Linkshare Dropping SubID Tracking

LinkShare’s Sub Affiliate Tracking & Reporting Mechanism
On January 31, 2006, LinkShare will be phasing out our Sub Affiliate tracking and reporting mechanism used by some of our affiliate partners. Sub Affiliates are created in the LinkShare interface by accessing the Sub Affiliates section of Your Account.

We have determined that this Sub Affiliate feature is largely redundant to our Signature (also known as u1) product. Signature offers our affiliates the same ability to track affiliate referrals based upon their source, but Signature offers this capability in a more flexible and scalable manner.

If you presently use our Sub Affiliate tracking and reporting feature, we ask that you follow these steps to submit a request to be enabled for our Signature technology:
--Access the Affiliate Resource Center found in the upper right hand corner of your Home Page
--Select the LinkShare Signature Technology link in the Products & Services section
--Review the LinkShare Signature Overview
--Submit the Signature Request form to signature@linkshare.com

Please note, as of January 31st the reporting interface will no longer support Sub Affiliate reporting. If you currently rely upon this tracking capability, it’s important that you convert to Signature by the January 31, 2006 deadline.

Can't believe that. What a bunch of IDIOTS!

Like everything else they are doing, it's a mess. Is there anybody in that company with a decent mind?

That's just an other step to screw up their reporting again and have us move to their bloody f... SynergyAnalytics where they can't get anything working right.

Stupid people!

Fine by me. Subids were just a pain to work with anyway.

__________________
Jack Mitchell
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Signature tracking is definitely much more flexible, but it sure doesn't make much sense to go backwards on functionality. Fortunately, this downgrade doesn't affect me.

__________________

Michael Coley ABestWeb.com Admin and Amazing-Bargains.com Founder

Merchant Training 101: NY Tax Solution | Get The Most Out of ABW | Merchant Best Practices Forum | Affiliate Friendly Policies | Couponing Tips | How Adware Works | My Opinion of CPA Networks

For those of us with subaffiliates, we also have 2 weeks to identify them:

Dear Affiliate,

Distributing Links through Third-Party Channels
The foundation of your LinkShare partnership is dependent on the relationship you have with your merchants. A crucial part of this relationship is that your merchants understand where their links are being placed. Affiliates currently or planning to distribute Qualifying LinkShare merchant links on, to, or through websites other than those owned or operated by the affiliate, are required to complete the short survey at the bottom of this message. Affiliates only distributing links through search engines, email house lists or their own websites, are not required to respond to this survey. If you are unsure if this survey applies to you, please follow the instructions for Question #1 on the survey.

As stated in section 4.5 of the affiliate agreement (http://ssl.linksynergy.com/php-bin/...ml?aa_locale=us), LinkShare authorized, until September 30, 2005, the distribution of Qualifying links on sites other than those owned or operated by the affiliate. Since the September 30 deadline has passed, LinkShare needs to gather information from affiliates distributing links in this way. To give affiliates adequate time to respond, LinkShare is extending the original deadline to December 20, 2005.

So that we may begin working with affiliates who are distributing links in this way, LinkShare is requesting that affiliates complete the online survey by December 20th. Affiliates completing the survey by the deadline will be granted an extension for distributing links, without explicit approval from LinkShare, until March 31, 2006.

To complete the survey, please click on the link at the bottom of this message and answer all questions completely and accurately. Affiliates distributing links in this way that do not complete the survey by December 20th may be suspended from the LinkShare Network until such time that the survey is completed.

I received the Third Party Channel email also.

Since I only place links on my various websites, I read it to mean that I do not have to fill out the survey.

If that is correct, since I have more than one website, how will the merchants know what sites are mine and what ones aren't?

Sounds like a mess in the making.

__________________

I don't have subaffiliates, I use sub ID to track my own websites and it's the way these *******s at LinkShare TOLD ME to do it, years ago. They pushed me to don't use Signature tracking because I didn't have sub affiliates. So, now, these dummies are changing their mind. Any excuses, no! Dumb people!

I've never seen ONE TIME LinkShare doing something for their affiliates these last 8 years. (Don't let me start on Athena). Do you think, they will provide backwards compatibility like Michael said. No. We have just one month to change our links. Do you think these idiots will provide some kind of tools. No, they are too dumb to even think of one.

Each time, these idiots are doing something, they screw up so bad we can't even think of it. LinkShare, you're the scum of the earth.,

The whole purpose of the new LS registration process was to confirm we are who we say we are - and that are sites are what we say they are.

They stated this up front. So we all knew it was coming.

As long as I have the whole month of January to replace "&subid=7" with whatever signature tracking is, I won't complain.

Point of distinction: isn't there a difference between subID and subAffiliates?

That's all talking about Sub Affiliate tracking and reporting.

