Apparently Blockbuster has been spending a lot of time trying to clean up the search landscape from all of the Azoogle affiliates who were violating the policy (using blockbuster.com) or misrepresenting the offers (advertising the free trial, but linking to the higher paying $9.99/first month offer), and it just wasn't worth it in the end. The abuse was hurting their bottom line, so I don't blame them for dropping the offer.
It's not a bait & switch... they offered a payout, and any leads that came through were given that payout. They can change the payout at any time. For example - a grocery store can advertise soda on July 1 for $0.50 per bottle. If you go into the store on July 30 but the price is now listed at $1, there's nothing wrong with that. Pricing can change. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch if you still think that Blockbuster was using a bait & switch tactic.
I think that blockbuster just reached their budget and so they dropped their payouts back to normal, but for me I sending my blockbuster web traffic to another network.
I'm sorry but that has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read. You're comparing a grocery store's soda prices to affiliate payouts? In the affiliate space, the affiliates spend a lot of time developing keyword lists, PPC campaigns, landing pages, tweaking, paying for hosting, domain names, etc. etc. etc. There is an investment made by the affiliate, based on expectations. If the affiliate does all that work and invests his/her time with a payout of $50/lead in mind and then the advertiser dramatically reduces the payout unexpectedly (for the affiliate) the affiliate can lose a lot of money and/or time. With sodas, when the sale ends, you just stop buying the sodas. You didn't have to devote days or even weeks to finding your way to the supermarket. You throw out the typical response of "They can change the payout at any time [they want]." Sure, they can, but it's not very cool-especially when the reduction is so dramatic. What's your agenda, anyway?
That still doesn't make it a bait & switch. I know the time & effort put into campaigns - I'm in the top 5% of earners in CJ (5 earnings bars), and all my money comes from search campaigns. Either way - Blockbuster should have given some decent warning before changing the commission. I can tell you though, with almost 100% certainty, that Blockbuster dropped the payouts & no longer allows branded bidding because of the high number of policy violations they saw. Every day, there were multiple affiliates kicking Blockbuster ads off of search (by using the blockbuster.com URL). Affiliates were misrepresenting the $9.99/first month deal as a free trial. This caused headaches for Blockbuster, and can lead to chargebacks (consumers expecting a 2 week trial, but being charged $9.99) and possible legal action. Blockbuster did what it had to do to avoid more of these issues. I don't have an agenda - I've worked on both the advertiser & affiliate side for search marketing, and it's pretty easy to figure out why companies put these policies in place. I don't agree with companies who restrict branded bidding, but in situations like this, advertisers have to take a stand sometime.
ok... so for those who are still marketing blockbuster's programs(s).. which network(s) are you using? have a doman, have traffic, just switching networks on this one due to the drop. pm me if needed
Fair enough--I'm just an affiliate myself as well, and I feel like we already get kicked around enough w/out stuff like this.
Sorry, I don't use this campaign in Rocket-Profit. I only give information. Offer: Blockbuster Online DVD Service [view landing page] Payout: $ 45.00 USD per Sale Payout Type: Sale Media: Banner,Text Description: Consumers can sign up for Blockbuster's Online DVD Rental service for only $9.99 for the first month. More than 50,000 titles to choose from - delivered straight to the door! Special Notes: US and 18+ only. This offer CANNOT be run in search marketing. This offer CAN be incentivized.