[Official News] AuctionAds Status

This all means nothing to me. My problem here is the very apparent decrease in earnings. We first started using AuctionAds about 3 months ago at AdminFusion. The first 2 months brought great earnings - better than Adsense. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, earnings stopped - completely. Impressions did not stop, clicks did not stop, our placement and targeting did not stop - but earnings definitely stopped. At first, we gave AuctionAds the benefit of the doubt and assumed this was growing pains.

After a week or so, nothing changed, so I sent a support ticket - never received a response. I sent another one a few days later and received some canned message "our developers have looked into this and do not see anything unusual"...I tried one last time with a support ticket after a full month of almost 0 earnings and got the same response. AA had no explanation, and they claimed that everything was working as normal.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but everything is not working as normal. It is not a problem with targeting or a lack of traffic. We have been successfully using CPC/CPA programs for quite some time at AdminFusion, and in fact, used AA successfully for about 2 months. It is not a problem due to a lack of traffic, we have plenty of that. The problem lies in either the reporting or commission that AA is taking out of these earnings.

Your personal AuctionAds performance might be just fine, and if that's the case, I am happy for you...but trust me when I say that there are a lot of publishers who have noticed significant decreases in earnings from AuctionAds during the exact same timeframe. These are not rookie publishers. These are publishers who live and breath monetizing their websites. And most of these publishers have completely given up on AA due to no change in site and a complete lack of understanding by MediaWhiz. All that they do is deny these problems, and as evidenced here in this thread and in my support tickets, they don't even want to confront them.

Oh, and you never told me what your "satisfactory explanation" was

 

I'm not pro-shoe either. In fact, I've never once read his blog...but I do check the AA blog daily. From that I've made up my own idea.

Auction Ads has NO DESIRE to keep its publishers in the know about anything within the program. They think it's in the best interest of all that they keep a non-answered Q&A thread open here in GENERAL BUSINESS rather then Affiliate Programs or better, on their own site.

The program does seem to be working for some, but from the looks of the various other sources, it's also NOT working for some. These issues are going un-answered, heck, unacknowledged!

And what little information they have given out is catering to those the program is working for....or at least is aimed at masking the the fact it's NOT working for many.

Matt asked (in their blog) "any update on the tracking issues?" and his question has been un-answered. The same questions have been asked here, with no reply. They have been asked on other forums, and there has been reports of unanswered support tickets, etc...

I just hope the new owners are better at communication... (Which by the way, Show no longer owns it, it's now completely in the hands of MediaWhiz)

I have hardly any impressions, so heh, it's not a matter of income for me...though since I started to raise concerns my CTR has bottomed out... maybe it's my niche, maybe it's the reporting issues. I HAVE NO CLUE and they are not talking.

Next week I think I'll remove them from my sites and find another affiliate program that communicates with their publishers...I mean, they do exist right? Please don't tell me this is NORMAL.

 

I did not comment on the recent outage but on the fact that some say it doesn't work at all for them. Slight 'nuance'...

I would also like to see them communicate a bit more especially on their blog though in my case I have always gotten response to what I requested. Perhaps my 'tone' is a bit friendlier, dunno...? Anyhow, I do check with other people working with them to see if they have similar problems when such things arise. And at the moment there seems indeed to be a problem which causes a recent fall down in earnings which is due to a tracking issue I presume. But to drop a program because of this is silly.

Some seem to forget that they did offer bonuses for the past outage probs, I did not forget that so I give them the benefit of doubt.

If you don't trust the whole, take them down when you think it harms your income and wait until they have repared what is going wrong. People will post about this on here and then you can resume.

 

Not that this is directed specifically at you, but it is odd how the people who like auctionads still, claim a hit in earnings but support the program get responses, when the rest of us who have problems, are unhappy, and are taking a revenue hit cannot get quality feedback.

If lost revenue and poor support isn't a reason to drop a program, what is?

Great recommendation. Publishers should vote with their feet and move to CPA advertising that works. When they get it together, all of the not-so-silly people who stuck out lesser revenues can let us know if it turns around.

