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Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

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Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#21

Post by dangrossman »

debacle wrote: post #4
aresant wrote: post #2

I've spent a lot of time working with affiliate marketers over the past decade and I wonder how Refer.ly is going to handle compliance with the new FTC rules around compensation disclosure. Effectively if you're promoting a product in exchange for compensation, that relationship must be disclosed at the genesis of the click and according to the FTC no compensation is too small to be in violation w/out disclosure. htt…

Forget refer.ly, how is Amazon going to cope with this in general?

They added a few lines to their FAQ saying "comply with the FTC guidelines". The program terms already said that you must comply with applicable federal and state laws. It's been over 2 years since they came out, it's not a question anymore.

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#22

Post by rokhayakebe »

I believe it would be best if the company gave users Karma as opposed to money. When someone suggests a store and you know they will earn $ if you buy from it, you start to doubt their motive. With karma, I do not have to worry about this, and latter the score can be used to spot "influencers".

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#23

Post by mrtron »

dmor wrote: post #12
citricsquid wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is more that without a directory your product is useless. How can I see when I'm going to get a reward if you don't tell me? I've signed up like the person you replied to and I've shortened 2 links, but there's no indication if I'm going to get a reward and if that's the case what incentive is there for me to use the link? At the very least can there be a tick or cross next to the links to confirm w…

Providing a check mark or some kind of validation as to whether or not a link is covered for rewards is a great idea, I've added that to the list of potential features. I understand the cynicism - the entire affiliate world is pretty shady, which is why I'm so determined to disrupt it. We are using 3rd party services to help us get reach across top merchants online. Sounds like this part of the service needs more att…

Saying the entire affiliate world is shady is intellectually lazy. There are many areas of the industry that are very stable and mature.

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#24

Post by psychotik »

Nice idea. I see this benefiting influencers and folks with larger number of followers on social channels, but everyday folks are unlikely to see any significant revenues here IMO. The fact that influencers are more likely to adopt it means it has good odds of taking off in popularity though.

Someone like Pinterest doing this implicitly and crediting users (with non-monetary perks even) might have a better chance of impacting the average user I think.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this progresses though. I hope the team shares how it's working out for users a few months down the road.

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#25

Post by dmor »

psychotik wrote: post #24

Nice idea. I see this benefiting influencers and folks with larger number of followers on social channels, but everyday folks are unlikely to see any significant revenues here IMO. The fact that influencers are more likely to adopt it means it has good odds of taking off in popularity though. Someone like Pinterest doing this implicitly and crediting users (with non-monetary perks even) might have a better chance of…

Thanks! I think non-monetary and group rewards will be huge, because unlike cash they are something that can be made available to a very broad set of users.

We plan to be as open as we can week to week about our progress, and how our users are doing with earning cash and other rewards. We'll be blogging...

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#26

Post by aes256 »

Is there not a US equivalent of Quidco (http://www.quidco.com)?

For genuine friend-to-friend recommendations, I'd rather refer a friend of mine to make a purchase through Quidco and have them claim back the full referral fee themselves (minus a £5/year subscription), than pocket the referral fee myself.

If I was linking to a larger group, why should I go through Referly and not set up an affiliate account direct with the merchant? In the UK, at least, there are large networks like AffiliateWindow, CommissionJunction, etc. that allow you to sign up with numerous merchants using a single interface...

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#27

Post by acoyfellow »

Now, all I need is an API that a service like Ifttt.com can hook into.

I'd like to use this service in between the others I use. (When I Like something on facebook, it gets tweeted, for instance...) I want it to be able to shorten my link and it get tweeted automatically. Doable?

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#28

Post by dmor »

aresant wrote: post #2

I've spent a lot of time working with affiliate marketers over the past decade and I wonder how Refer.ly is going to handle compliance with the new FTC rules around compensation disclosure. Effectively if you're promoting a product in exchange for compensation, that relationship must be disclosed at the genesis of the click and according to the FTC no compensation is too small to be in violation w/out disclosure. htt…

FTC regs are covered in our Terms and FAQ, and its the responsibility of the sharer to disclose.

BUT that being said, I think there is a big opportunity here - to make the disclosure automatic AND possibly even user friendly. Right now disclosures are really ugly and create friction in the user experience, maybe we can fix this.

And if the refer.ly brand becomes widely known and recognized, that would help too. Definitely something we want to help sharers do in the most streamlined way possible

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#29

Post by dmor »

mrtron wrote: post #23
dmor wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Providing a check mark or some kind of validation as to whether or not a link is covered for rewards is a great idea, I've added that to the list of potential features. I understand the cynicism - the entire affiliate world is pretty shady, which is why I'm so determined to disrupt it. We are using 3rd party services to help us get reach across top merchants online. Sounds like this part of the service needs more att…

Saying the entire affiliate world is shady is intellectually lazy. There are many areas of the industry that are very stable and mature.

You're right, I should say it is widely perceived as shady by people who don't know much about it.

Re: Refer.ly (YC S12) Lets Regular Folks Earn Affiliate Revenue

#30

Post by alohahacker »

I have this idea myself for many years and even had a friend build his funded startup around this concept for the past year or two.

The biggest issue is with compliance with the companies. There is a reason the affiliate process is vetted and takes alot of steps to make sure your serious about promoting. You indirectly represent the end company when promoting your aff link.

When you have someone blasting their affiliate link all around the web and on twitter it doesn't sit well with the end company and they usually bear the brunt of the compliants.

Good luck on the idea. If you can make it work the all the props.

As a affiliate who LOVED promoting on twitter and would see up to an insane $40 EPC on tweets, a freinds influence is great.

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