[popdawg]

I mentioned briefly in the welcome thread my frustration at the part of the affiliate agreement that states the following:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> United States Based Individuals and Entities Only. Affiliate represents and warrants that Affiliate is based in the United States. Any Affiliate which is not based in the United States is ineligible to be an affiliate of Merchant. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
To be fair, I should state my ARRRGH in the form of question.
GSI are not the only ones to do this. Many do, and of those many are starting to or have already changed their policies to reflect the fact that
1) The internet is Global with many international affiliates targeting U.S. markets.
Only ship within the U.S.? Perfect, over 90% of my traffic is U.S. based.

2) Not every country outside the U.S. is a hot bed of fraud. Some affiliate managers have used this to justify their decision.

These are just a couple of the excuses I have heard and I know there are many reasons why some mercants refuse to accept international affiliates.
I would be curious to hear yours.

Also, as I think back to when I promoted your stores more, I can't recall having a message like that before.
What about those who have already been accepted to many of your programs? Will they no longer be considered eligible to receive commissions? I see upon looking at some of your stores I belong to that they all state that message above. Will I see sales reversed for this on stores that I was previously accepted into?

Thanks for you time.

Game on!!!!

[perfectG]

Game on pops

I would like to know this too as I am an affiliate though not in US. Should I remove my links? Perhaps that is why no sales have been reported for such a long time with your program http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif?

[Smallshop]

Yep, Game on!

I've also noticed this on their terms.
So I've never signed up with them.

But suddenly one day, I found *MCSports.com on my list of merchants, although I know I never applied, just because of those terms. This auto-signup has happened before on other merchants, so I'm not very surprised.

I'm not sure if commish on those links will not be reversed or something, as I'm not US-based and therefore in violation of their terms.

Needless to say: They don't get any clicks from my visitors.

[Javi]

Is this new? I have several GSI merchants getting my traffic.. do we remove the links or will we be paid?

Javi

-------------
build, build, build, build...

[Mike Abolafia]

I wanted to let you know that I am not ignoring this post. I am researching this issue and will post a response tomorrow. If you are a foreign affiliate your tracking or commissions are not treated any differently then anybody else’s.

[markymark]

Yeah, I'd like an answer to this one too. I nearly signed up with one of your companies the other day, but didn't or couldn't because of the 'US Affiliates Only' policy.

Search Engine Positioning (http://www.1design4life.co.uk) - 1 Design 4 Life

[popdawg]

Thanks Mike.
I look forward to hearing what you have to say on this.

Game on!!!!

[popdawg]

Tommorow was the day before yesterday, any chance of hearing about this today? http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Game on!!!!

[Mike Abolafia]

Pop......I haven’t forgotten about this issue. My contact that was looking into the issue has been unavailable for the past 1.5 days. I will touch base early next week and get a response for you. I apologize for the delay.

Mike
AAE
Affiliates@GSICommerce.com

[popdawg]

Thanks Mike.

Game on!!!!

[markymark]

Would still like to know about this - particularly regarding Sports Authority. However, PopDawg, you can join FogDog sports over at BeFree - that program accepts non-US affiliates.

Search Engine Positioning (http://www.1design4life.co.uk) - 1 Design 4 Life

[josephmonuit]

He'll only join "FogDawg" http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[popdawg]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>He'll only join "FogDawg" <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Pop......I haven’t forgotten about this issue. My contact that was looking into the issue has been unavailable for the past 1.5 days. I will touch base early next week and get a response for you. I apologize for the delay.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ahem ... http://abw.infopop.cc/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Game on!!!! - The DawgFather

[Mike Abolafia]

I wanted to update you on this topic. MarkyMark, thank you for picking out the difference in FogDog's terms compared to the other GSI run affiliate programs.

Here is the general gist of this situation:

The decision to exclude non-US affiliates was not a decision make by the affiliate or online marketing teams. It was also not for any of the reasons that were listed in this forum as other “excuses” that merchants give. It is simply a case of the terms of the legal contracts that we have with our partners.

I understand all of your points as to why non-affiliate websites should be allowed to be affiliates and I hope to work something out. However, my legal contact has been out of the office for personal reasons. That is why an "official" response has been drawn out.

As I said before this issue is top on my priority list. However, there isn’t much I can do till my legal contact comes back. I promise that I will update you as soon as I get more information. In the meantime do not worry about your commissions or tracking, as they are not affected.

Mike
AAE
Affiliates@GSICommerce.com

[walleyewarrior]

Oh sure, so it ends up being we don't want to feed the lawyers?? http://www.abestweb.com/smilies/smash.gif
Sorry being sarcastic. At least it's a different non canned answer that many give. Still sucks if this is the reason though.

...............
WW

Make a difference! Support your local Cancer Care providers.

[Mike Abolafia]

Our terms state:
"Only Web sites with general or United States based domain name extensions (e.g. .com, .net, .org, .us, etc.) are eligible for participation in this Affiliate Program."

So If you are based ouside of the United States you can join our affiliate programs as long as the website(s) that you are promoting has a US or Nuetral extension (e.g. .com, .net, .org, .us, etc.).

Mike
AAE
Affiliates@GSICommerce.com