 

Hey, in my case AuctionAds still does the trick even when there is a tracking problem. I placed them on adsense dead places so I do not loose out on much, on the contrary.

I hope for you that the program resumes its full glory very fast.

PS: I really would be surprised that AA are checking here who is saying sweet things about the program to only answer those people...

 

I don't understand how you feel it's silly. A company that is NOT communicating to it's publishers about known and apparent issues sheds a rather dim light on that company. Some publishers have higher standards then that. I have kept the ads up thus far because I am a small time publisher, and with the exception of about a week of off-key ads my targeting has been dead on.

I'd be posting rave reviews and defending the site with pride and honor if they were open, honest, and bothered to communicate. It is not a matter of income for me, it's a matter of principle. So when you say "trust" that is the keyword to my entire point... I do not trust them... they have given me no reason to do so.

It has been two weeks and this thread is still active by everyone BUT 'official' officials of MediaWhiz.

You said yourself there seems to be a few reporting issues. All that I ask is that they post something "official" acknowledging such a thing....as if there is a reporting issue there is a good chance we are all losing income (no matter how slight). So even if you are making money and feel that it's a good amount, imagine how much more you'd make if there was not a reporting issue?

I mean, I'd like to know where the reporting issue lies... they pointed to an eBay maintenance issue that spanned a total of TWO DAYS and said that was the problem. Two days... two weeks after I started seeing complains about the issue, so I'm pretty sure that was not the cause. To me that was a misleading post by an official spokesmen of the parent company. To me that was a LIE to the publisher. To me lying to those that are the ones earning the income is what is truly silly.

If Media Whiz would lie about that, it makes me ponder how many TLA I'm running on ancient blog entries that I am not getting paid for...I mean there could be unresolved reporting issues...right? (sorry, I'm not calling you out, just venting)

 

My targeting has been perfect, mostly . I do understand you don't appreciate the silence so far. I would encourage MW to issue a statement, but who am I? Nevertheless, they paid me good money and I am not someone who turns his back on a business partner who is perhaps having certain issues now.

Hey, no problem mate, taht's what a forum is for I guess? Nevertheless I have had no problems at all with other MW companies, they have always paid on time etc.

 

All of this is not just a temporary lapse in reports or a tracking issue. It has been going on for at least a month now. I don't think it's silly to drop a program after earnings have ultimately come to a halt for an entire month. Lack earnings is not the only reason we dropped the program. We also dropped because of a complete lack of customer service.

My demeanor was 100% friendly and professional when the issue first came about...However, I should only expect the same from AuctionAds...Instead, here is what I got:

---

1st support ticket - completely ignored, no response
2nd support ticket - canned response saying that there were no issues
3rd support ticket - same canned response

There was no public announcement addressing this issue here, on their blog, via email, nothing.

Lastly, they attempted to answer these questions and concerns here and then packed their bags and ran

---

I don't think it's very hard to understand my frustrations here...AuctionAds has just completely dropped the ball on customer service. I was never given a good explanation for these problems. Nobody I have talked to was given a good explanation either. Hell, I never even received an apology...and I definitely was not offered a "bonus".

Definitely, and we have done just that. We've removed AA from our site...but on the same token, AA ran on our site for 2-3 weeks with almost 0 earnings while we were trying to get some answers from them. You don't just accept something like this and move on as if it's no big deal.

If Adsense, who we've all grown to love, just stopped giving out earnings all together...Would everybody just be okay with removing the ads from their sites and moving on? No, of course, not, publishers want answers..They want to know where their money has gone.

I'm not using AuctionAds right now, but that doesn't mean I just want to sit back and wait for things to turn around...I want to know what happened during these previous 3-4 weeks and where my earnings have gone...I don't think that we'll ever get a response to that,

You have yet to tell me what this "satisfactory explanation" was?

 

ah yes, well, in my case they said that there was a tracking problem and they were trying to get it solved asap. They also said that the tracking reports would be adapted once the issue was solved.

I do not know if this means that ALL lost tracking will be included of course. But as I said, it ran on a dead corner so for me I leave it on there as it generates money anyhow.

