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.