you Nelle - this is what the latest algo change is all about.
      
      Sales taxes and Rupert Murdoch's threat to block all his sites from the google bot.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   There are better alternatives to Amazon than Wal-Mart. The bricks and mortar stores out there are already collecting sales tax if that's an issue.
   
   4 percent isn't the problem, as much as 1 percent or zero percent. Because of their TOS they can declare the hottest toy at Christmas non-commissionable.
   
   Alot of newspapers are thtreatening to block Google, because they want people to suscribe to their website for their content, not get it off of Google News for free. I'm not following what this has to do with Amazon.

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   1. 59

      Mark Knowlesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You may have noticed the swing towards "authority" sites in this latest shift. Newspapers, Big Retailers and the like.
      
      Why is this? 2 reasons - in my opinion. Amazon wish to avoid collecting sales taxes in order to keep their unfair advantage over bricks and mortar retailers - and Rupert Murdoch wants traffic directed to his sites instead of being aggregated by Google. There are not many people own newspapers so when "a lot" of newspapers are threatening - this is 6 people actually - the ones who own the TV companies and other media.
      
      So - google have weighted what was becoming a threat to these two entities. "Content farms" and other user generated sites that are not bound by the strictures of working for the big boys.
      
      Unfortunately - this is not going to result in a good user experience. I am sick and tired of finding 5 year old newspaper articles when I am doing research for a topic.
      
      There is a lot more going on here than google simply "improving search results and punishing naughty Internet marketers."
      
      The big boys are taking the Internet back. There has been a marked shift away from TV to watching video online. This is certainly a big part of the change. Mr Murdoch wants his audience back and if google knows what is good for them - they will do what he wants. Amazon's increased rankings may simply be a happy coincidence as perhaps their site is structured the same way as the big media sites - who knows? Building 7 just fell down all on it's own - so anything is possible.
      
      On a side note - I wouldn't touch Wal Mart with a barge pole.

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   sunforgedposted 14 years ago

   both walmart and best buy got me for 1% commissions because I i didnt  read close enough during cyber week
   
   they were not heavily focused on but 1% of a few thousand is still disheartening compared to some alternatives I could have offered.

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   1. 66

      brandonhart100posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Some good affiliates I use on other sites of mine are Newegg (2.5%), Tigerdirect (varies), and Buy.com. 
      
      They are super easy to sign up for through CK and Linkshare and tend to do very well.  I like selling for Newegg despite just getting 2.5% because it seems to be where people "want" to buy sometimes.

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