Linkshare announced today that they’re moving to weekly payments:
By moving to a weekly payment schedule, LinkShare will reduce publishers’ wait time to receive commissions and effectively double the number of paydays from its current plan. The new schedule, combined with LinkShare’s arrangement to pay publishers on everything earned over $1, rather than waiting for them to earn over $25 or $50 like other major networks, makes LinkShare the most publisher-friendly payment plan in the market.
Make no mistake about it, this is a positive move. Getting paid earlier is always better.
Though getting paid more frequently is not always better. Just ask any affiliate overseas what they do with $20 checks. Due to bank fees, they’re utterly useless. Most non-US affiliates would rather get one big fat check rather than 4 small ones.
I took a quick look in the interface and it does not appear that I can configure a minimum threshold or set my payment frequency. So this might actually be a step in the wrong direction for some.
However, this is only part one of a one-two punch if they want to strike any knock-out blows based on affiliate-friendly features.
The publishers who need frequent payments most are those who spend significant money on PPC marketing. And Linkshare’s old-school daily reporting (or no reporting at all recently) leave publishers who spend big money by the minute working blind.
And even when I check once a day in the morning (EST) when I’m checking stats, it’s frequently not yet updated with prior-day data.
If Linkshare really wants to see their publisher-base grow and thrive, they should try revamping with real- or near-real-time click and transaction reporting.
I’m sorry to say, once a month payment is fine by me. Give me better, faster, open, API access to click and transaction data and I’ll be your best friend.
More reading:
Sam Harrelson on Revenews
Linda Buquet on 5 Star Affiliate – Linda has posted the entire press release
