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Edmund Burke

Source: http://www.thoughtshapers.com/index.php/weblog/amazon-affiliates-under-attack-threaten-class-action-netenforcers/
June 9, 2007 - content has not been altered. Links have been removed.

Amazon Affiliates Under Attack,
Threaten Class Action

by Jeff Molander
jeff-at-thoughtshapers.com.

The age old Cold War between retailers and original equipment manufacturers just ran head-first into affiliate marketing’s biggest success story—Amazon.com.

Amazon is under attack by its own affiliates, reports 5Staraffiliateprograms. In short, Amazon affiliates are accusing NetEnforcers of creating a hoax -- in an effort to shut them down by calling up hosting services and, in some cases, convincing them to shut off affiliate Web sites (for fear of legal reprisal).

I say again: shutting off their Web sites. I thought re-structuring link formats was a way to fight this fire. That’s relatively child’s play.

At the center is a “brand protection” agency that has ties to marketplace-based sofware solutions providers which provide a relatively (versus affiliate marketing) controllable business environment.

In reality, this is absolutely not a hoax and based on a serious dose of mis-information, lack of understanding or both.

I (and others like Lauren Freedman) have discussed, for years now, the subject of this phenomenon: Major OEM (original equipment manufacturers) brands having problems with Web affiliate programs (operated by their retail distributors). Many have suggested that I was wrong or over-focused on negative aspects. Affiliates’ perceived impact on brand experience, largely through poorly executed Web sites, is quite real (out of date pricing and/or product information, non-conforming logos and images, etc.). The phenomenon I warned of is bigger, meaner and more powerful than even I could have imagined.

Amazon Responds
The entire distribution system is stressed; retailers and affiliates are forever doing a silent (and occasionally direct) battle with each other as are OEMs and retailers. Everyone wants the customer and the Web is finally proving to be a serious threat to retailers who, at one time, were able to aggregate demand through physical location—“location, location, location” remember? The sooner everyone realizes this the better. Clearly Amazon is not on the path of enlightenment as it is issuing statements to affiliates like this one:

“Associates - It has come to our attention that some participants in the Amazon.com Associates Program have received letters from an entity called ‘Net Enforcers’ or from a law firm working on behalf of Net Enforcers. In these letters, Net Enforcers alleges that certain product images or other web site content violates their clients intellectual property rights. Some of you have received these letters because of images or other content that you receive from Amazon.com as a result of your participation in our Associates Program. We believe these claims regarding Amazon Web Services are simply wrong, and we are committed to working with you and Net Enforcers to help resolve these issues. If you would like Amazon.com to respond to Net Enforcers on your behalf, please contact us at associates@amazon.com, and include a copy of any letters you have received from Net Enforcers regarding Amazon.com content.”

You know it’s getting good when you see Amazon flying in choppers loaded with big payloads of water to douse the flames. They’re even going as far as suggesting they’ll complain to NetEnforcers who will, in turn, shuffle it up the chain to their client—likely on its way directly into the circular bin.

Can Retailers Catch a Break? What’s worse than being an affiliate who gets squashed by search engines, retailers themselves or—lately—the likes of Sony and Crutchfield? I say, being a retailer who can’t get e-mail delivered, is forced to play the price game (shopping comparison); challenged to re-create the stores experience online; forced to deal with transaction fraud and returns-and-cancels operations; forced to discount or compete with discounters; challenged to aggregate demand (as a shopping mall does) in a medium (the Web) that can’t support it; forced to deal with manufacturers increasingly selling direct… the odds are truly stacked against retailers. Retailing sucks!

Lack of Perspective
Perspective is what we often lose in life and is of critical importance. Affiliate marketing (as an industry) needs to first understand the long-standing, and yet evolving, dynamic that exists between OEMs and their retailers. Lack of perspective is making things needlessly stressful and could lead affiliates who use the word “hoax” and make suggestions of illegal activity (aimed at NetEnforcers) into trouble. While it’s easy (for affiliates) to type threats of class action lawsuits against NetEnforcers they, themselves, may risk legal action based on their own lack of perspective. NetEnforcers is doing a job and is stuck in the middle of a Cold War that has been going on for years now.

June 15, 2006

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