July 2009 Archives

24/07/09 - Why Should I Take The Blame For Unauthorised Voucher Code Usage?

Around a month ago I locked myself away and immersed myself in airport parking. The result is something I’m very happy with, listing all affiliated car parks around the UK. It was all hand crafted including the data that powers the site.

It wasn’t long before my first sale rolled in. And it wasn’t long before it rolled back out. I checked the network a couple of days later to see the sale cancelled, with the reason cited as:

"Dear Affiliate we were unable to process some of your transactions due to voucher code use. We are unable to accept unauthorised voucher codes. Please contact xxx @ xxx if you wish to discuss this further. Kind regards, xxx"
(The merchant shall rename nameless as it’s an industry wide problem. As confirmed readers of this blog, they know who they are.)

Naturally, an email address invites an email so I fired one away.

The one returned enclosed a copy of the merchant’s voucher code policy:
"xxx makes voucher codes available strictly for certain groups such as the airline industry. Affiliates are prohibited from adding these to their websites or promoting them via other means such as in their newsletters. This is actively monitored. If an affiliate has promoted a voucher code, all their commissions will be revoked.

xxx would like to emphasize that if any affiliate transaction is found to have used a voucher code, no matter from which source the voucher code has been acquired, whether it is the affiliate site or not, that transaction unfortunately cannot be paid for."
The overall vibe I get from this is that no voucher codes can be promoted by affiliates whatsoever. All good and well, I tend to avoid voucher codes like the plague.

So it turns out I get penalised for following the rules, and as the result of someone else out there breaking them. If a couple of codes exist for small minority groups, these must have somehow found their way into the mainstream. More

RSS Feed

Search DavidFiske.com