Cross-Sale-Alternatives?

[Cyndalie]

So of course there are affiliates seeking ways to profit from multiple site sales to customers without them actually being traditional cross-sales...well PersianKitty's program is offering customers the option to switch their memberships from one site to another without actually having to cancel and rejoin.

Apparently it's a NATS plugin that is allowing cross program access from one site to another so that if the customer rebills on a site not their own that program earns a payout on the transfered membership. This is without billing information being shared. (more info)

I see goods and bads to this. The good is that it allows programs to 'exchange' business and continue to rebill a customer without abusing their faith, transferring card numbers, and ultimately can offer them access to an unlimited variety of paysites each month - "keeping" a customer happy even if it's a product not their own.

The drawbacks can be confusing for customers to know where to cancel after they long forget where they originally signed up. Email reminders each time they rebill or exhange a membership would have to provide support information to keep them on the right page. I also wonder what the case is for memberships transferred more than once a month (what programs pay eachother in the case of access without a rebill to maintain the 'cross sale' payout)

I'm sure there are some details I'm missing, but it's an interesting development.

[Evil Chris]

I had to read that twice before getting a grasp on it myself.

Initially I'm not crazy about the idea. This business really seems to try to out-do their competitor in any way possible, all the while up-selling one another from inside member's areas or in consoles or whatever way.

What's driving this new method? Greed brought higher and higher payouts. Greed brought all the free content to affiliates. I'm not sure this is a greed issue, but more of a "keep the member in the system, being billed as long as possible..."

I'd be confused if it were my card number when it came time to cancel, and I'm replying to this from inside the system....

[Cyndalie]

Greed, maybe. I think it's more of a cover for profit loss from the take down of MC Xsales.

[Evil Chris]

Originally Posted by Cyndalie

Greed, maybe. I think it's more of a cover for profit loss from the take down of MC Xsales.

I have actually heard of this process, but years ago. But the money was flowing so hard back then, that nobody put a lot of effort into bringing it to fruition.