Criteria For Shopping Cart Software - A State Of The Art Affilate Program Module - Part 3
The criteria for shopping cart software are being set high, and in this final post I will conclude the series on WebCart’s affiliate module.
To view the previous post click here
Let’s get started…
Affiliate Payment Control:
The internet can be a dangerous place when it comes to fraud. Affiliate fraud is nothing new, and has been around for years. I will explain how a typical fraud could happen, and the steps WebCart built to minimize it.
Let’s say I sign up as an affiliate for a website that sells speakers. Each stereo speaker sold though my affiliate link gets me $10.00. I forgot to mention that the owner of the Stereo site gives his customers the option of mailing in a check as a form of payment. Once my link was approved I would solicit a gang of my friends to purchase speakers though my new affiliate link, but have them pay with a check that they will never mail in. Of course my friends have no intention of mailing the check in, but credit was given to me for a sale. Can you see how something like this could destroy a shopping cart owners business?
WebCart’s affiliate payment control gives the webmaster the option of disabling checks, and adding an extra blanket of security for online payments. Although this blanket does not eliminate fraud, it does help by diverting fraudulent activity on your site.
Cookie Time:
Can you think of a time when you clicked a link for a product, but didn’t make a purchase right away, but came back a few days later and purchased the item? Well if you never did anything like that; let me assure you many people have. It’s something that many people who sign up with an affiliate program are concerned with.
Take the affiliates view for a second. They are sending you traffic, and just because the person didn’t make a purchase the same day, the affiliate loses a commission. With WebCart’s affiliate module a cookie is set inside of the user’s browser so if the user comes back within a two month span of time the affiliate will receive credit for the sale.
I hope this helps you understand how to run a profitable shopping cart solutions. Please feel free to post any questions you may have.
