FAQ Merchant Popular Q&A
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FAQ Merchant Popular Q&A
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Commission Manager
If I change a commission rate – who do I need to inform?
You will need to inform affiliates of this change, if you haven’t done so already.
If you are increasing the amount then there is no need for Affiliate Window to update the system, so this change happens in real time.
However if you are decreasing the commission rate you will need to submit a Support Ticket so we can refresh the system.
How do I add a new Commission group?
You can do this via the Commission Manager within your merchant account. Please select the 
button within the page:
You will then be prompted with a pop-up window which will guide you through the following steps:
- Select transaction type This is either a Sale or Lead
- Identify your group
- Group code - This will be the code within your tracking code, e.g. 0001
- Group name - This will be the name you assign your commission group, e.g. Electronics
- Group description - This is a short description on what products/offers you'd like to provide to affiliates on what this commission group entails.
- Inclusion in global rules Global Rules effectively will automate the move up and down in comparison to criteria that you've set. Selecting "yes" means that your affiliates will move up or down in this group based on meeting the targets set in your global rules even if they haven't achieved the targets set specifically for this group. So, if your Global Level 2 criteria is 20 sales and your Level 2 criteria for this group is 4 sales, an affiliate will move up to Level 2 for this group either by achieving 20 sales in total (regardless of group) or by achieving 4 sales within this group, within a 30 day period.
- Set default Commission Rate - This is standard rate that you are providing to affiliates
- Add more payment levels (tiers) - This is if you'd like to add a tier structure within the commission group. You may want to provide a higher commission rate for affiliates if they hit a certain target. Please check your merchant account for more information or contact your account development/merchant or submit a Support Ticket.
How do I add tiers to my Commission groups?
You can include this in the initial creation of the commission group or add this once the group has been created. Please see the screenshot below as an example of how to update/delete these. Again, tiers affect the affiliates moving up and down, so please make your affiliates and account contact aware of this before you make amends.
How do I give individual affiliate private commissions?
You may want to do this if you have a particular affiliate that you'd like to provide with a custom commission, you can do this via the Membership Details for that affiliate.
You are then able to alter the "commission" - be sure to un-tick the affiliate from the "Global Rules" or they may move up and down if you have tiers setup.
Datafeed
I’m receiving a pink box displaying an error – what do I do?
This means the datafeed has encountered a problem. We suggest you check the error message with your IT team/Developer. Or if you prefer further clarification please submit a Support Ticket and we can help you to solve the problem.
What are Unmapped Categories?
These relate to categories which will need to be mapped for our ShopWindow tool & for affiliates using your datafeed. You can do this from within your merchant account within the ShopWindow section. Please relate your “unmapped categories” to either suggested categories in the right hand table structure, or search for a particular category.
You can view the ShopWindow Category Tree here.
Banners & Links
How do I add a Banner?
You can add a banner from within your merchant account by going to “Banners & Links”. You will be required to create a group for every size of banner. See below for an example of how to do this:
Also view the documentation for the Banners & Links here.
I’ve uploaded a Flash file but from an Affiliate perspective it doesn’t click through to the destination URL?
This means that you’ve probably not entered in the correct clickTAG associated with that Flash content. Please refer to the Banners & Link Guide for more information.
Tracking
I haven’t had affiliate orders for sometime – what do I do?
First thing we suggest is to get in touch with Affiliate Window to report this issue using our Ticketing system or your account contact. We will then look into the possible issues causing this and advise you on the best course of action.
I would like to give specific affiliates different click appends - How do I do this?
You can do this by selecting the specific affiliate that you'd like to append with a variable. You can add the variable in the "click append" section, however this will remove any general click append you have for the program. Please see here for more general information on click appends.
We strongly suggest contacting your account contact if you wish to do this, so the Technical Services Team can test to ensure this works effectively.
How do I remove test orders?
During integration, Technical Services may have worked with you to perform test transactions to ensure the tracking is working well.
We use a particular affiliate test account throughout these test transactions and are therefore only able to remove these specific affiliate transactions.
Any test orders created through another affiliate account may need to be declined however this will affect your AWin Index score.
We are developing a new e-commerce Platform or re-development of the site. Do we need to let Affiliate Window know?
In short, Yes.
If you are planning to move, redevelop your site or change any of the linking structure of your site you need to contact your account manager before hand to ensure the tracking of your programme remains unaffected.
Your account manager will also arrange for one of our technical staff to assist you with making changes (on your side and ours) to minimise potential tracking issues and loss of affiliate revenue.
Alternatively submit a Support Ticket to make Technical Services aware.
Is our datafeed OK?, an affiliate tell us there is an issue with it.
If you have had complaints about your datafeed from affiliates or are unsure what may be wrong we would advise you to submit a Support Ticket which will be picked up by one of our technical support team.
If the issue is greater than you originally thought then your account manager will be informed so they can communicate with you and your affiliates.
We have implemented new tagging (core metrics etc), what do we do now?
If you wish to partner with a 3rd party Tracking or Tagging service you need to contact your account manager before hand to arrange for one of our technical staff to assist you with any changes (on your side and ours) o minimise potential tracking issues and loss of affiliate revenue.
Alternatively submit a Support Ticket to make Technical Services aware.
Our clicks suddenly shot up in a short period of time with no reflection in sales, anything wrong?
