I think it is crucial for every person involved in affiliate marketing to go over to ABestWeb and read the entire thread; it is all explained in great detail and with a clarity that I can not duplicate. Read  One Cause Parasite. Also provided at ABestWeb are short videos demonstrating the parasiteware in action. One Cause is affiliated with approximately 462 merchants from all networks. Affiliates can watch the millions of dollars being stolen. Merchants can watch millions of unearned dollars being stolen.

As reported at ABW, Haiko explains that there is parasitic toolbar (BHO) called One Cause that is stealing millions of dollars from affiliates. One Cause acts as an affiliate and they use a toolbar. They state they donate a portion of commissions to charities and under that pretense they encourage people to download the toolbar. Once the toolbar is downloaded onto someones computer, this toolbar overwrites cookies and redirects on 462 different merchants. This means that no matter how a customer arrives at any of the 462 merchants sites, One Cause will grab the commission. So if you, an average affiliate, sends a customer to a store such as Ebay or Dell or any of the other 460 merchants  you lose your commission. One Cause steals your commission, if your customer has One Cause on their computer. If you are one of the 462 merchants and a customer types in your website and then makes a purchase, One Cause earns a commission for doing nothing! One Cause gives half or so to charity and pockets the rest.  Over $211 MILLION is claimed to have been donated. This means well over $211 MILLION stolen from affiliates and from merchants. Haiko has posted videos of the redirection, you have to watch at least a few to truly understand how horrendous this is. Time after time affiliate commissions stolen.

Aside from the over $211 MILLION stolen from affiliates is the extra area of concern. One Cause is a subsidiary of RakutenUSA, Inc who also owns LinkShare. On Friday, a Linkshare moderator said that they will look into the situation and if this was happening they would take appropriate action. Meanwhile, One Cause is allowed to continue to operate over the weekend.

Whether you are an affiliate, a merchant or program manager you need to read the posts at ABW and watch at least a few of the videos. If you are an affiliate be sure to let your merchants know what is happening. This hurts  both affiliates and merchants.

Once again this is not a time to be silent.

Over the past week, I have asked merchants and program managers to reach out to NY Affiliates in one simple way. Let me know you are a NY Affiliate Friendly merchant, the network you are on and the reason you are NY Affiliate Friendly, and I’ll list you. It’s a simple list of programs but it accomplishes much more than that.  Be proud that you work with all affiliates, stand up and shout you value all affiliates. Seize the chance to get noticed by quality NY affiliates seeking merchants to work with. Let all affiliates know you are a merchant that truly values the partnership. Merchants should not be silent.

Unfortunately, the industry as a whole is still not prepared to deal with the NY Affiliate tax situation. Many merchants still refuse to allow NY Affiliates into their programs. Many other merchants have not added terms to their programs, yet they say “Hey, NY affiliates, don’t worry, we are well under the threshold.” Well, you know what, I am not reassured and I do worry. What happens tomorrow if the $10,000 threshold is met? We heard many reassurances and promises in May that we were safe. We all know how that worked.

Affiliates have little or no protection; we can be terminated at will. Every affiliate should read the terms of a typical agreement. You, as an affiliate, can be terminated and commissions voided at will, with or without just cause. In May and June, thousands of ethical NY affiliates were terminated from merchant programs simply because they were New York affiliates, sometimes with less than 24 hours notice. In some cases, links were deactivated ahead of time. Some merchants even decided they would deactivate affiliates retroactively. That means that on a date in June, NY affiliates were told they were deactived effective May 30 and any commissions earned were taken back. It is probably illegal to take back commissions earned and retroactively deactivate, but to my knowledge, that aspect of this issue has never been addressed in a formal manner by any network or merchant.

Every affiliate, no matter where they live and do business, should take notice of what happened to NY Affiliates. I know I have said it before but it bears repeating. This is not just a NY Tax issue; it’s not even just a NY issue or a tax issue. It is an industry issue. Affiliates, merchants and networks need to work together to ensure that the industry moves forward. Of course, many issues need to be addressed including but not limited to ethical practices, parasites, and BHO’s.  Improving the contracts or terms of service between affiliates and merchants is imperative. The industry cannot survive with one-sided contracts offering protection to only one party.

Affiliates cannot afford to be silent.

In May we heard silence and in some ways, that silence continues. To me that silence says more than any speech, blog or forum post ever could. In this instance, silence is not golden.

A New York Affiliate Friendly Merchant is not just a merchant who currently accepts NY affiliates. A NY Affiliate Friendly Merchant is one who not only accepts NY affiliates today, but is also prepared for tomorrow, by setting up their programs so that NY affiliates do not have to be concerned about losing the “valued partnership” because of geography. They are either set up to accept sales tax, prepared to do so, or have the terms set up to rebut a nexus.

NY Affiliate Friendly status is obtained by meeting one of six conditions.

• NY based
• Charging NY sales tax
• Implemented the 2 step solution - Agreement to special terms restricting direct solicitation and signed affidavits in May of each year.
• Non taxable items sold
• Lead program or flat paid per click
• Under $10,000 threshold AND instituted special terms restricting direct solicitation that will offer protection if threshold is met.

For me, NY Affiliate Friendly means ready for today and ready for tomorrow.