Where does it say anything about subIDs for different sites under the MAIN affiliate account with no subAffiliates?

Added:

OK, I see it - they're using the terminology interchangeably, so it's for the sites under the account. Heck no, I'm not going through each and every one of my hand rolled pages changing each and every link by hand.

"Heck no, I'm not going through each and every one of my hand rolled pages changing each and every link by hand."
That's what these brain dead people at LinkShare have in mind.

This may be a dumb question, but do I have to send in a Signature request form for every site that is currently listed in my subid account area, or do I just send it in for my main account?

__________________

Wow...

I don't know what to say to this.

Unbeliveable!

I don't grip to much abouts LS, but this is really FUBAR.

I think I'll just drop all merchants in sub accounts, and rework ALL those links under sub-Affiliates in 2006....sometime.

Merchants should chime in. I'm currious to what they have to say to this mess. They will lose sales too

--Brian

__________________
Oregon Publishing: Web Development, Graphic Design, Domains & Marketing
Deluxe Banners Bartender's Guide Cooking Jobs

I don't think it has anything to do with registration. They want to change the structure of their links. There's maybe legitimate reasons to do it.

But, just look at the way they announce it.


Are they thinking their affiliates are as dumb as them to swallow it? They are just lying, not telling us the truth.

>>>the distribution of Qualifying links on sites other than those owned or operated by the affiliate. <<<

which includes all the free web page hosts?

Translation:

"We have determined that Synergy Analytics does not provide sufficient SubId reporting, and instead of fixing the reporting, we are going to discontinue SubId's."

__________________

Michael Coley ABestWeb.com Admin and Amazing-Bargains.com Founder

Merchant Training 101: NY Tax Solution | Get The Most Out of ABW | Merchant Best Practices Forum | Affiliate Friendly Policies | Couponing Tips | How Adware Works | My Opinion of CPA Networks

I think they waited until Ron went on his roadtrip - and timed it so he couldn't reply

LOL, good one!

Now the bottom line is, will the links and tracking continue to work on existing links when we haven't gotten around to spending 1,000 hours making changes.

[QUOTE=Billy Kay]LinkShare’s Sub Affiliate Tracking & Reporting Mechanism
On January 31, 2006, LinkShare will be phasing out our Sub Affiliate tracking and reporting mechanism used by some of our affiliate partners.
QUOTE]

Are they phasing out the reporting mechanism, thought that was done years ago lol

__________________
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Has any testing been done to ensure that the new "system" will actually track which sites generate sales? And how about individual product reports? Is that marketing tool being taken away also?

Ho hum

Nice to see merchants being kept in the loop......... not got anything about this..... not sure we use the SubID tracking on any custom links anyway but....

The question is, if the SubID is left in place will it mess up the link or will it continue to function and just ignore it?

For example a basic link like this has the subID in it (default is 0)

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin...e=3&amp;subid=0

Leaving it in will result in what? It is ignored or it messes things up?

I would imagine it will be ignored much the same as OrderID is ignored and uses the setting within LS , not in the link, but clarification would be appreciated.

Kelli?

Thanks

Chris

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OMG

I use subids to track which sites my sales come from.

EVERY LINK OF MINE USES SUBIDs!!!

Tell me this is just a bad dream and tomorrow this whole subid dropping is no more
:cry

"We have determined that Synergy Analytics does not provide sufficient SubId reporting, and instead of fixing the reporting, we are going to discontinue SubId's."
There's a bug, indeed, in the SubId reporting. It has never been fixed.
1997-2006, is it enough time to correct a bug?
At each update of your Individual item report, the new transactions are listed under the SubID Name of your main website not the one with the subID where the transaction originated, creating confusion. At the next run, can be an hour later or a day later, the correct SubID is listed.


That's an important question.

It's the only one that matters short term as far as I can see, other items then become less of an issue and can be changed over time...

WHT : Potential solution for tracking is to use multiple channels, one site per channel, remember to set the threshold though - that said not ideal as channel revenue can not be combined - but I think it will provide better reporting that the signature system.

Cheers

Chris

__________________
Affiliate Marketing by AMWSO.
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i am using subids with linkshare but so far didnt get any email from them.... so what exactly is going to happen, how the links are going to be changed? and how this is going to affect us (the affiliates) other than chaning the links?

I had a look at my account this morning. Went to Account : Sub Affiliates

Sure enough, not a warning. I could spend my day making links with SubID. Not a note, not a link to inform us about their decision. Nothing on their home page or anywhere else.
Didn't get my email regarding LinkShare’s Sub Affiliate Tracking & Reporting Mechanism
but got this one Distributing Links through Third-Party Channels.

What kind of Customer Service is that? They are just treating us like dirt.