I'm in the middle of processing Kickback orders for Adult DVD Empire and I'm discovering that more and more Kickback program users are not going to get credit for all items purchased.
Purchases eligible for Kickback Credits must be made through Participating Merchants by using a special Kickback program link ("Special Link") on the ADT Website. The purchase must be completed within the same visit to the Participating Merchant's website after clicking the Special Link. You may not earn Reward credits if you a) close your browser before completing the order process at the Participating Merchant's website, or b) visit another website prior to completing the order process at the Participating Merchant's site. The methods of tracking purchases made through Special Links are specific to each Participating Merchant.
I'd like to clarify this a bit with respect to Kickback order tracking at Adult DVD Empire. In order for you to receive Kickback credit for any items you MUST transfer the items through the Kickback program mechanism. You may add additional items to your shopping cart after transferring items through the Kickback program but DO NOT leave their site prior to doing so. This includes coming back to Adult DVD Talk!!! If you come back to ADT (or any other site) and click through to Adult DVD Empire (or DVD Empire, or Pornstar Empire, etc.) using a non-Kickback link any additional items added to the cart are NOT ELIGIBLE for Kickback credit.
Here's a couple scenarios that demonstrate easy ways to lose out on Kickback credit for items you've purchased:
You click through to Adult DVD Empire from another web site like Rog Reviews, DVD Porn Reviews, Adult DVD Reviews, IAFD.com, etc. You add a number of items to your shopping cart and remember that you would like to get 15% back through the Kickback Program. So you go to ADT, log in to your Kickback profile and transfer an additional item to your Empire shopping cart. You then place your order and receive an automated confirmation for the full order amount. You think life is swell and forget about your huge Kickback credit for a while. (...life continues...) A month later you receive a notification that your Kickback account has been credited for an order of only $9.95 when your order was confirmed for $135.98! Now you're pissed at Drew (he's been called a theiving bastard before) and/or DVD Empire for screwing you out of a bunch of money. The hate mail begins...
This example is pretty obvoius as to why you won't get full credit for the order. You didn't transfer all of the items to Empire's site through a Kickback link. (or place them in your cart after entering their site through a Kickback link.) Only one item was purchased through a Kickback link. The commission for the other items is paid to the site you initially clicked through and not to Adult DVD Talk. Since we aren't paid for the items we can't issue Kickback credit even though your order was initially confirmed for a higher amount. We can only pay based on the amount reported to us.
You transfer an item to Adult DVD Empire using the Kickback program. You then return to Adult DVD Talk to continue price searching other items. You find another item you wish to purchase and subsequently re-enter Adult DVD Empire through a price search link, a coupon link or other non-Kickback link.
Any items added to your cart after re-entering their site through a non-Kickback link are not eligible for Kickback credit. Even though you are returning to Adult DVD Talk and clicking through to Adult DVD Empire it's treated the same way as leaving their site and going to any other site.
You transfer 5 items from your ADT comparison cart to DVD Empire using the Kickback cart transfer. You want to do a little more comaprison shopping prior to placing an order. You visit a few other sites reading reviews, checking screen shot's etc. One of the sites you visit bombards you with popup ads so you close your browser. You re-open your browser, come back to Adult DVD Talk and click through to Adult DVD Empire using a Kickback link. As part of the checkout process you enter a $10 off coupon code. You complete the checkout process and receive an order confirmation from Adult DVD Empire and a Kickback order confirmation from Adult DVD Talk for the full amount of your order.
In this situation none of the items are eligible for Kickback credit because you left Adult DVD Empire's site after transferring the items from the Kickback program. To make matters worse for ADT, the $10 off coupon is reported to us as a negative $10 sale. This is deducted from our affiliate payment and amounts to a loss of $2 for us.
I know this is very long-winded but I feel it's important to provide this level of detail.
I usually put a bunch of DVDs in my comparison cart, then when I'm ready to buy, I add and remove titles, that I have either gained interest in or lost interest in.
I always use the comparison cart now. And since I usually order from adultDVDempire, it's just as easy to transfer the cart to login to my Kickback account, transfer cart, login to my adultDVDempire account, check out, and wait for the Kickbacks to roll in.
I was worried about my first Kickback order, wondering if I did it right. But when I got the confirmation email, I was a very happy man. I've since used the Kickback feature on all orders with no problems, same with redeeming, no problem-o, works great.
I was even more happy when adultDVDempire joined the program.
& I thought that the user agreement was very self explanitory, when I signed up.
I had hoped the agreement was self-explanatory but I'm seeing many more problem orders these days. Granted the increase in problem orders may be due to the overall increase in Kickback users. We're getting roughly 100 new people using the progrma per month. More people means more potential for problems.
Oops, I goofed. I placed my very first order through Kickbacks at Adult DVD Empire in late April. I clicked through the appropriate Kickback link at Adult DVD Talk for the porn title I was ordering. But while I was at Adult DVD Empire's site, I added a mainstream title to my cart, which means I inadvertently went to a different URL (DVD Empire) and probably lost my credit.
Would it have worked if I had done it the other way around? Should I have added the mainstream title to my Empire cart first, then gone to Adult DVD Talk to click through the Kickback link and add the adult title?
Your best bet would probably be to add the mainstream title to your DVD Empire Wish List prior to going through the kickback process. Then, after you click through the Kickback link, you will be able to transfer the title in your wishlist to your shopping cart as the Adult and Mainstream titles share the same wishlist at DVD Empire.
