Ba missing one thing

Hi Don,

Thanks for the suggestion, and for trying out BestAzon.

We’d be happy to consider the suggestion. A couple of points:

1. It is not clear to us – what is the expected benefit of directing a Australian Visitor to US? It seems highly unlikely that that person will buy from US?
2. Technically, it should be easily possible to direct countries without an affiliate program (Australia, Netherlands etc) to go to another country – it will probably take some thought on what that country should be.
3. We will work on providing option to do this in a way that is not too complex, or causes unintended consequences. One way to do may be to provide an option to use the local stores for countries with no affiliate program or to use the original link

In any event, our data shows that the expected EPC for sending AU visitors to US store is minimal – so it may not be worth it, but yeah, options are probably good!

Thanks for getting back so quickly AAP,

> 1. It is not clear to us – what is the expected benefit of directing a Australian Visitor to US? It seems highly
> unlikely that that person will buy from US?

When I ran this past my 72-year-old wife she said B-S. (censored) She has been an Amazon member since 2002, and as a family, we have spent many thousands of dollars at Amazon US over the years. Amazon Australia is only a minimal bookshop right now, and anything you would be searching for simply wouldn’t be there, and it gives an error. I am wondering how in the world I would check items and test links if I was sent to Am-AU. I would need to run another browser, or browser window, or switch off Ba every time to do my testing.

Just a little boring history. Started my first business in 1964, wrote my first software code in 1975, sold on the Internet in 1993, (Dontronics.com) in the days when you had to code up your own Hyper Text Markup Language by hand until the first version of Netscape was released and had a built in WYSIWYG HTML editor. I would imagine that many of the 24 Million people of Australia would have spent billions of dollars at Amazon US since it was first opened.

If you can’t do anything, I would kindly ask you for a code patch to enable me to direct AU visitors to the US until such time as the local store starts, or has enough stock to actually make it worthwhile to send visitors locally. I may be able to work it out for myself, but at 74, my brain cells aren’t working at full capacity.

2. Technically, it should be easily possible to direct countries without
> an affiliate program (Australia, Netherlands etc) to go to another country – it will probably take some thought on
> what that country should be.

Thanks but for me, it would have to be the US. As I suggested, make the admin user control of this the same way that Ea do it would be super. I can go through and give you their defaults if that interests you. Then it is up to the user to set it up however they want to. They become responsible, not you. You have a great plug-in. Think about this and make it even greater. I won’t quote Donald Trump here, as I know America is very split on that issue. ??

3. We will work on providing option to do this in a way that is not too complex, or
> causes unintended consequences. One way to do may be to provide an option to use the local stores for countries with
> no affiliate program or to use the original link

As I say, make the user responsible for this action. It takes the consequences away from you.

> In any event, our data shows that the expected EPC for sending AU visitors to US store is minimal – so it may not be
> worth it, but yeah, options are probably good!

If you wouldn’t do it, and I couldn’t, I would be getting an Indian freelancer to work out a patch for me. This is a great program, do it right and you have a real winner. EasyAzon is absolute junk. I have 3 sites that it doesn’t work on, and Ea can’t, or don’t want to help.

My site is a test site for the two girls I am helping out:
https://popular-electronics.com
My daughter’s site: https://watchyourselves.com/
Her friend Dawn’s site: https://cookloveeat.com/

Thanks in advance,

Cheers Don…

Thanks Don. Your background is impressive, and helps us understand the case for the option you seek.

Stay tuned.. we’d have positive update for you in a couple of days.

Thanks AAP, that sounds really good.

I was starting to peck through bestazon.php, but feel it would have been beyond me at this stage. I can do a patch easily, but it appears that I won’t need to.

I am pretty sure I pushed you in the right direction, and hope this enhancement really pays off for you.

Cheers Don…

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by donmck2017.

Thank you AAP, got your live on-line Ba update, and have installed it.

