TLA Video Affiliate Stats Question

[Lee]

Does anyone know if TLA Video updates their stats in 'real-time' as a sale happens or what the schedule for stats updates are for affiliates?

Im not seeing a test purchase i put through yesterday showing in stats yet which has me a little concerned about them shaving sales.

Regards,

Lee

[desslock]

TLAvideo sends you useful emails whenever you refer a completed sale. But wait a little bit..... it needs to go into their system as shipped, backordered or in the process of fullfillment.

Membership sites are nice in that the order fullfillment process is instant. With DVD affiliate programs, they typically wait to pay you when the order goes out the door. And often nothing appears in your stats until they process the order.

I would wait for the item to ship before jumping to conclusions. I've used TLAvideo for years and never found any evidence that they shave sales. However, they have a very restrictive cookie tracking policy, so make sure that you followed the proceedure spelled out in their terms of agreement when you made your purchase.

Steve

[Lee]

Ah okay that explains it then, ill wait and see what happens when i get my 'order shipped' email

Thanks Steve

Regards,

Lee

[Lee]

Okay well right now, it doesnt look like they are in any rush to ship my order to me, even though i paid extra for UPS shipping, in fact, the order status on their site is 'on hold'.

I just sent in a support ticket so we'll see what comes of that.

Im trying to do everything that an 'actual' customer of theirs that i sent would do and so far, i must admit, im really not liking what im seeing

Regards,

Lee

[tombarr]

I can verify that you are most likely correct. This is exactly how we do our affiliate sales commissions and I suspect TLA does it this way as well. We don't charge the customer until the order ships and as such do not credit affiliates until then with the sale.

For this very reason we implemented "in progress" stats for our wehovideo.com affiliates...where they can now see orders that have been placed, orders in process, orders that have shipped, net product sales and commissons earned searchable by date range.

TLAvideo sends you useful emails whenever you refer a completed sale. But wait a little bit..... it needs to go into their system as shipped, backordered or in the process of fullfillment.

Membership sites are nice in that the order fullfillment process is instant. With DVD affiliate programs, they typically wait to pay you when the order goes out the door. And often nothing appears in your stats until they process the order.

I would wait for the item to ship before jumping to conclusions. I've used TLAvideo for years and never found any evidence that they shave sales. However, they have a very restrictive cookie tracking policy, so make sure that you followed the proceedure spelled out in their terms of agreement when you made your purchase.

Steve

[Dzinerbear]

Do they actually pay? I heard from a reliable source that they weren't paying affiliates so I never bothered to promote them after signing up.

Michael

[Lee]

Do they actually pay? I heard from a reliable source that they weren't paying affiliates so I never bothered to promote them after signing up.

Michael

Well right now, im still showing a big fat $0.00 in my affiliate stats and the order i placed on Monday still hasnt shipped, even though i purchased express shipping.

Needless to say, ill be calling them up tomorrow to find out wtf is wrong.

I cant imagine a surfer having to wait this long for anything so they definately wont be going in the members areas thats for sure.

Regards,

Lee

[desslock]

Lee:

Did you order a Playstation 3? hmmmm

I'm sure TLA will send you whatever you purchased once its in stock. TLA pays affiliates, although it seemed to me that they were in arrears on my affiliate account for awhile.

I promote TLA because their site store design and navigation is excellent. Furthermore, they have passed my "man on the street test." Several times. This unscientific "buzz" test happens when I am chatting with a friend or acquaintence, like at a bar, and they spontaneously mention a company or website by name as a paying customer. TLA has a big customer base, great prices, very good branding and a extremely wide product selection.

On the other hand, I find them a little cavalier in attitude, and 13% commission is just ok. But that's my personal impression. I also am not happy with their affiliate program terms.

I don't know what you are selling, but as a new alternative you might consider Gunzblazing's new dvd mail order shoppe www.gaydvd.com .. Brian Randall is on GWW and at all the shows, and I've never been dissapointed with his sites or anything offered by Raging Stallion. GayDVD is a new site of theirs, and they have been increasing their movie inventory. I've moved all my affiliate links to Raging Stallion movies over to them already, and I'll pick additional studios when I can get around to it. In fact, someone today bought The Dirty Director with Michael Soldier!

