[FrustratedAffiliate]

2 items ordered on 4/8/09. Both shipped on 4/9. One item arrived on 4/10. The other arrived today. Yet nothing in the CJ reports. This is after receiving an email in February from the Best Buy Affiliate Team Program Specialist:

"We have noticed that over Q4 you had a high volume of clicks. Going forward, we would like to see these clicks convert into sales! Here are a few tips that help conversions"

This was after I had inquired in December about tracking issues because I had a high number of clicks on Cyber Monday, but no sales. I replied to the email in February asking if all sales were being reported and if there were any tracking issues. I never received a reply. But in March I received another email:

"With the beginning of spring in bloom, I wanted to check in to see if you had any questions or concerns with regards to the Best Buy program. I have a few suggestions that are going to help in keeping your customers coming back. A great feature that Best Buy has established is their in-store pick up."

Since they completely ignored my question back in February, I wondered why they even bothered asking if I had any questions or concerns. I'm sorry, but that just seems a bit insulting to send me emails telling me to post a few basic links to help my conversions and that I need to work on my conversions when they are not even tracking my sales. How am I supposed to convert sales when they don't report my sales? Do they expect me to do all this work just to give them free advertising? Its really hard to take affiliate marketing as a serious business when stuff like this happens regularly. All I'm asking for is to report all of my sales and show me some transparency, please.

[Julian]

"How am I supposed to convert sales when they don't report my sales?"

You can't

"Do they expect me to do all this work just to give them free advertising?"

Yes!

"Its really hard to take affiliate marketing as a serious business when stuff like this happens regularly"

That is why you have to be careful in who you work with.

"All I'm asking for is to report all of my sales and show me some transparency, please"

Good luck with that.

[FrustratedAffiliate]

LOL, thanks for the advice.

I thought working with big brand name merchants was being careful, but maybe they're the worst.

[skishore2006]

i would wait a few days, it was a holiday weekend, and maybe the reporting was delayed a day or two, for sure Best Buy reports after shipment.

[simcat]

I've had similar issues with more merchants than I can count.

personally I used to make a few commisions with them when they were with (Befree i think?). When they moved the sales stopped & I dropped em. YMMV

[Snib]

I'm having a very similar experience with Best Buy. I don't know what it is, but their conversion rate is quite horrible. I give them a very fair share of traffic yet their conversion rate is 1/14th that of my average CJ conversion rate. Their conversion rate this time last year was 21x what it is now. I think something is wrong.

- Scott

[FrustratedAffiliate]

Well, shipment was on 4/9 and these are Best Buy's last batch dates:

14-Apr-2009
13-Apr-2009
12-Apr-2009

So I'd say something is up. Sounds like I'm not the only one, maybe it's a big glitch or maybe they just decided to stop paying affiliates.

[Snib]

Its hard to say though because their overall EPCs look fine. Could just be that since I do price comparison their prices just don't measure up to the competition I'm offering.

- Scott

[bibby]

That's all we need, another CJ merchant who isn't tracking sales. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

[FrustratedAffiliate]

Yeah, their EPCs look ok. I just know this order did not track and they have yet to reply to my inquiry... and before that I've had lots of clicks and no sales. I've had other merchants track sales within the past few months.

[MamaBear]

I know that I placed two orders at Christmastime that did NOT track. After that, I stopped promoting them. I also have a high number of clicks but no sales. Links are still on my site, but I no longer actively promote them. Glad to see I'm not alone in this.

[Magi]

I did a recent test transaction with bestbuy

Bought something on the 7/21 , picked it up instore on the 7/22

checked the batched orders and see they did a recent one on 7/23

and I dont see any credit for the sale ---


~~~~

I'm trying one more test with a different link - bought something today 7/23

and ill let ya know if it tracks or not !

[Magi]

OUCH .. WOW

Second Test Purchase DIDNT TRACK EITHER ...

Clicks registered - but no Sale!!!
::shocked::

~~~

Is this delayed or something?

I see the following:
Last Batch Data Transfer Dates:
24-Jul-2009
23-Jul-2009
22-Jul-2009

Shouldnt the order that was placed yesterday be poping up as a sale?

Also does anyone know if the "REWARDS" inhouse cash back program affects the affiliate channel?

I did noticed my bestbuy account had this Rewards featured running ..

~~~
Anyone care to share if Best Buy links are working for you??

[boningroup]

Same here. I made a purchase 07/23/09 and nothing. I had another purchase 07/21/09 and it showed up on 07/23/09.

[Magi]

Same here. I made a purchase 07/23/09 and nothing. I had another purchase 07/21/09 and it showed up on 07/23/09.

Is it possible if you can provide the Link ID # of the one that did track properly?


I've been testing out different links ---

Some go from cj, to channeladvisor, to BB
another goes from cj, to bb

and then some are cj, to BB ERROR page .. !!

[boningroup]

I clicked off a 468x60 banner #10483287 Free Shipping

[knight01]

Add me to the no tracking gang. Purchased through a link yesterday, picked up in store last night. Batch was uploaded and no sale was reported.

Others said their epc looks ok, but that could be from the parasites popping them at the cart level. http://www.onecause.com/merchants?query=best+buy there is absolutely something wrong with BB tracking.

[net4biz]

Drop them like a hot rock ... go to SAS and sign up for Beach Audio ... more than likely the FREE shipping at BestBuy goes thru Amazon and you as an affiliate get ZIPPO without the lighter.

[boningroup]

My purchases took two days to finally show up as a sale. Loved the new terms allowing their employees to be affiliates and dropping the commission even lower.

[Magi]

Well I sent a email .. and wrote 2x test tranactions failed --

One of the orders - I picked up at the store

The other order I canceled after nothing showed up CJ

----

A snip of the email response:

"Thanks for your reply. The missing orders below are going to be submitted to Best Buy on Monday 8/3 for further investigation. "

"Please allow up to two weeks for an answer with regards to the missing orders submitted. "

----


***Best Buy has a rewards program for customers -- I have a feeling if they are enabled -- this may cause the affiliate tracking not to give credit to you but to the customer whos on there rewards thingy ***

I'm not sure - just speculating!

[snappy]

WOW that sucks. Do you ever make sales with best buy? If you have links up and have never made a sale then replace them asap. I bought from best buy and got credited. Could be the reward thingy like you said?

[bibby]

Has anyone received an email form Best Buy about being dropped? I did, even though I've tried reaching out to them. They always tell me they have bandwidth issues. I think they may be managed by CJ and they're terrible to affilaites unless you're a big player.

For 2-3% Commission, CJ acts like a bunch of thugs to their every day affilaite.

[snappy]

I tend to STAY clear from CJ. Go with Shareasale.

[Vrindavan]

>>they may be managed by CJ

who can confirmed it ?

>> Go with Shareasale.

Avantlink is better than the rest in my opinion

[knight01]

The contact email in cj profile is bestbuyaffiliates at cj.com I think that is how cj lists emails when they manage the program. I got a termination email last month but haven't heard anything more about it, looks like I'm still active as clicks are showing up, but of course no sales.