Hi Charlie,

Unfortunately I have had a very similar experience with the Bondara affiliate program.

I made contact with my affiliate manager to discuss this issue and was told they don't credit the affiliate when a customer uses a discount code that is not supplied for affiliate promotion.

The Bondara webgains page states regarding affiliate discount/voucher codes:

Quote:Marketing channels for the Bondara programme are:

• Discount/Voucher site
  

Quote:Voucher Codes: Offer both Generic and Exclusive Codes

Quote:Voucher: 3% Commission

So, if you do promote Bondara using a discount code then you are likely to only receive 3% commission, even though they state their commission rate is 13% - 22%.

The issue or question is, that if you are not promoting Bondara using a discount code website and refer a customer from a non-voucher code site, who obtains a discount code from Bondara or another website, that is not an affiliate supplied discount code, then should the affiliate get credited the full commission rate for their referral?

I can't comment on the 20% Bondara newsletter discount code, but can confirm this newsletter discount code offer is displayed on every single Bondara webpage and even in a modal popup, even when visiting Bondara via Bondara/Webgains affiliate links, which is displayed in a highly prominent position that is likely to have a high uptake. So, do customers who use these codes result in the reversal of your commission?

It might be worth running some test purchases to see if this is indeed the case, if it is true, then this is considered a leak and is frowned upon in the affiliate community, publish any findings to make other affiliates aware of this tactic to reduce a merchant affiliate costs by unethical means, obtaining sales using the affiliate marketing model without fairly compensating the affiliate for their efforts.

I have just checked and do have pending commission where the customers I have referred have used discount codes that have not been published by myself. So, I will report back on if this is paid or reversed, plus will run a couple of purchases using the discount codes that Bondara are supplying referred affiliates to see if they impact affiliate commission.

Thank you for sharing you experience with us. I have replied to confirm that your case is not an isolated incident.

Just an update: The pending Bondara commissions, stated in my post above, some of which included purchases where voucher/promo codes I have not published myself were used, has now been approved, paid and cleared.