Marcel Ellis - Affiliate Manager Corruption?

“….should it also be part of their employment terms that neither they or their families will operate as affiliates on any programs they manage?”

Don’t agree with it going this far, but do agree that something needs to be done in this industry to stop this sort of thing going on. Maybe they should be made to inform the Network of any websites that currently own so that they could monitored or audited any time without any warning. This should then be carried out on a regular basis and disciplinary action brought about anyone in the usual way for breaking the contract with their employer.

I personally feel that anyone coming into affiliate marketing should gain experience from all sides of the fence. Especially network employees. We are in the trust business and as highlighted by this case, once word gets out re rogue affiliate managers, they may as well not bother coming back into the affiliate management arena again. Word travels fast.
Some affiliate networks compete directly with affiliates anyway, I don’t see too many raised eyebrows there and its not just exclusive to networks either.

Unless a law has been broken, its an ethical debate and one that could and should be addressed by any affiliate association.

I do think its down to the merchant in most cases to make sure they employ the right person and protect themselves. By saying the networks should check all affiliate managers sites they are firstly creating a massive task for themselves and if sales are driven by PPC direct its not going to be on a site, its also insinuating that the network has to police how trustworthy a merchants staff are.

If a merchant is to take an affiliate programme seriously they will invest in it with either staff and resources, or pay for the network or an agency to manage the programme.

If its network or agency managed then it comes to Jess’ comment about network and agency staff being trustworthy which comes back to the network or agency. If agency or network staff were to betray the trust of affiliates it could tar that agencies or networks reputation as being trustworthy.

When its merchant staff then the merchant has to take the same responsibility, either through rules and contracts to stop this happening or by getting ‘the right person’.

I agree there has to be an element of trust regarding the person who is managing an affiliate programme. I have found that being an affiliate for programmes I’ve managed in the past has helped me winkle out issues with the programme that I would not have otherwise found. That said, I always discussed exactly what I was going to do with the business owners and never, ever, ever used any information disclosed by my affiliates to line my own pockets.

I think that for every bad affiliate manager outed in this fashion there are dozens and dozens more with nothing but the industry’s best interests at the heart of everything they do.

Thanks for the comments folks. I think Jess makes such a great point by saying it’s an ethical debate and not a legal one and that’s what makes this such a tricky issue.

Thanks for keeping it positive Kirsty Your final sentence is so true!

There is also the problem of what you might do about past staff that HAD access to confidential or sales-driving information. Actually, I guess you can’t do much about it except outline it in their contract.

Also, agree with previous points about being an affiliate on your own programme to help the programme itself but isn’t that hand temptingly close to the cookie jar? Should there be a black and white rule?

Good points Tara! It’s so difficult isn’t it?

If an ex-employee did abuse some of that information how would it be proved and what action could actually be taken? I think we just keep asking questions and then it all boils down to just going on trust.