Coral Adds Predatory Term

[Simmo!]

From Brand Conversions:


Important Changes to the Affiliate Terms & Conditions for Coral

Dear affiliate

We are writing to inform you of an important change that has been made to the terms and conditions of the Coral affiliate programme.

From 1st April 2009 there will be a new clause in place surrounding the life time revenue share earnings for non active affiliates as follows:

Revenue share will be payable on the life time value of a player as long as the affiliate continues to promote the Coral brand and generates depositors. In the case where the affiliate ceases promotion of the Coral brand and therefore does not generate any new depositors for a period of more than 2 months, the client reserves the right to cease all payments of revenue share on life time value of players. In this case the publisher and the network would not receive commission or payment for the revenue generated after the 2 month non active period.


I've asked Jayms if this is to be applied retroactively but being Coral I don't think they'd break the agreement. Damn nuisance - I just spent time adding them to my PPC site and now I have to remove them :( Highly unusual for a "good" operator to do this. Must be the credit crunch biting I guess.

[Spearmaster]

Ouch.

Coral is a good candidate for roguedom...

[Engineer]

Wow -- more minimum depositing player BS. :mad:

If they do enforce this retroactively, I'll add them to my blacklist along with Affiliate Club.

[JaymsBrooks]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in coming back to everyone. The clause has been amended and explained; please see the email I have just sent out below.

Hi Everyone

We wanted to write to follow up from the communication that was sent on Monday 16th March 2009 regarding the changes to the Coral terms and conditions in light of the feedback that we have received from a number of our affiliate partners.

The main reason why Coral wish to install such a clause is to stop life time remuneration when an affiliate has completely removed all Coral promotion on their sites.

In light of the feedback that we have received Brand Conversions and Coral have amended the statement as highlighted below:

“Revenue share will be on life time value. However to benefit from the revenue share on the life time value, publisher (affiliates) must promote the client’s brand and generate activity. In the case whereby a publisher is not promoting the client’s brands and therefore does not generate any new depositors during a period of more than 2 months, the client reserves the right to review individual cases and potentially cease all payments of revenue share on life time value.”

We will continue to invest time and energy into all of the affiliates that are actively promoting Coral and we very much hope that by providing these partners with our full support they will continue to deliver players and earn revenue from the programme long term. Please be assured that we are here to support you, we will be constantly monitoring activity and proactively contacting you to gain feedback to ensure that you have the right tools to promote Coral effectively.

In this current economic climate we understand that there may be a period where Coral is actively marketed to players but for reasons completely out of the affiliates control there are no registrations or new players delivered. We also appreciate that existing and future players that are sourced by affiliates are done so at the expense of the affiliate and we want to continue rewarding these affiliates with a share of the profit that these players generate. The aforementioned clause relates to affiliates that have ceased promotion of Coral and have removed all reference to Coral across their sites therefore generating no impressions or clicks.

In a specific instance whereby Coral wish to pursue this clause it would only apply to revenue share from new players referred from the 1st April 2009 onwards and would not apply to players that have been delivered to Coral by the affiliates under the existing agreement where life time revenue share is payable.

We are acutely aware that affiliates are the lifeblood of an affiliate programme and any changes that are made to the programme should never be at the detriment to these relationships.

If you have any questions regarding the above please do not hesitate to contact me on 01603 595002.

Thanks for your time

Jayms Brooks
Account Manager
Main: +44 (0) 1603 595002
Fax: +44 (0) 1603 702059
Website: www.brandconversions.com
Email: jayms@brandconversions.com

[Spearmaster]

Hi Jayms -

As far as I am concerned, this is still not acceptable. If you promise lifetime revenues, then it's lifetime, period. There may be reasons why your brand doesn't appear on a site - for example, limited space - some sites sell space and only use affiliate ads when space is available.

In my personal opinion, the clause needs to be removed completely - and it certainly may not be applied retroactively in any case.

[JaymsBrooks]

Hi Jayms -

As far as I am concerned, this is still not acceptable. If you promise lifetime revenues, then it's lifetime, period. There may be reasons why your brand doesn't appear on a site - for example, limited space - some sites sell space and only use affiliate ads when space is available.

In my personal opinion, the clause needs to be removed completely - and it certainly may not be applied retroactively in any case.

Hi Spearmaster

Thank you for your feedback I will pass the comments on.

Absolutely there are many reasons as to why a website has completely stopped promoting Coral. If the situation arose where an affiliate did not produce new depositors within a 2 month period, Coral and Brand Conversions would investigate the site(s), speak to the affiliate and see if there was anything we could do to support and help them. In the extreme situation where they didn't want to promote Coral anymore, then Coral reserves the right to stop their revenue share.

As per the last post this will only affect new player brought on from 1st April 2009. It will not be applied to players brought on before this date.

I am here if you have any more questions/concerns, alternatively my direct contact details are;

T - +441603 595002
E - jayms@brandconversions.com

Kind regards

Jayms

[Spearmaster]

Ok - if not retroactive, that's better - but then I suggest removing "generates activity" and leaving just "promotes the client's brand".

It is impossible for an affiliate to will someone to sign up for whatever reason - some of them may promote you very hard and still not get a sign-up.

Ultimately, the conversion process is on the client's side - so the client should bear this responsibility.

[JaymsBrooks]

Ok - if not retroactive, that's better - but then I suggest removing "generates activity" and leaving just "promotes the client's brand".

It is impossible for an affiliate to will someone to sign up for whatever reason - some of them may promote you very hard and still not get a sign-up.

Ultimately, the conversion process is on the client's side - so the client should bear this responsibility.

That's a good point, I will pass this back to Coral. It is what we were trying to get across with this update.

You're right it's not your job to convert or retain these players and Coral is aware of this, which is why it only affects affiliates who no longer wish to promote Coral.

Thanks for your feedback.

Kind regards

Jayms

[Spearmaster]

Although I am not affected by any of the changes, I thank you for taking this up with your client, I am sure affiliates will also appreciate it.