Flippy - I Rant, You Read

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

terribly early in the morning

Idiot of the Day - BISSELL

I just received an email from BISSELL, bragging about how they’re helping Petfinder.  Let me tell you a little about affiliate marketing and then we’ll see how much bragging Bissell should be doing.  BISSELL tells me in their Petfinder advertisement (and yes, that’s exactly what it is, advertising on the back of Petfinder) email that my purchase can help Petfinder.  They think because I joined Petfinder that I’ll fall all over this part of their email, “Did you know when you purchase BISSELL products through the Petfinder.com website, 5% of the total sale will go directly to Petfinder.com? Nothing could be better than helping sheltered pets while making cleaning around the home a little easier!”

Whoo hoo, 5 whole percent?  Hold me back, I’m so excited.  Okay, I lied, I’m not excited at all.  I’m an affiliate for Sharper Image, and if I sell their products, I get a minimum of 8% (it used to be 10%, when we were actually making money from our Sharper Image traffic - funny how the percentage was lowered at the same time as our sales percentage was also lowered…mo’ money for Sharper Image, but this isn’t about them) to a maximum of 12%, and I’m just a person walking in off the street.  So, I went to BISSELL’S website to see what their affiliate program pays.  Yes, it indeed also pays 8%, so they’re stealing 3% from Petfinder, yet getting the benefit of advertising as a pet loving do-gooder through Petfinder’s email list.  Pretty crappy, huh?

Sure, I forgot to mention the tremendous giveaway of ten (10) free BISSELL/Petfinder shirts, if you register for the “BISSELL Pet Lovers Community”.  Whoo hoo, ten whole t-shirts.  If you buy the fancy-pants BISSELL ProHeat 2X Select Upright Deep Cleaner (which I’d love to have, by the way - although the Little Green Portable Deep Cleaner might be even better…and cheaper) for $250, the average BISSELL affiliate off the street would make $20; however, Petfinder would only make $12.50.  Not very pet friendly, is it?  Shouldn’t BISSELL be giving Petfinder a BETTER affiliate percentage than Joe Schmoe, who logs into the BISSELL website and immediately gets to make 8%?  I think that, at the very least, Petfinder should make 10%.  I can get $2 t-shirts at Michael’s to print cute BISSELL/Petfinder advertising on, so I’m not impressed by the ten t-shirts they’re giving away each month.

I was going to write to BISSELL myself, privately, but I was so offended by the crappy 5% that I needed to do it publicly.  The email acted like BISSELL was doing such a tremendous favor for Petfinder, when in fact, it’s Petfinder who is doing the favor for BISSELL.  Maybe Petfinder just needs to find some experienced affiliate marketers who know when companies are trying to cheat a pet rescue organization.  If you’d like to tell BISSELL how disappointed in them you are, here’s their contact form.

By the way, this isn’t to say that BISSELL doesn’t have excellent products - they do.  But, I would like them to be more generous to Petfinder…or at the very least, treat them as well as they’d treat any affiliate who wanders by their website to sign up for their affiliate program.