What's the affiliate program and the partner section?

I just purchased CSCart and we are still setting all the stuff to start working with it. It seems a very powerful e-cart system although we will have to work in the invoice system. I also missed some Offer module, like in OSCommerce (the system we are running nowadays).



At first, I thought that the Partner section of the shop was a parallel shop for customers who were selling our products to third people. My surprise arrived at the moment I looked how it worked. I could not figure how it was working and what it was for.



I create an affiliate plan with some products and aproved a partner test account. I logged in in the Partner site and I just found some % and comisions next to the products I added to that affiliate program, but I was not allow neither to buy nor to do anything.



Can anyone help me to clear my mind? I guess and example would be the best way to understand what it is for and how it works.



Thank you all



PS: Sorry if my English is not very good, I am Spanish and I am still studying it.

It is the same as other affiliate networks.



A webmaster (partner) signs up with an account, get’s a linking code to put on their website.



The webmaster links to your shop with his unique link. On every successful sale he brings to your shop you give him commission % of the sales amount.



Now I have not tried the CS-Cart affiliate module. Has anyone here tried it that can share opinions and feedback on it? Is it good, does it track properly? :wink:

So then, I understand that the Partner section is just a “control panel” for the partner?

Yes basicly.



If you are looking to have multiple stores with same products but different frontends for your partners. You would need another solution.

I was not looking specially for that but if it was a feature of the software I was going to take advantadge of it.



Since I realised it is not what I thought, one doubt appeared on my mind: what is the list price in the product management section? I was thinking it was the price for partners but now I am in doubt: it is the price the product costs you?



Thanks

Hi,



Please see this thread: [url]http://forum.cs-cart.com/showthread.php?t=1763[/url]

[quote name=‘Zyles’]It is the same as other affiliate networks.



A webmaster (partner) signs up with an account, get’s a linking code to put on their website.



The webmaster links to your shop with his unique link. On every successful sale he brings to your shop you give him commission % of the sales amount.



Now I have not tried the CS-Cart affiliate module. Has anyone here tried it that can share opinions and feedback on it? Is it good, does it track properly? ;)[/QUOTE]



An affiliate program would be like that, but in cs-cart it’s slightly different… I’m still wanting to confirm with someone else in this forum with a good knowledge, as there are precious few posts about the affiliate program here in the forum, and none of them sheds light on the mechanics of the affiliate system. Seemingly this is just a banner module that enables affiliates to choose their banners, copy their codes and track down their earnings. But things as simple as a simple URL with the affiliate ID in the end is not available for affiliates. If I understood right, not all the store is available for affiliates either. See this other thread.



It would be nice if someone here could confirm that for me…

I have not tested this end-to-end but you may be able to do what you want if you are simply looking for the ability to use a simple text link (as in a sig).



Create a banner ad and then log in at the partner page (yourdomain.com). Select your banner type and look in the lower left corner for that banner.



For instance, I used a URL text banner pointing to my home page and have the following to use:

[url]http://www.mydomain.com/index.php?target=banners&bid=1&sl=EN&[/url][B][COLOR=“Red”]aff_id=11[/COLOR][/B]



Maybe this can gets you a little closer to what you want.



Bob

[quote name=‘jobosales’]

[url]http://www.mydomain.com/index.php?target=banners&bid=1&sl=EN&[/url][B][COLOR=“Red”]aff_id=11[/COLOR][/B]

[/QUOTE]



Yes, I thought about it, it should be possible. But the fact that such a link is not available as default remains a problem for us. How am I to arrange that manually for every person wanting to affiliate to us?



I have used several affiliate links and banners before, but a rare few had javascript in their code, for instance. Most had only an image with a link and the affiliate code attached at the end as you have shown above, and among them, nearly 99% had a simple link to their site with an affiliate code at the end as the simplest option.



CS-Cart went through the trouble of creating a whole new section just for the sake of affiliates, and yet they have not provided the simplest code: a one-line url with the affiliate code attached on the end.



Customization of the text ads is so poor I’d rather not have it available… :frowning:

[quote name=‘illusion’]Yes, I thought about it, it should be possible. But the fact that such a link is not available as default remains a problem for us. How am I to arrange that manually for every person wanting to affiliate to us?[/QUOTE]



I have not tested this so I am not sure but I think that the affiliate ID is attached to the base URL when the partner logs in. I think a different partner log-in results in a different affilate ID being appended to the base URL. If this is the case, it seems like this meets most of your needs.



Bob

[quote name=‘jobosales’]I have not tested this so I am not sure but I think that the affiliate ID is attached to the base URL when the partner logs in. I think a different partner log-in results in a different affilate ID being appended to the base URL. If this is the case, it seems like this meets most of your needs.

[/QUOTE]



But if the affiliate link would be active only when the partner logs in then there’s no point in this addon. The idea is that an affiliate is interested of exposing his/her affiliate link to as many channels as possible, so when people click on that link they get a percentage of the sale. In other words, my shop’s interest in providing affiliate links is that it is a way to instigate people to take a proactive role in propagating the site. If enough affiliates do that effectively, the costs of marketing can be reduced dramatically because it increases traffic and yet pays only for successful sales.

I said the affiliate link is available in the partner area. You can publish this link, as needed, via a website or email. I just tried it and the sale posted in both the admin Approve Commissions area and also in the partner’s Commission area.



Am I missing what you need?



Bob