If anyone wants to sign up to Gunzblazing under me, just visit my website and click on the webmaster link.

Steve

[Lee]

Did you order a Playstation 3? hmmmm

Hell no, if i wanted a PS3 id stand in line at Walmart and get shot like everyone else!!

I ordered 4 regular porn DVDs from them and they all said 'in stock' at the time they were ordered so needless to say im a litle pissed right now that they havent been shipped (as i paid extra for a service that i never got).

Im waiting for another couple of hours before calling them to see what the problem is, if something was out of stock, the least they could have done, as a paying customer, who they have already taken payment from, is send me an email letting me know.

Anyway, ill update ya'll once i speak to them in a couple of hours time.

Regards,

Lee

[tombarr]

Hell no, if i wanted a PS3 id stand in line at Walmart and get shot like everyone else!!

If you were a former US Senator you would not have to stand in line..

I ordered 4 regular porn DVDs from them and they all said 'in stock' at the time they were ordered so needless to say im a litle pissed right now that they havent been shipped (as i paid extra for a service that i never got).

I think you paid for a shipping service that you will get once the order is in the shipping phase.. You are paying for the shipping service speed, not the order fulfilment speed, although, that being said, an overnight shipping option should indicate your desire for speed which should probably trigger some notice of delay information.

Im waiting for another couple of hours before calling them to see what the problem is, if something was out of stock, the least they could have done, as a paying customer, who they have already taken payment from, is send me an email letting me know.

Lee, I don't believe they have taken payment until they ship the order. I know we are not allowed to do that and I don't think they are either. The first indication on your credit card is an authorization and the capture or charge occurs only on shipping. Now if they have charged (captured) and not yet shipped, or worse yet, captured and not credited you then that is another story ....


All that being said, because of the nature of gay porn and the volume with which releases are distributed it is almost impossible to be in stock on the thousands and thousands of products required of a diverse website video store. If we concentrate on only one or a few studios, it is not difficult to always stay in stock... but dealing with hundreds of studios, dozens of distributors, it is a daunting and really not a smart thing to do to be in stock on every single item. Anyway, maybe you won't agree with me, but we operate our retail as mainly a special order website in todays online retail environment for this very reason... in the world of constantly changing video formats, a huge volume of releases (more than 300 a month), and with the shift now occuring to digital delivery through VOD, it is dangerous for a website to act like a brick and mortar store and sit on tens of thousands of DVDs just waiting for someone to buy it. The shelf life on new releases is so short now that making customer purchase predictions is next to impossible.... so it is quite the quandry...or pickle.... and a tough choice..but one that we feel is the only way to insure survival in today's market.

I believe that the shift in formats a year or so ago from VHS to DVD hurt many website stores and caused cash flow problems for all of us trying to keep up with changing technology, while giving a broad selection of stocked items and as such negatively impacted cash flow for many websites, stores and distributors alike. For this reason i think website stores are being more cautious now in what they get caught with on their "shelves".

My 2 1/2 cents.

[Lee]

Okie here goes...

I received my order today, guess what, it still isnt showing in my affiliate stats.

Im going to give it 7 days before posting my final verdict.

Lets see how honest TLA actually are with their affiliates

Regards,

Lee

[desslock]

Lee

Just email Brian Sokel and ask him what's the deal.

He's their affiliate manager, and he's always responded to any thing I've brought up to him.

affiliates@tlavideo.com

Steve

[Pistol]

Here is a benchmark for you: Gaydvd.com stats are real-time and paid immediately upon purchase.

Commissions are from 15% to 40% and transaction fees are not subtracted from payouts.

[wildwildwest]

Okie here goes...
I received my order today, guess what, it still isnt showing in my affiliate stats.
Im going to give it 7 days before posting my final verdict.
Lets see how honest TLA actually are with their affiliates
Regards,
Lee

Lee-
I was doing some research and found this thread; your final verdict for this matter? I am having some problems with: orders not showing up at all, and orders showing up "in progress" (not backordered) from almost 2 months ago. I am losing confidence here. Your response is most welcome.

I emailed tlavideo a week ago, no response.

Wild

[Lee]

Yep they did show up, about 9 days after the order was placed, i guess the customer was late making a payment or the DVDs were out of stock or something

Regards,

Lee