GTO Podcast #3: Gary Marcoccia of AvantLink
Today on the podcast, I was joined by guest host Ian Larsen of IanLarsen.com to chat with Gary Marcoccia of the AvantLink affiliate network.
Here at GTO we’ve recently launched the C28.com affiliate program on AvantLink and we’ve been really impressed with the tools that they provide to both affiliates and merchants. Gary and Ian and I chatted on the history of AvantLink – as they have roots as both affiliates and affiliate managers, which I think contributes the the practicality of the AvantLink tool and some of the cool datafeed handling tools that AvantLink offers.
We talked in detail about a few features in particular, the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE) which allows bloggers, webmasters and forum operators to put affiliate tracking in place for any AvantLink merchant without having to actually login to the affiliate UI or so any special coding. Once the ALE javascript is in place, the affiliate tracking is put in place on the broswer side of the equation. Gary told a great story of an affiliate who operated an Outdoor Sports focused online forum. Using the ALE script, he was able to place affiliate tracking on many of the links that both he and his forum members placed over several years of content… all with a quick copy and paste. Talk about easy money. This feature is the blogger or review affiliates dream.
We also chatted about AvantLink and their on-board support of video creative and some of the cool things that they do with RSS syndication and tying affiliates to referrals from feeds that they host from merchants. This is really cool stuff – effectively, AvantLink has provided affiliates with a “long tail” creative.
In addition to some of the big tools that AvantLink provides, they have also put some little things into the mix that are pretty cool. For instance – as a merchant, you can subscribe to RSS feeds that give you transaction info and affiliate application information. They also provide FireFox and Thunderbird extensions that scroll program stats at the bottom of your screen so you are never out of touch with your affiliate program data.
Ian chimed in with his experience as an affiliate and applauded the flexibility of the AvantLink datafeed tools and the accessibility of support and development to get what you need as an affiliate. Gary applauded the affiliates out there for driving innovation.
We had a great time chatting and I look forward to speaking with Gary again. If you are a retail merchant with a product catalog and you are looking for a really powerful, but reasonable priced affiliate network with some awesome tools included – check out AvantLink.
Enjoy the podcast!
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GTO Podcast with Brian Littleton- New York Affiliate Tax and more
Karen and I had the chance to chat with Brian Littleton of Shareasale on a few topics. Most importantly, we spent some time chatting about the New York Affiliate Tax issues.
Some of the main points:
- Sales totals from New York Affiliates that require merchants to report and pay tax
- Fact that orders need to be shipped to New York addresses to qualify and the challenge this present to affiliate networks
- Some of the steps that Shareasale has taken to facilitate merchant compliance without compromising affiliate privacy
- Some good advice from Brian on where to get guidance on this. Merchants should consult with their accountant and someone familiar with New York law if New York affiliates are a substantial piece of the their mix or may be in the future to come up with a sound policy
- We reviewed some of the actions that we’ve been seeing merchants take due to the law including Overstock and Amazon filing suit.
- Affiliate shock on receiving action notices from merchants making compliance decisions.
We also chatted a bit on what is happening at Shareasale (technical innovation) and chatted about Brian’s tendancy to end up at a piano at industry events and availability of piano bars near the Affiliate Summit hotel.
Enjoy!
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Podcast with Clarke Walton of Walton Web Law on New York Affiliate Tax
The State of New York’s recent attempt to collect sales tax from merchants who use New York based affiliates to market their products has been the buzz of the affiliate marketing industry over the last few weeks. Essentially, the argument of the state is that if merchants are working with affiliates who actively market their products via the web, email, paid search, etc., they have established “nexus” or a physical and tax liable presence in New York.
This development has led to some strong reactions from frightened merchants who fear that collecting tax on sales made in New York would cost them both sales, as well as add technical and administrative costs that they are not eager to incur. Some programs like Overstock.com have effectively fired their New York Based affiliates, and many more merchants have kept their New York based affiliates on board while sharply restricting the promotional methods they can use.
Karen and I sat down to chat about this with Clarke Douglas Walton of WaltonWebLaw.com this week and we covered several aspects of the issue.
- The federal constitutional issues involved in states passing laws that impact Inter-state commerce “Commerce Clause.”
- Vague language of the law itself. The types of marketing that seem to be allowed by affiliates.
- 3 potential approaches that merchants could (and have been taking) to deal with the issue.
- The looming trend of states looking to move towards collection of sales tax on online sales.
- The role (if any) of New York offices of the major networks (CJ, Linkshare and Performics) in establishing nexus.
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Enjoy – For more coverage of this issue, we recommend following the discussions on ABestWeb, Revenews, and the 5 Star Affiliate Blog
