Hello, 2 days ago I purchased Affiliate PRO. I am trying to use it to cater for my affiliate program, which has a very specific structure. I want to offer my free customers 25% LIFETIME, residual commissions for their referrals, and I want to offer my paying customer 50% LIFETIMEE, residual commissions.
But apart from reading the instructions (and I’m not trying to be smart, or abrasive — but finding then really ambiguous; ie: really short and unhelpful), and also taking into account that from what I CAN understand of the settings, only one affiliate percentage can be set (which means I cant have a 25% one and a 50% one).
Basically, I’m just upset confused, sad and I feel like I am never, ever going to get this set up. I reallly just want to get it set up and working and done. To make matters even more confusing, I just noticed that there is a software called aaffiliate ENTEPRISE, which seems like it could be much more useful. I’ll buy that if I have to.
Can I please get someone who works for itthinx to log into my account and set up my affiliate arrangement? I’ll pay for the extra support if I have to. I just need to get this done. I’ve been trying to get this working for 2 days, and I am even more confused than when I started. And now I see there’s a whole better software. I can’t do this for another 2 days.
I have my affiliate plan outlined on my website. I hope that you can read my affiliate/compensation plan, and then set it all up to cater for it. Please, I will pay more if I have to. I just want to get this running. I am on very limited time. I don’t have 2 more days (or more), and I know it’s going to take me that time because I just don’t get anything.
Okies, thanks kento. I think I’ll be right from here.
Sorry if I was annoying, but I also spent DAYS looking for, researching, trying out, studying a lot of other referral scripts. You have absolutely no idea how long it took me to find what I needed.
In the end, (from diligent study), affiliate pro won out on the basis of what it was claimed to be able to do (along wth the fact that it works with wordpress). Once I got it installed, I pretty much understood how to do settings and stuff soon afterwards, but I just couldn’t launch the site until I KNOW it is set up to cater for the idiosyncrasies of my referral program
I never cared how much it cost to set up (within reason). I just wanted it set up “right”. All in all, I am failrly pleased with ALL the software I am using, wordpress, s2member, whmcs, whmcs brige, zee themes and affilliate pro — all have been installed, tested and found to be working together with no known problem.
So, I have a lot on my plate here. I am building the best site anyone ever built, in the history of the Internet (lol). Affiliate PRO is gonna help make me HEAPS of money.
Note: Is affiliate pro upgradable to enterprise? As far as I can see it’s the same, but with more options. I may want those options in future, so I am considering upgrading now. How would all that work out? Is it easy to pay for an upgrade? Is it easy to replace affiliate pro with affiliate enterprise? It’s probably best I do that now, before any customers have joined.
Hi,
I’m glad it works for you now. You have a coupon to upgrade to Enterprise in your download page. You can upgrade when you want, no data will be lost.
cheers
Thanks kento,
Today, I did some testing, and I have ascertained that I can get it to a launchable state by setting the commission rate at 0.25 and manually changing subscribers to 50% for the time being.
I am relieved by the realization that I can adjust referral commissions if a certain member does happen to join, promote and refer before I am able to make the appropriate adjustment.
My testing showed that can be rectified, so it’s not the end of the world I suppose. I have done some test transactions and found that everything is working in a desirable manner.
I see that affiliates are provided with commission on both subscriptions, and also upgrades from free to subscriptions (I am using a2member forms). I did testing today (with 2 different PayPal accounts), and found that I am content with everything. Now I just have one last question and the site is launchable:
I tested pretty much everything that can be tested today. Joining unsubscribing, upgrading, adjusting commissions, adjusting commission levels, and all of that in mixed orders – everything that I can think of. I am content with all the results and functionality. But..
I am unable to determine exactly what will happen when a second subscription payment is made. If Billy has referred Jane and is allotted $5, will Billy be allotted $5 again when Jane’s next monthly subscription transaction takes place? If you say yes, I’m good to go.
If you say no.. well, um… yeah, I’m going to have to have the software modified so that it does (and I’ll see if I can have the commission rates automatically allotted as well).
I can handle having to manually adjust commission levels for now (because it’s rectifiable), but I can’t handle it if the subscriptions are not residual. Even so, I could still launch and hopefully get the software modified over the next month.
The rest of the site is good to go. It’s all tested. I am just waiting on making sure that the affiliate plan isn’t going to cause problems.
Sorry if I sound like a pain. It’s just that I have to get this site launched. If there’s any problems after launch, they will be relatively small. I have been meticulous in setting it all up and using nothing but the best software.
Thanks for your update on this, I’m glad to see you have this rather sorted out. Regarding what seems to be the main question left for now:
There is an option for this Maintaining subscription referrals which covers for recurring payments related to a subscription that has been referred by an affiliate. With that option enabled, you will be granting referrals to the affiliate who referred the subscription. There also is the Limit option which you can use if you want to limit the period of time that this should occur. If set to 0, referrals will be granted for recurring payments as long as they come in, otherwise it will be limited to a certain number of days after the subscription started.
I am again going to add more information, for the sake of clarity, in hopes I’ll get this done today, and to explain the idiosyncrasies of my intended commission plan, and to rid anyone of the belief that my whole problem lies in: “I don’t know how to set the commission rate”. I know how to set the commission rate. But here are my problems:
– I need paid members to be assigned 50%
– I need free members to be assigned 25%
– Free membership is only free for 1 year. There is a $0 fee for 12 months and then it’s $5 per month. I don’t want any members (free or paid) to receive any commission until money is actually paid. ie: Once the affiliate starts paying $5.00 per month, will $2.50 be assigned to the referrer at that point?
