jetdino Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Hi, I dont know if this is bugs or not, in v5.2.7 The affilates can refer their self. I wish this can fixed so affilate can't refer their self. Thank you 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanP Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 You mean they visit their own affilate link and make a purchase? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex - Arvixe Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Would be nice for a fix, but how do they refer themselves? Creating multiple accounts (I think that would be a design flaw more than a bug) or using one account, using the affiliate link, ordering hosting and being marked as a referral purchase (Thats defiantly a bug). Until this is fixed, simply have your affiliate terms present (preventing self-signups), if an affiliate signs them self up (affiliate-fraud) mark it as an invalid affiliate purchase, if they continue then ban their affiliate account as its abusing the program. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetdino Posted September 24, 2013 Author Share Posted September 24, 2013 They visit their own aff link and make a purchase from same account 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 When a customer requests an affiliate payout, I review their account to see that each transaction is valid. If not, it is removed......If the abuse is constant and I see a pattern, remove the affiliate account. Simple. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanP Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 What does it matter, if they make a purchase and pay for it? I realize they are gettting a discount by being an affiliate, but as with anyone else who buys from them, you would be getting a percentage less for the sale. Does it matter who pays, them or someone they refer? Just set the payout to be higher then a single sale, and they will have to make multiple sales/purchases before getting payout. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 What does it matter, if they make a purchase and pay for it? ......Does it matter who pays, them or someone they refer? Obviously there's a difference here between resellers and affiliates. There's also an issue of ethics (for some). And the whole point of an affiliate scheme for me is not so much the individual product, but the introduction to 'an individual'. So yes, for me it does matter who pays for it. I have other customers who 'play by the rules' and who just see something fundamentally wrong with an affiliate referring themselves, and who have 10, 15, (in case 100+) full web hosting accounts on one client account. Given the choice...... hmmm Now, in the words of 'infopro' and before he sneaks on here and rattles everyone's cages, can we get this topic back on track and the issue the original thread starter jetdino raised? (joke infopro....don't take it seriously man). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanP Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 (edited) This topic is still on track. We are talking about affiliates referring themselves, and how this is seen as a bug by some. It's not an ethics thing, its a business thing. If I have someone wants to sign up for an affiliate account, and purchase or sell enough products that they meet their payout (or don't meet the payout - even better), I don't see an issue with that. So I just don't see this as bug. I would prefer my affiliates to get a loyalty discount on products. Maybe the ability to toggle this functionality would be a better solution (a checkbox in the settings to "Allow affilates to refer themselves"). Just a suggestion... Edited September 26, 2013 by SeanP 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 This topic is still on track. We are talking about affiliates referring themselves, and how this is seen as a bug by some. It's not an ethics thing, its a business thing. If I have someone wants to sign up for an affiliate account, and purchase or sell enough products that they meet their payout (or don't meet the payout - even better), I don't see an issue with that. So I just don't see this as bug. I would prefer my affiliates to get a loyalty discount on products. Maybe the ability to toggle this functionality would be a better solution (a checkbox in the settings to "Allow affilates to refer themselves"). Just a suggestion... I agree in that it's not a bug. I disagree that is not an ethics thing, but that's subjective so no point in discussing. While I can see the point in a checkbox option to stop clients referring themselves to themselves, it still won't stop those who sign up with another client account using another email address and a pseudo name (or referring their granny, auntie, uncle and third cousin). So I'm sure it's not something you can police, irrespective of business models, check-boxes or anything else. (even what I do manually). If there weren't ethical people out there, I would turn my affiliate program off. (That's an ethics thing) ) IMHO I don't price my products to give discounts to customers from overcharging others. I'd rather give discounts to loyal clients with a good number of hosting accounts on a client to client basis (as WHMCS allows). I guess I just view affiliates as a way to bring in NEW clients.....and use good customer relations to give rewards (discounts) to individual customers. Now, that's a business thing. We'll agree to disagree on that. But I agree....this is not a bug. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanP Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 I think our business models are just different. We do very little web site hosting (cPanel, etc.), and primarily focus on commercial Unix hosting services to businesses. So, our model is not based on volume. We haven't used the affiliate feature much, so I guess it all depends on how you wish to use it, and your purpose for using it. I'm not sure how to police people from signing up with different names and email addresses, as you stated. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
othellotech Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 I dont know if this is bugs or not, in v5.2.7 The affilates can refer their self. No idea if it's thought of as a bug, but it's been the same in previous versions 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetdino Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 I don't mind if the clients make new account by refering their self, sometimes they made new account for their clients. IMHO it must disable referring their self from their own account. In real life if someone bought physical stuff how can they refering their self? Big different between refer/affiliate and get coupon discount 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanP Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 (edited) Can this be prevented by setting the payout high enough? For example, if you offer a 20% affiliate discount, but the payout is $100, they would have to sell $500 worth of product to get paid. So, depending on the prices of your products, someone would have to buy a lot of product get a discount for themselves. In that case, you might not even mind if someone gets the discount for themselves, if they spend that amount of money with you. You can even specify different payout levels for different types of products (shared hosting vs dedicated servers for example). Maybe more expensive products have a higher payout, then the less expensive ones. Just a thought... I realize the point being made here that it is seen as "unfair" or "unethical", to some, to get a discount when you really didn't refer a new client. However, adjusting that payout level might prevent people from abusing the affilate system. Edited September 27, 2013 by SeanP 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHMCS TedX Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 OK! I have submitted this as a feature request over at our Feature Requests portal: Option to flag and/or prevent Affiliates from buying with their own Affiliate links. If you would like this feature, please go over there now and vote it up / comment over there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetdino Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 nice, i'll vote 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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