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Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 2:57 am
by David Kilpatrick
This site is, at least, supported by enough Google ads commission to cover hosting costs and other domain expenses - maybe $50 a month.
B&H persuaded me to use their Affiliate program but despite some sales, have paid zero commission. They insist that sites are making hundreds a week from them, and phone me to suggest ways of doing so, all of which would ruin the website totally.
I see from my report that some idiot paid them $300+ for a 16GB SDHC 100x card. Question: is it even remotely moral to have this affiliate link? They are clearly ripping people off (which explains the very few sales reported) and when the ripoff is to sell a $30 card for $300 I find it hard to reconcile with my own ethics.
David
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 3:30 am
by pakodominguez
nope
I thought that B&H (as well as Adorama and other big retailers) changed their "aggressive" sales approach, but apparently not... Adorama can push a little offering to sell you a UV filter, but sneaky sales techniques are forbidden (before "my time") and the company policy is: we don't sell cameras (or electronics or, in my case prints and books) but Customer Service"
I can ask who is in charge of the affiliate program and see if it is worthwhile...
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 3:50 am
by Greg Beetham
Wowzer $300 smackers for a memory card, it's got to be a typo surely? I wonder if the card is listed on the B&H site and if so at what price?
Greg
ps. If that turns out to be true David, I think you know what my advice would be...for what it's worth.
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:00 am
by UrsaMajor
David Kilpatrick wrote:They are clearly ripping people off (which explains the very few sales reported) and when the ripoff is to sell a $30 card for $300 I find it hard to reconcile with my own ethics.
I find this quite surprising, and I have to wonder if there is an error in the information you have. I have dealt with B&H for many years and have always found them to have competitive prices and very, very good business ethics. My personal experiences cannot be unique, as B&H has always been one of the highest rated companies at places such as resellerratings.com. B&H is one of a literal handful of on-line or mail-order photo equipment suppliers within the U.S. that I trust completely - most of them have a very poor reputation. (FWIW, one of the other businesses that I trust is the company for whom Pako works - Adorama.)
It is pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if part of the reason that you have had few referral sales is that - like me - much of the traffic at your site jumps directly to the discussion forums and does not see the B&H ad. I know that if someone had asked me a few minutes ago whether or not there is a B&H ad on your site, I would have answered that I did not recall one, as I go to your main page only when I know that there is something new there in which I am interested. Also, I assume that a lot of your traffic comes from outside of North America, and many of those people may not find it economically attractive to purchase from the U.S.
In regard to the general subject of referral commissions, I have no idea what others may do, but I can say that whenever I intend to make a purchase from B&H or Amazon, I go to Mike Johnson's site ("The On-line Photographer") and click through from there to make sure that he gets referral credit - to help support a site that I find of value.
With best wishes,
- Tom -
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:05 am
by Greg Beetham
I had a look at the memory cards/prices at B&H and there ARE actually some expensive ones. For example there is a Panasonic 48GB card for just over the $300 mark.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... 0&pn=2&N=0
Greg
ps. David I often do the same as Tom, I forget about the Home page and to check the latest news/articles, getting caught up in what's happening on the Forum. It'd be a good idea I think to put a reminder/link on the forums main index page at the top or in a margin down the side that shows the current topic/s at the moment on the Photoclub Alpha home page.
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:16 am
by UrsaMajor
Out of curiosity, I followed that link and then went to Amazon and Adorama to compare prices for exactly the same card. Rounding off to the nearest dollar, the price at B&H was $325, the price at Amazon was $345, and the price at Adorama was $360 - so B&H was not out of line in that case, they were actually the cheapest. (In my experience, which of those 3 has the lowest price for a given item on a given day is almost random - they are all normally competitive in pricing.)
With best wishes,
- Tom -
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:40 am
by Greg Beetham
UrsaMajor wrote:Out of curiosity, I followed that link and then went to Amazon and Adorama to compare prices for exactly the same card. Rounding off to the nearest dollar, the price at B&H was $325, the price at Amazon was $345, and the price at Adorama was $360 - so B&H was not out of line in that case, they were actually the cheapest. (In my experience, which of those 3 has the lowest price for a given item on a given day is almost random - they are all normally competitive in pricing.)
With best wishes,
- Tom -
Yeah I've never had a bad moment with B&H myself; they and Adorama have been around for donkey's years, and you don't stay in business for that long if you habitually rip people off I reckon. The only reason I haven't ever bought anything from Adorama is because I don't have an account there...so far, but I do have one at B&H.
Greg
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:10 am
by pakodominguez
UrsaMajor wrote:David Kilpatrick wrote:They are clearly ripping people off (which explains the very few sales reported) and when the ripoff is to sell a $30 card for $300 I find it hard to reconcile with my own ethics.
I find this quite surprising, and I have to wonder if there is an error in the information you have. I have dealt with B&H for many years and have always found them to have competitive prices and very, very good business ethics.
On this cases (B&H or Adorama or many other good retailers) the problem is not the company, but some individuals. One Sunday, a couple of years ago, I went to Adorama because I needed some DV tapes, a guy that I didn't know (and who didn't knew me) "took care of me" and I didn't bother to double check prices or so (employees have really little discount and we only have one day a week for personal purchase) but a friend of mine took back my order, checked if she could do a little discount and found that the sales guy was charging me about 20% more!
Those kind of people do exist. Hopefully, they don't stay long...
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:10 pm
by David Kilpatrick
It was the listing of a 16GB card selling for $300 which got my eye in the their sales report. No other items shown as ordered through the site were so far from realistic in price, but I know why they don't make many sales from my links - they are usually not the cheapest, and people these days just do a quick Google search and find the cheapest they are comfortable with to order from.
It would be a lot of work to remove the links, because B&H ask me to include text hyperlinks when a product is mentioned - they say this works many times more effectively than ad blocks or banners.
Maybe this was just a one-off oddity in pricing. I've just bought new 16GB 10X Transcend cards and they were under £20 UK (normally more like £30 though).
David
Re: Ad commssion
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:31 pm
by bossel
If it pays for the site, I wouldn't hesitate to put ads. Most sites do so and we all know, whatever the ad says is in no way linked to (or even approved by) the site hosting the ad! It's the responsibility of each buyer to compare and get the best offer for himself.