I do not know what traffic you get? But in my experience 3 weeks is a bit too short to see the power of the program. The first week I earned zilch (normal since bids can go up to 10 days), after the first two weeks I adapted a few things and revenue came in.

I know, it is not the same right now, but still doing well.

 

Maybe the reporting issues are why it's "free" with them skimming clicks and commissions off the top who would be the wiser? I mean, heh...that is a tracking issue is it not?

Without official word all we have left is Speculation right? ..speculate how much more you could be making had there not been an issue?

Have you considered alternate affiliate programs till these issues are resolved...you may be doubling your money.

 

In fact I did and tried them and AA still outperformed them
So... it works for me, even though that there are issues.

 

We are talking about 2 different issues. You received a "satisfactory explanation" to the temporary tracking issues...The issues that we have had are not just temporary. We have asked them what happened for an entire month, and they continue to fail to give us an explanation.

Like I already said, we ran AuctionAds for 3 months at AdminFusion. The first 2 months came with very good, consistent earnings. Then, out of the blue, the 3rd entire month our earnings decreased by nearly 95%. I kid you not.

No, we did not receive less traffic. No, we did not change placement or targeting. No, we did not receive fewer impressions or fewer clicks. The only thing that changed was the earnings. It's not a matter of not giving the ads enough time or not having enough traffic for consistent results.

 

Hey, I am not disputing the fact that earnings are less good. They are indeed less good. I just dispute the fact that a program should be tossed away because of this. And MW will have to come up with a decent explanation sooner (preferably) or later.

 

So you don't think that a program should be tossed after your earnings decrease 95%. That means a lot then.

Saying that you have successfully made earnings with AA is one thing. I have not. We (other publishers) have not. You can't sit here and try to justify this when:

1) You have not experienced what we have (2 months of consistent, positive earnings with 1 full month of nothing)
2) You are not at all affiliate with AA and have no authority to provide explanations

If you have been using AuctionAds successfully, that is good. I encourage you to continue to do so. But just because you have seen success does not mean that everybody has. Many, or most, of us have not. And just because you have had success doesn't mean that it's ridiculous for us to drop a program that has failed in both performance and customer service.

 

Btw, AF, I read this on your site:

"We, at AF were getting upwards of 500 clicks per month with about $15 per month coming in, but things have changed drastically."

On my main site I had 5000 clicks per month with $185 coming in. Now it is less indeed. Time will tell....

 

What does that have to do with anything?

Yes, the first 2 months we were receiving ~500 clicks and ~$15

The last month we received ~500 clicks again...however, only ~$0.15

Do you not see a problem there?

 

You need to use figures where there is enough turnaround...I did not see a 95% decrease nor did my other colleagues (they all have sites that have over 5000 visitors a day). They did see a 40-60% decrease depending on what kind of products they 'sell' and depending on the traffic they get. We all know there is a problem. But all of us said that we would stick to it for the time being.

 

Your turnaround is just TOO small to make comparisons. In your case it can be 1 action or 2 actions. I prefer to check with publishers that a good turnaround of let's say 10.000 to 100.000 clicks to see what the effect has been.

And please do not understand this wrong, everyone, big and small, should get paid correctly but your case is just not big enough to make judgements on.

Any BIG publishers on here that want to discuss their earnings as i only consider myself to be peanuts as well?

 

This is just my personal testimony. I am not alone, as you'll see in the posts that I referenced here

We might have not received 5k clicks per day at AF, but if you'll follow those links I gave you, you'll notice that there are many other big publishers who have dropped AA because of lost earnings (one, in fact, who had 60k clicks and over $5k in one month)

Again, it's okay that you yourself are having success with AuctionAds, however, all of us are not...And it is not your place to sit there and tell us that we are wrong for dropping a program that has failed miserably.

 

This is a forum, if I think you guys act too fast, I am entitled to say so. You can do with that criticism what you want though.

And also, in the links you gave me, I did not exactly see people with BIG sites seeing a 95% decrease, I did see a 50% decrease which is also my case. But still, it outbeats what revenue another CPA or CPC would generate for that same spot.