Comments on: Carphone Warehouse do it again - 50% lower commission on the 3G iPhone, but only if you don’t promote it!

By: Affiliates Upset Over iPhone 3G Promotion Ban | Cellphone Directory Mobile

Affiliates Upset Over iPhone 3G Promotion Ban | Cellphone Directory Mobile — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:52:39 +0000

[...] phone affiliates in the UK are angry today after Carphone Warehouse revealed that they would be banning affiliates from promoting the iPhone [...]

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:41:37 +0000

Carphone warehouse and the gadgetshop are being short sighted, I feel sorry for those people that have dedicated time and effort into marketing these products. Not sure long term how this will work out for them surely all they have achieved is to sell their current stock - which they would have done anyway - and annoy their affiliates who market their other products and generate leads and sales… Like Dazza says maybe for the gadget shop it is a miscalculation somewhere along the line

By: Peter White

Peter White — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:00:44 +0000

The Carphone Warehouse aren’t exactly known for good service in any department.

By: Dazza

Dazza — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:35:01 +0000

Re: Gadgetshop.
That’s a joke! You can buy Nintendo Wii’s and DS’s anywhere now. There are plenty of other merchants paying commission on games consoles. All I can think of is that they got stitched up on the price by their wholesaler and have no margin left.

By: Fashion Boy

Fashion Boy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:01:09 +0000

Hoho..wot a laff…got this the other day..

“Over the next few weeks Gadgetshop will be stocking both Nintendo Wii and DS hardware and software. Unfortunately we will be unable to offer commission on these items. Commission will be paid at the usual rate for all items that are in the basket not classified under the Nintendo category. We understand that it is not desirable to have products on our feed for which no commission will be paid. However, over the next few months we’ll be looking to use the same system to offer you varying levels of commission on certain items.”

So it looks like they are gonna be doing this more often, must be the credit crunch factor, right, not greed?

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:23:11 +0000

Kieron,

Using Firefox 3 I get this when clicking “Reply to this comment”

“Brians Threaded Comments Error:
There is no hidden form field called
‘comment_reply_ID’. This is probably because you
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By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:22:17 +0000

“As I see it the issue is fundamentally one of short term profit maximisation versus medium/long term reputation with your affiliates.”

Yup, and I happen to think that 50% is the right balance in this case. I also think the paranoid brand control Apple retains over its products is likely to have made signing off any affiliate activity on a case-by-case basis (as was required last time) an unacceptable cost.

When life gives you lemons..

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:01:05 +0000

Vote with your feet. Just cut carphone warehouse out of any other promotions you do..

By: Jacko

Jacko — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:58:16 +0000

It’s an interesting debate. Although I do feel sorry for the affiliates that had planned to promote the iphone as others have said it’s the nature of business.
Unless you are dealing directly with the merchant you don’t have a contract with them. You deal with an affiliate network and the merchant has the right to pick what they want to promote through the network.

CPW haven’t exactly handled this well but IMO affiliates can’t expect to be able to earn full commission on a product where demand is likely to exceed supply.

By: Kier

Kier — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:29:01 +0000

I don’t think Bob is saying that because a lot of affiliates agree on something it’s wrong, his quote is pointing out that simply because a lot of people feel strongly about something that doesn’t make them right, that the sum of many opinions can often be wrong. Of course it depends what level you are analysing things because in contrast to scientific facts for example, opinions do actually affect economic reality. From a short term point of view it might make perfect sense for the company to cut affiliates out in this way to minimise costs, but due to the nature of affiliate marketing it might hurt more in the long run if the negative publicity causes a migration of affiliate traffic away from the program in retaliation. Anyway, I really posted because I like to see a properly structured argument more than anything else! As I see it the issue is fundamentally one of short term profit maximisation versus medium/long term reputation with your affiliates.