You should be getting a note confirming credit was issued later tonight or sometime tomorrow. I'm about 50% done processing Adult DVD Empire Kickback credit for April at the moment. You should get credit for the adult item you transferred. Going between DVD Empire and Adult DVD Empire (or Pornstar Empire, etc.) does not constitute leaving their site.
Whew! Thanks Drew. I misread your first post on this thread. I actually just now realized I can view my order history through my Kickback account, and yes, the pending credit is listed there. Sorry about my awkwardness; I'll get it all figured out soon.
I have another question. I just tried to order another title at Adult DVD Empire through Kickbacks a few minutes ago. I wanted to take advantage of the $5 coupon that's listed on the home page of Adult DVD Talk. I added the title to my comparison cart, which properly reduced the price by $5 (as well as displaying the Kickback amount that would be credited later). But when I clicked through the Kickback link, Adult DVD Empire did not reduce the price by $5. There also was no obvious place for me to enter the coupon code. I did not complete the order, and I'm wondering what I need to do to get the coupon. Is this a question you can answer, or do I need to contact the Empire?
<Edited to add the following update> Oops again! Never mind. I just found the field where I can enter the promotional code for the coupon. It's at the very bottom of the shopping cart page, beneath my overly long wish list. I think I'm all set now. Thanks again for your help.
I forgot to mention that AdultDVDEmpire got my order to me REALLY fast and I got some great prices on some sale items. They weren't the ones who screwed up the Kickback either, that was me.
"Madness takes its toll, please have exact change." -- Pete Murphy
Processed credits for a few hundred Adult DVD Empire Kickback orders last night and this morning. It's nice to see that more people are getting the full credit due them but there are still users missing out.
I am seeing a number of Kickback users placing huge Kickback orders and using a $20 off coupon. It's a great way to rack up the savings if you follow the rules.
If you have items in your shopping cart at Adult DVD Empire prior to clicking through to their site using a Kickback link you WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT FOR THOSE ITEMS. There are a handful of shoppers that go directly to Empire's site (without using a Kickback link), place all of the items in their cart, come back to Adult DVD Talk, get a coupon code, click through a Kickback link and then place their order. In this scenario the only item attached to the Kickback tracking code is the Coupon Code because it's the only item added to the cart after clicking through the Kickback link to Empire's store. All of the items in the cart do not have a Kickback tracking identifier attached to them and therefore will not earn credit.
I know many people will be screaming "WTF!? My automated order confirmation said my order was $200+. Why did I get no credit at all?" The automatic order confirmation mechanism only reports the order total. It is unable to determine which portion of the order is eligible for Kickback credit. That determination is made after the order is shipped.
If you want to be sure you're earning the proper credit please be sure to add the items to your cart after clicking through a Kickback link and be sure to make the purchase within the same browser session.
Of all the fishes in the sea, the mermaid is the one for me! 410 Posts 6/02
Posted - Aug 19 2002 : 6:06PM
Drew--2 comments & 1 question.
1. I always have a game plan (with alternate choices) before I start a kickback buying session. This way I don't need to leave the store. 2. I always start by clicking only my 1st purchase thru kickback & then I use my store wish list to add on. I've never been shafted using this method.
The question is: Couldn't you minimize the store's kickback link-bring up adt for a search-close that when you're done-& then bring back the orig. link? Would this get around ADE's system (I mean, you didn't really leave the store, right?)
You can have two browser windows open and you will get credit as long as you don't re-enter their site through any means. If you click through a Kickback link to Empire's site and while browsing their site type "www.adultdvdempire.com" into the address of your browser you have just re-entered their site and invalidated the Kickback tracking code.
As a shopper, I'm only interested in two things: 1. What I see is what I get. 2. If (1) doesn't hold, an easy way to corrects it.
So when I placed an order, I need confirmation that it is a kickback order before the order is accepted. Also if the confirmation is stated such as "You then place your order and receive an automated confirmation for the full order amount", I expect to get kickback for FULL order amount. If not, I expect to get it corrected. It's simple as that.
You have been given the proper procedure for placing a kickback order at DVD Empire. If you don't follow that procedure, ADT does not get credit for the order (or a portion of that order).
ADT is giving you a portion of the commission that they earn. If you screw up and prevent them from receiving that commission, then you won't receive your share of that commission (a percentage of zero is zero). So, don't screw up and there won't be a problem.
Actually, you won't get squat if you don't follow the rules, I don't care what you expect to get. You might expect to get a brand new BMW but that isn't going to happen either.
If you don't like the rules then I wholeheartedly encourage you to cash in any available balances and promptly remove yourself from the program.
I didn't mention it in my earlier post but what the hell.
Not only do shoppers miss out on their Kickback credit by not placing the an order properly through the program, ADT loses money too. And I don't mean we make less money, I mean that improperly placed Kickback orders may actually have a negative net effect our affiliate payment.
How does this happen? In the example where the only 'item' being tracked through the Kickback program is a $20 off coupon the commission on $20 ($4) is deducted from our affiliate account balance. It's not a huge amount of money but when it happens on a couple dozen orders it starts to add up quickly. Do we in turn deduct the appropriate amount from Kickback user's balance (in this case $3)? No, we dont' do that. Maybe we should? I don't think so.
The whole purpose of this thread is to help people ensure that they are earning the maximum Kickback credit possible on their purchases at Adult DVD Empire. We are happy to give you 75% of the income that we earn as a "thank you" for buying through our links at DVD Empire but if we don't receive credit for all items purchased then we simply can't pluck a few bucks from the money tree to make up for something we didn't receive.