If you experience an anomaly in your clicks such as sudden spikes in click numbers this may be due to an internet Bot bombarding an affiliates links or the affiliate performing illegal actions. In this situation we would advise that you contact the affiliate directly and also alert your account manager.
I wish to reverse approved transactions
Transactions which have been approved by yourself cannot be reversed by yourself and are only reversed when a serious mistake has occurred. If you wish to reverse any approved commission you need to get in contact with your account manager who can look into this on your behalf.
I have found an affiliate Brand bidding, what should I do?
Your first point of action should be to inform the affiliate asking them to stop if this is in breach of your programme Terms & Conditions. In some instances affiliates PPC campaigns can appear against a brand when they are not directly bidding on the brand through Google 'broad matching' the term. To avoid this affiliates may need to include a negative keyword against the brand term within their campaign. If they continue to appear against your brand then the next course of action is to inform your account manager who will be able to deal with it accordingly.
Blocking IP’s
You may want to block specific IP addresses from showing any transactions in your program, such as from your internal call centres or booking offices.
Please create a Support Ticket containing the IP addresses you wish to restrict and we will add these into the program details for you.
Alternatively you can contact your account manager.
Partnerships
How Do I Get Involved With Partnerships?
Who are Partnerships? Partnerships are an entirely affiliate facing team, providing advice, support and account management to a broad range of affiliates on the network. [[1]]
Which Affiliates Do Partnerships Work With?
Partnerships work with a broad base of affiliates including recognised names such as Nectar, Sky Shopping and Top Cashback providing them with account management and support.
Partnerships also provide advice and support to new entrants looking to enter the affiliate space whether they be individuals or companies interested in affiliate marketing.
How do I know if I need to go through Partnerships to contact an affiliate? Any brand name affiliates on your programme will most likely require communication through their contact in the Partnerships Team. Speak with your account contact who can advise you on this and where necessary liaise with Partnerships regarding this affiliate partner.
How can I get involved in the promotions run by partnerships affiliates? One of the primary roles of Partnerships is to source offers from merchants for promotional opportunities.
Speak to your account manager to highlight your offer or opportunity which they can share with the partnerships team.
The partnerships team also utilise the AWin Offers Blog to communicate offers to their affiliates, Often sending a daily update of blog entries to a shortlist of engaged affiliates. Therefore ensure that any promotions you run are updated on the offers blog to maximise exposure to both partnerships and affiliates.
How can I present a bespoke offer to an individual partnerships affiliate or group of partnerships affiliates? If you are interested in offering a bespoke offer to a specific affiliate, or group of affiliates, e.g. loyalty affiliates, then you can present this opportunity to your account manager who will liaise with the partnerships team. Make sure you provide details of the offer and the affiliate or types of affiliate you would like to target. We will feedback on next steps.
What kinds of promotional opportunities are there with Partnerships Affiliates? Promotional Opportunities range from possible exposure in weekly newsletters for large loyalty affiliates, home page exposure on high traffic portals, seasonal promotional areas on a variety of affiliate websites and even promotion offline in newspapers or radio.
Fraudulent or unethical activity on your programme
What action should I take about an unethical affiliate?
An unethical affiliate is an affiliate whose promotional methods may not be deemed as fraudulent by breaking the law but may operate counter to the spirit of affiliate marketing by forcing clicks or hijacking traffic. If you feel an affiliate on your programme is acting unethically, speak to your account contact as soon as possible, supplying them with all the information you have and highlighting your concerns. Your account contact will then be able to investigate the issue and if necessary liaise with the partnerships team or compliance team to resolve it.
How can I monitor for fraudulent activity?
Review regular trends and monitor account activity to ensure you are confident with the way your affiliates are promoting you.
Check your account daily and monitor any affiliate with significant changes in either clicks, conversions and sales, being mindful of recent promotions.
You can use both the “Affiliate Performance Report” and “Performance Over Time Report” to spot any significant changes Watch out for:
- Short click to transaction times on a significant number of orders for any one affiliates
- Sudden improvements in conversion rate, or a conversion rate significantly higher than the average
- Sudden increase in either number of clicks or number of sales
Changes to the above do not mean that there is fraudulent activity occurring but may be worth investigating as it either signifies a problem or something positive for you to be aware of, like a new web-site re-design or email promotion.
If you are concerned about any of your affiliates raise this with your account contact for further investigation.
Once a sale is approved you have agreed to pay the affiliate commission on that sale. Therefore any checks to ensure the sale is genuine should be made before this occurs.
Be particularly mindful of high order values (especially via cashback websites)making all the usual internal checks to ensure the sale is genuine before validating commissions.
Do Affiliates Get Commission on Cancelled Orders?
For a detailed response to this frequently asked question, click here
Why are some of my pending commissions highlighted in pink?
If you see a pending commission row highlighted in pink, this means that the order reference has already been tracked in the system. As the order reference must be unique, this is a flag to show a duplication so you can decline accordingly.
Duplications can occur when a purchases saves the confirmation of sale page (mainly to keep a record of the order reference and additional details). If this page is accessed again at alter stage it can fire the tracking to record the sale again, however the system will identify this as a duplicate.
This should rarely occur, but if persistent please contact your account manager who can lease with tech services who can assist you with a solution.