[MichaelColey]

I just placed a test order on Batteries.com. I clicked through the link, placed the order, and came to the following page:

http://forum.abestweb.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1220

At first, I thought the order was placed. I went to ShareASale.com. No order there. I went to Batteries.com in a separate window and checked my account. The order was there. I could have closed the page right here (and I suspect that many customers do!!!). The order would have been processed but I never would have received credit for it.

Then I noticed the "No Thanks" button. I clicked it and came to a confirmation page. I checked ShareASale.com again. The order tracked at that point.

Batteries.com is selling out to Web Loyalty (the company that does these after-sale interstitals), at the expense of their affiliates.

[UncleScooter]

So they record the order on their side if the user closes the window at this point, but the affiliate is not paid until the user clicks "No Thanks". Is that what you are saying Michael? If so, this is clear trickery and if it has been going on long I assert that they owe their affiliates some money.
BDC is not having a good week in the affiliate marketing world. I anxiously await Andre's response to this.
popcorn

[MichaelColey]

Exactly.

[7-days]

Andre,

If you don't quite understand what happened with this sale (most new AM's don't), please don't be afraid to ask.

[Leader]

I could have closed the page right here (and I suspect that many customers do!!!).That's exactly what I do on VistaPrint--I don't trust their sea of WebLoyalty (and/or whatever else that works that way) buttons to not have tricks, so I just close it.

I suspect that Batteries.com's page would cause the same type of response with a lot of their customers.

[Greg Rice]

Think SAS would be interested in this too since they are losing money as well.

[Eric Ewe]

I see the issue here.

But...
Was the Confirmation page hosted by Batteries dot com come with a session ID or did Batteries dot com pass customer infomation to the reward site and the reward site hosted the confirmation page?

Looking at the URL that MC posted, it is being hosted by www. one-time-offer dot com. Just trying to see what would happen if you clicked YES, would you still get the comm?

Most consumer would close out the browser.

[Zeus]

I still wonder how a consumer can trust a merchant working with these cr@ppy loyalty sites.
ShareASale should deactivate Batteries.com.

[MichaelColey]

I'm submitting two more test orders, just to confirm what happens.

With one, I signed up for Reservation Rewards. That one did track, because the Reservation Rewards opens in a separate window and the interstital page automatically redirects to the confirmation page (with the tracking code on it).

Doh! I tested things in the wrong order. With the other test order, the Reservation Rewards page never came up (presumably because I had already signed up). It went straight to the confirmation page (and tracked).

Anyone else want to do a test order, closing the browser on the Reservation Rewards page?

[Eric Ewe]

If the Reservation Rewards form is prefilled, or any information is trans. to the reward company, it totally contradicts the T&C of the website

http://www.batteries.com/help/privacy_policy.asp#9


Third-Party Relationships
We do not sell, share, rent, or otherwise share your personal information with third parties.

batteries.com may send offers to you on behalf of third party partners. If you want to take advantage of the offer, you will provide your information to our third party partner directly. batteries.com will not share your information with these third party partners. Please review the privacy policies of our third party partners about how they will use your information and how to contact them.

[Zeus]

More than an affiliate cookie setting problem working with a company like ReservationRewards.com is a questionable practice.
I'll like to hear what the owner of batteries.com is thinking about selling his customer privacy for money.
How can he be so dumb to ruin the reputation of his company?
Is he so desesperate for money?
Just to refresh your memory:
http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/ecommerce-investigation-webloyalty.cfm
or
"Feedback from credible users reflected a negative overall experience after shopping at this site."
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/ReservationRewards.com

Webloyalty Named in Federal Lawsuit
Consumers' Credit Cards Charged Without their Knowledge, Suit Charges
September 11, 2006
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/09/webloyalty.html

Suit says online marketer ran scam
Shoppers allegedly tricked into paying fee
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff | September 12, 2006
"Customers of several popular online retailers, including Fandango.com, Priceline.com, and Staples.com, were victims of an alleged Internet scheme in which their credit cards were charged a monthly fee for a ``discount club" membership they had never requested, according to a class action lawsuit filed yesterday in US District Court in Massachusetts."
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/12/suit_says_online_marketer_ran_scam/

Who needs to work with a merchant like batteries.com? People like that don't deserve affiliates promoting their products.

Two threads to read:
http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=71428
http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=45813

[Crocket]

That's exactly what I do on VistaPrint--I don't trust their sea of WebLoyalty (and/or whatever else that works that way) buttons to not have tricks, so I just close it.

I suspect that Batteries.com's page would cause the same type of response with a lot of their customers.

BDC realizes that this would be the response from most shoppers, that is why they lock the sale in from their side before showing that ad.

Its very clear that to get the $10.00 you have to sign up for something that will cost you $10.00 per mth. Not very many people want to spend $10.00 per mth just to save $10.00. I wonder if that is a deliberate placement of information to ensure the shopper closes the window.

Probably the only ones that actually click on the continue to confirmation page are those that run tools to prevent ads from showing.

[Snib]

Good find Michael! With the 50 pack spamming thread and now this Batteries.com has some serious changes to make. And I agree with Scoot. Affilites need to be paid for the lost commissions for as long as this has been going on. If there is no way to track it, an estimated payment will need to be made. On top of that they need to either remove this loyalty ad or move the SAS tracking code. Anything less would be a slap in our faces.

- Scott

[Donuts]

Oh my god. We have discussed reservation rewards here many times. They rip off consumers by charging money to credit cards for a monthly fee for deals and coupons - ones that are free. Search ABW for reservation rewards and you'll find lots of details. They interfere with tracking, violate terms of the merchant's own programs and SCREW over consumers!!!

Andre, this is an incomprehensible screw up to add them as a partner.