Does precisely what I wanted, that is direct Australia to the US. I assume that when we get an affiliate store up and running, I can set it back to normal.

re the wording: “If selected, the visitor will always go to the nearest Amazon store, even if the store has not affiliate program (e.g. Australia, Netherlands). If not, the visitor from these countries will go to the original link country”

Just want to clarify “original link country”. In my case, this seems to be the US, but I only have a US affiliate ID in the table at the moment, so if I had it full of country IDs, will it still redirect to the US store?

It isn’t quite what I had suggested. That is, allowing the user to make their own selection and accept the responsibility of redirection, so I guess I need to run with your selection, even if my stats are telling me otherwise.

But very grateful that you have come up with this modification so quickly.

Thanks, Cheers Don…

Hi Don,

You are quick – we made the new release quite late in the night, and I was planning to get back to you this morning with the update. Seems like you already stole the thunder! ??

You are correct – with the new option set to “No”, the Amazon stores from AU and NL will not be used anymore. ANy visitor from AU, clicking on the US link will still go to US. If you’d want to go back to the default setting (i.e. AU visitor goes to amazon.com.au), just select “Yes” as the option.

In future, when AU gets its own affiliate program, we’d make changes in the backend so that AU visitor goes to AU. This new option just lets you select whether you want Amazon stores without affiliate program or not.

Hopefully this does what you wanted to do. Its not implemented exactly the way you had suggested due to other considerations, but we hope that’s not material?

Would love to hear your experience with the new feature.

Also, if you have 2 minutes, please consider leaving a review. More people using the plugin is a great motivator to invest efforts in making it even better! ??

R

PS: there is another new option for honring the existing IDs or not. By default, BA uses the affiliate tag embedded in the original link for the primary country. However, if you;d like to force BA to use the tag provided in the settings page, just select “No” there.

Hi AAP,

sorry about stealing your thunder. The update was showing on my WP site, so I updated and tested it. ??

Two questions about what you have said:

“In future, when AU gets its own affiliate program, we’d make changes in the back end so that AU visitor goes to AU. This new option just lets you select whether you want Amazon stores without affiliate program or not.”

Having an affiliate program doesn’t mean that the range of items in the store represent what is available in the US. Current example is they have a few books, and my wife would want to continue to shop from the US until such time as the stock in Australia pretty much equals the stock in the US. I am sure other countries have had this problem. It means you tell me when my country redirects, and I don’t have a choice. Same applies to other goods, and getting local stock.

But then, I guess this is about generating commissions, not worrying about a country having local stock or not. Am I going overboard on this point?

“PS: there is another new option for honoring the existing IDs or not. By default, BA uses the affiliate tag embedded in the original link for the primary country. However, if you;d like to force BA to use the tag provided in the settings page, just select “No” there.”

Sorry, having trouble understanding this. “No” there?” Are we talking about the new menu item you added?

By default, BA uses the affiliate tag embedded in the original link for the primary country. “OK, I get that”

Sorry, I am going to ask you for more specific details on your second statement in that paragraph.

Re review, sure. As I came into this product from a support point of view, I didn’t look at the full Ba forum structure. Is there a preferred location to place a review? And should I list my web site as a working example that can be tested by the user? I know this can be a double-edged sword in many ways, and it really is under construction at this stage.

PS, my gut feeling still is the site owner should be able to direct their reading audience to the country of their choice. That way they control it and are responsible, not you.

Cheers Don…

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by donmck2017.

Ha ha.. no worries!

Response to your questions:

1. I get your point. We will not “promote” the Amazon AU to the fully functional Amazon store lists till the time it is mature and have a reasonable range of products available. At that point, we will switch Amazon AU to the list of “mature” stores. Hopefully that will address your concerns of pre-mature promotion of Amazon AU. If not, we can work on alternative ways to provide more control. As usu the trade off is between keeping plugin simple enough to maintain and use vs. providing more customization options.

2. Sorry for confusing you. In my enthusiasm for the new version, I mentioned new feaures that were not part of original conversation. I was referring to new option called “Honor existing tag in the URL, if present”. If you select “No” there, the plugin will ALWAYS use the tags you specify in the settings page. If you select “yes”, the plugin will use the tag that is already there in the original link. Minor point, and nothing to do with your original query, but some other users had requested that choice.