– If a member upgrades from free to paid, I need their commission amount to change from 25% to 50%
I have a lot of concerns and idiosyncrasies — stuff which can’t be worked out unless I just stop my life and really pour over this software for a week or two – with a lot of testing. Someone who KNOWS the software will be able to help me in minutes. Someone who KNOWS the software might also say: “it’s easy”. Well if easy, please come and show me.To me, it’s not easy.I’m getting a headache.
Note: I am not bagging out the software or implying that it’s no good. Please don’t be offended that I say I am confused. I am just trying to convey that I have a VERY specific referral plan in mind, and the ONLY way I am going to be convinced it’s all set up right is with some more direct help (again, which I am willing to pay for).
I am willing to pay for the time it takes for someone to help me – because the alternative is to stop my life for a week and halt the launch of my website.
Please.. this week I have to paint a house, complete 25 hours of work for another company, get this website launched.. and somehow try to find time to eat ans sleep in the middle of all that, and if ANY ONE of those things don’t get done, I’m going to suffer severe financial penalties. Please help me get this set up.
I really need this site launchable by today. But I need to be CONVINCED the affiliate arrangement is A-OK. I can’t launch the site just hoping it’s ok.
Thanks for providing the additional info, based on the reply to your previous comment, we can look into this, but need to evaluate cost and establish a schedule.
I am really trying to get this done quickly. I am fast running out of time to even be AT a computer, and I can’t launch my site until I am confident the referrals are going to get their dues. If I don’t get this running, it (the whole site launch) going to have to be put on hold for weeks – so I am going to reply again before you respond.I am on very limited tome to get this done. I have (of course) read the documentation (and that page) already.
..and note: if anyone can skype me and help me get this set up TODAY, i’ll pay you for your time. skype m-r-l-e-n-7-6 (remove the dashes)
Specific questions:
There’s only “1” setting in affiliates > Settings
So I can set a default. Ok, fair enough.. I assume that the default gets assigned to all new members, regardless of whether they’re paid or free? In such a case, do I have to then start to monitor the users manually? There’s no way to assign paid embers 50% and free members 25% on signup?
I mentioned the enterprise version in my original post. Will that help me to accomplish what I want to accomplish?
The reason I want someone to look at the referral plan on my website and help me to make it true in actuality (ie: help me to set it up) is because it’s not quite as simple as 25% for free members and 50% for paid members. If it was that simple, I wouldn’t have included a request for someone to look at my website. I want to ensure that the way I want people to be paid will hold true. The only people who are going to KNOW if these idiosyncrasies will be catered for is someone who knows the software well.
If an upgrade will help, how can I go about that?
Please note that in my original request, I stated that I have limited time. Replying giving me a link to the instructions (which I have already read), and insisting that it’s easy (disregarding the rest of my concerns, or the fact that I am pressed for time) wasn’t very helpful.
I am not trying to be abrasive. I just need to get this running today. I don’t have tomorrow. The launch of my whole website which I have spent a lot of money preparing is in limbo, until I am CONFIDENT that my affiliate arrangement is both correct and working. I will be launching a massive campaign to get the site promoted and if all the referrals are messed up I’m not going to be impressed.
I need this done properly.Not just “oh yeah well I think I followed the instructions. looks good. I’ll just use the force and hope for the best.”.
Regarding your questions:
The answer to this is that this is a specific requirement to your site which can’t be done automatically OOTB unless a customization or extension is provided or you assign that higher commission rate to the affiliate manually after you receive their upgrade confirmation.
The Enterprise version will not provide the functionality you require.
Regarding your time constraints, it is not advisable to launch a site unless you have verified in your test environment that your key business processes are fulfilled by the technologies that are supposed to support them.
Trying to force the launch of a site with requirements that need customization beyond what the software provides OOTB, especially less than 24 hours after you post your support request, simply isn’t something that can soundly be done. As I see it, the customization you would need is at least the assignment of higher commission rates to affiliates who are paying members.
What we can do is to offer you a refund on your purchase based on the knowledge that at this point it does not adjust to what you require and when you made the purchase you were not aware of this fact, or we can offer you to evaluate your requirements and provide a quote and schedule to customize it. I must insist on the evaluation and schedule, in no way can this be provided from one day to the next. We keep a very busy schedule and although we try to provide solutions to our users as quickly as possible, we don’t compromise on trying to keep unfeasible deadlines.
In any case, let me know what you would like to do and we’ll be happy to comply if possible.
Yes, but as I already noted. There seems to be only 1 plan/tier I can adjust. I don’t seem to be able to specify which user gets what. Which is where the confusion comes in and why my request was as long and explanatory as it was, as opposed to me just saying: “hey, I don’t now how to set the commission rate”.
Hi there,
Ok first of all, we usually try to help without any additional cost unless it really requires customization or additional consulting work which needs to be compensated. As you can see on the site, there’s a lot of help provided to both free and premium users, so before considering any extra spending on your part, let’s see if we can find something that works for you with the appropriate setup.
You say free users get 25% and 50% is for paying customers, the first option you have is to use 0.25 as the default referral rate under Affiliates > Setup, and assign a 0.5 referral rate to affiliates who have a valid order in place. You can do that manually following the instructions on Setting referral rates or commissions.
Quite simple actually 🙂