I wanted to ask my fellow affiliates about the daily dilemma, we all affiliates has - is this the right time to become a merchant. The simplest example is traffic services affiliate, who is making money to refer visitors to traffic services and enjoying the rev share fro any sale. The way to take your own brand and to become traffic reseller is short - so why not actually? Should you stay an affiliate or cross the lines to become a merchant ?
It depends on how much traffic you have, quality, origin and niche. For example if you have 10K adult traffic it not worth to become a merchant.
Hi Oron, I took the step quite a few years ago. Went from affiliate to merchant or vendor however you want to call it. Both sides of the story have their own beauty... and learning curve. In my opinion, being affiliate is far easier than vendor, especially if the commissions paid are high. Vendors usually do promotions as well, but through channels that do not collide with their affiliate promotional efforts. They also need to handle customer support, hosting issues, keep up with the payment platform rules, keep refunds as low as possible, keeping affiliates happy (not just with good commissions)... it is quite different.