3. Thanks for considering a review. I don’t mean to pander, but that’s the only way to make the plugin visible to more folks! If you can find time, you can leave a review here.

4. On your PS statement – I do see your point. As I said before, the more customized options we provide, the more complex the plugin becomes. One of the guiding principles for BestAzon has been simplicity and plug and play operation where it “just works” out of the box without needing much thought. That is not to say that customization options are not a good thing – they certainly are and we try to provide them when that is the best way to go. We may go that ways once we have a chance to get more feedback – so far, yours is the first one asking for more custom redirect options. If we get more demand for that feature, for sure! ??

Thanks AAF,

All points noted. I can see your main aim is to have this product work straight out of the box, and have minimal user input. I get it.

As such, I will go ahead with Ba as it is now, and see where the journey takes us. Turning EasyAzon off as we speak. ??

Re the review, I am thinking if I was to do a half decent review and one that I could add to or update easily, I would start a new thread in this forum with “BestAzon Review” or similar as a subject matter, do a short summary and invite users to check their Affiliate redirection on my site. I know opening it up as a test site can be very much a double edged sword if I am looking for Affiliate commissions as well.

No doubt I will get comments, questions, and suggestions, many of which I will direct back to you.

That wasn’t my original intention but at my age, I am only sitting here waiting to fall off the perch, so this will fill in a wee bit of time while we are waiting. ??

My site was set up only as a test site for two girls having problems with getting local affiliate links working in a global market.

Currently, my site is a hotchpot of Affiliate redirection code and links and not much content.

Give me a week or two to make it into a real site, and for me to do an initial basic Ba review (which I can update at any time), then I’ll post a review to this forum.

I hope this is suitable.

BTW
Again thank you for catering for my needs so quickly, and for being so receptive to my suggestions.

Cheers Don…

Thanks. Glad you found it useful.

Good luck with your website!

Hi again AAP,

EasyAzon has an ‘add to cart’ feature, an appended string something like ‘add to cart = y’ on the end of the link.

Would this be complex or simple to do in the case of Ba?

Just asking, not critical. It means I may be able to add an ‘add to cart’ button along with others I am creating. Gives me 89 days to make a commission from that customer. You may well be aware.

Cheers Don…

Yes Don – that feature is definitely on our roadmap. Should be available in the next release in about a month.

Fantastic AAP,

I spoke to my my daughter about the “add to cart” and the 89 day extension, and she says, but it scares customers away as they only want to check the product, not add it to the cart. Then she wonders what is the right way of doing this to get the best commission.

I decided on creating a 3 button system:
“Check Product” “Search Keyword” “Add to Cart”

“Check Product” goes straight to the advertised product, and not added to the cart.
“Search Keyword” of course gives a wide range of similar products.
“Add to Cart” self explanatory.

I believe this gives the Affiliate and the customer the best of both worlds.

From your point of view, I guess you can have a global setting to add all items to the cart, or leave as is, but I am hoping you can also cater for an “Add to Cart” button, in addition to the normal “Check Product”.

Cheers Don…

Thanks Don. We are still designing the implementation of the “add to cart” feature – will let you know once we determine that.

On your 3 button system, my initial feeling is that its too complicated and too many buttons for the customer. Personally, I prefer a simple to follow layout on all my sites… I’ve seen the “add to cart” feature to add value only f your webpages have all the details customer will like to see before making purchase decision. If your page is simply a basic brief on the product, the user may actually get turned off if he/she is taken to the cart directly.

but of course you know your visitors best… do what you think is the best. At BestAzon, we are happy to provide you with the tools needed to do that.

Thanks AAP, As I am really building an Affiliate site for the first time, so I think you will know customers better than I do. ??

I’m only going on what my daughter tells me. Hopefully, I will get some first-hand information soon.

Again, thank you for getting back so quickly. Really appreciated.

Cheers Don…