Google them! Here, need a little help...
http://www.google.com/search?q=reservation+rewards

Please announce here when this relationship has been ended and their code has been removed from your shopping cart.

[Donuts]

And if CJ peddled this crap on you... I'd like to hear about it here at ABW.

[Donuts]

I began promoting your program back in October and have over 150 sales. I ask that this reservation rewards issue be cleared up very quickly. I'll also remind you that I've been urging you to hire an OPM - this situation would have been avoided if you did that. The OPMs here at ABW know all about reservation rewards and their scam. By the way, when rr violates your own policies concerning privacy, you open your company up to prospective consumer litigation that entails a serious degree of liability - this misstep is a very serious issue even beyond affiliate tracking matters.

[ARB]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I understand what is happening. I will see what I can do to get this removed all together. I'll keep everyone informed.

And to all my affiliates, if you ever have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks. Profits and good selling to all.

Andre@Batteries.com

[MichaelColey]

Thanks Andre! Appreciate the response.

[Donuts]

Trying to find right place to post a note about reservation rewards...

Checked here:
http://forum.abestweb.com/showthread.php?t=78978&highlight=reservation+rewards
Seems to have become more about ValueClick than Reservation Rewards.

This thread i'm posting in, was about Batteries.com, but was mainly about Reservation Rewards...

Mods, feel free to move my post if there's a better place, or to rename this thread to include the reservation rewards name, as far as testing / tracking, this thread may not be just about batteries.com...

Anyhow

Yesterday, I booked a rental car through Hertz. As I paid, there it was, the $10 discount offered by Reservation Rewards. They've been sued and complained about, but being with Hertz tells me they're still going strong...

Anyone else seen these scammers around in aff programs?

Does Hertz have an aff program (I briefly looked at couldn't locate one)?

Anyone been ripped off by Reservation Rewards sign-you-up-for-monthly-ongoing-credit-card-billing-because-you-clicked-some-confusing-verbiage-save-money-button-during-checkout-at-some-merchant deal?

[MichaelColey]

I signed up for Reservation Rewards as part of my testing of the Batteries.com tracking. I canceled fairly quickly and was never charged. I still don't like it because it's deceptive in so many ways and any changes to the checkout process have a potential to affect affiliate tracking.

[ecomcity]

Reservation Rewards WebLoyality MetaRewards and every embedded cart poaching direct marketing company should be run out of affiliate marketing. By promoting ANY merchant allowing any privacy peddling loyality operation to operate within their shopping cart your just committing commission suicide.

This con-man/commission hijack/privacy peddling kick back scam was OUTED years ago here at ABW. Not only did the AM's/Merchants refuse to discuss the issue but additional greed driven AM's planted these Super Affiliates into formerly clean programs. Each Loyality Reward program operator is more then willing to "kick-back" via payolla a fee for each raped and pillaged shopper. It's part of their ebiz MO. They are even more pervasive then BHOs, as their privacy stealing script resides hidden right in the merchants cart.

I uncovered 2 hosted shopping cart companies my clients work with OPTING-IN every merchant for a monthly kickback fee per transaction. Within 4 days I had the FBI -FTC -Homeland Security and Privacy Protection Sites all over the 2 cart companies like flies on sh*t. Immediately they ceased the automatic OPT-IN on hundreds of thousands of small merchant's carts.

We all suspect the in-house AM's of major networks get Loyality/rewards finder recruiting fees as hidden bonuses. Add in "kick-back" fees for recruiting LiveHelp, double dipping BHO's, large e-mail spam operators, with these embedded cart commission cookie thieves and you'll see GREED... not ethics.. drives these AM enablers.

I'd love to setup a sting operation at some affiliate event attended by these Adwhore operations similar to what the Reality TV folks did with the pedophiles. Imagine the haul when the event recruiting forces start hitting their little black books to spiff and coerce and bribe the darkside decision makers with drugs, hookers and any deviant pleasure requested.... :rotflol:

I've never attended a major affiliate event since 1998 because I'd be tempted to do just that. Meanwhile the only sure way to get credit for a TigerDirect/Buy.com/TheGeeks Sale is to make sure you educate yourself the right way to shop those merchant's carts without a cookie/commission hijack.

These companies, and hundreds more, all embed affiliate Loyality con-men within their carts..
TigerDirect.com
Buy.com
Classmates.com
Joanne.com
Geeks.com
Broderbund
Chadwick's
Classmates.com
EB Games.com
Lane Bryant Catalog
PETCO
The Learning Company
United Online
Movietickets.com,
Petco.com
FTD.com
BonsaiBoys of NY
Fandango.com
Priceline.com
Staples.com
LaneBryantcatalog.com, LillianVernon.com, AmericanGreetings.com, EBGames.com, classmates.com, AllPosters.com, JoAnn.com, uBid.com, and 123inkjets.com.

...."Furthermore, the Reservations Rewards program offered no benefit to consumers, according to the suit; instead, Webloyalty kept the monthly fees and paid its Web retailer clients a ``per-customer" fee for each consumer who "signed up" for the club.

``In our mind, this company was run just like a securities fraud boiler room, and just like those companies they earned millions of dollars off the backs of consumers," said Davidson, who added that ``tens or hundreds of thousands" of consumers have been victims of the alleged scheme"....http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/12/suit_says_online_marketer_ran_scam/

Might be a good time to add these complaints and merchants to the FTC class Action suites over Adware/Spyware (this is definitely Spyware) as the cart scripts automatically pass all the cart/account privacy info to these 3rd party Loyality wanks.... even if they back out of the phoney rewards.

[Snowman]

Travelocity and Hotwire also used them, not WebLoyalty, but others that work exactly the same way. Priceline used to use Reservation Rewards. Now they use a competitor.