Epoch to phase out EpochStats and have programs pay affiliates directly
 

This was written by an Epoch representative on another board. They say it is because of the increasingly tougher banking climate.

It is important information and I don't think it was mentioned here before.

Personally I liked being paid by Epoch. :-/

Maybe it's because most affiliates either go with CCBill or NATS?

Anyway if Epoch is doing this then it's a good move for they are a fine company. :)

wtf....

They should lower processing costs for that from 15 to 5%:2 cents:

I don't see how this is a good move.... it is a move... but what is the "good" part?

This is a shame, they had so much potential, I had only recently started to realize how good they are

We pay affiliates directly anyway. Didn't even knew epoch paid affiliates for programs?

Cheques from CCBill always have "Bank of America" on them.

Cheques from Epoch seem to have a different bank name every few months.

pleaaaase noooooo

The great thing about CCBill or Epoch paying affiliates was they could group different sponsors into one payment. When the sponsor has to pay, reaching limits takes longer for the small guys.

Not just the small guys. It's very nice that for those sponsors you don't have to follow and track payments, you can be sure that you get them. Plus for European businesses that have to create invoices, one payment is way better than 50.

When I see a new CCBILL sponsor that's borderline good, I just sign up.

If I see a new NATS sponsor, it could go both ways. If it doesn't have very convincing sites, or the non-check payment methods are expensive (I don't do checks), there's a good chance that I'll skip it.

I liked the option with CCbill, TBH not a lot of affiliates even bothered to go via Epoch. So maybe that explains why they did this.

Im an affiliatte and got this today in the mail from epoch:

"We are contacting you as an active affiliate in EpochStats for one or more Epoch processed Sponsor Programs. It is important that you read the following regarding payouts made by Epoch.

Effective September 16, 2016, Epoch will discontinue paying affiliates by check and/or wire. The last scheduled payout is for the period of August 27 to September 2, 2016.

Be aware that all sales will continue to be tracked normally and commissions will continue to be credited to your affiliate IDs. However, all proceeds after September 3rd will be paid directly to your sponsor. We suggest that you contact your sponsor's affiliate manager to update your method of payment.

If you use EpochStats to track your sales, it will continue to be available for at least one year when the program will be reassessed and possibly discontinued. We want to provide this ample time for you to make other tracking arrangements.
Our records indicate that you have the following affiliate ID's associated to the following programs:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kind regards, Epoch"


So, they will stop mailing checks to affiliates?

They pay to the sponsor and then the sponsor must contact
the aff and deal how to pay the commissions?

I meant it's a good move for Epoch. Not good for affiliates I'm afraid. :(

In my 19 years in this business I think I only came across a program that used EpochStats once or twice.

Maybe some very small programs use(d) it, I can't think of any active program that still uses it.

Epoch's affiliate program, esp. the way they handled the work of paying the affiliates without one complaint or issue ever, was the primary reason I have been using them for nearly 10 years. This is a dealbreaker for me, I'm afraid.

Is there another option like this? Does CCBill have a similar system?

I like that aspect too, but sponsors could also just have reasonable payout thresholds. I would base reasonable on what is plausible for the average affiliate to occasionally convert sending traffic.

I am totally the same as you on this. If a program is CCBill or Epoch, I can toss up a couple links, even if only a couple of updates a sponsor has are a match for m traffic.

So...

if a sponsor was using epoch, now the affiliates paymenth will be sent to them,

and they will have to use methods like paypal to pay their affiliates?

if this problem is happening with epoch, will it happen too with verotel or ccbill?

can adult sites work with paypal????

Blame the feds, not Epoch...

Both CCBILL and Verotel reps have said that they won't change.

Some affiliate programs pay by PayPal, but it's a grey area. Mostly they rather pay by Check, Bank Wire, Paxum, and Payoneer.

thx for the reply

im using one sponsor who works with epoch, and is from UK...
so i guess he will try to use paypal... i prefer checks, but i can only
cash checks sent from a USA bank....

only found this out now, I'm sure there won't be problems getting those payments from those sponsors :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Is epoch stats site down right now? i cant login

I have emailed customer service but got zero reply....

I just found this old thread and had to ask as I'm creating my own affiliate program for my paysite.

We use Epoch only at the moment for our members.

With Epoch no longer paying affiliates...

Should we use CCBill exclusively for our affiliate program? Or is Epoch + NATS still as good or better than CCBill?

As we are a newly started paysite, there is a huge benefit to have the payment processor handle the payments to our affiliates.

Also, which company do affiliates prefer out there? CCBill or Epoch? Which is biggest?

Hi PimpMastah,

I'd be happy to review NATS with you and discuss this as an option. With NATS it would allow you to have multiple payment processors (currently 120+ and counting, which is common practice with site owners) allowing you to offer multiple payment methods across many geo's, in turn increasing the chances for conversion on worldwide traffic.

Plus NATS has many additional benefits for managing your program.

Feel free to reach ping me whenever you have a moment and we can discuss in more detail.

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Thanks Neighbor :-)

I will ping you tomorrow as I'm about to go to bed where I live.

Cheers!

An affiliate opinion

- for small programs with only 1-2 sites or without a bigger team, I prefer CCBILL, as it guarantees that I'll always be paid on time

- for bigger programs, I prefer NATS with any biller, as they have the most detailed stats, reliable tracking, postbacks, etc

There's one thing I'd really recommend against, is using a custom solution or coding your own platform. There are hard to trust and 99% miss crucial features.

Heisann PimpMastah,

Det er mange gode konfigurasjoner mellom billing prosessorer å velge mellom, og Epoch og CCBill fungerer veldig fint sammen i en cascade av prosessorer. Nats er en opsjon, og vår MPA3 er den orginale som faktisk satt sammen og fant på cascading billing.

Siden du er i Sverige, og jeg i Norge, så kan vi gjerne "treffes" på dagtid for en prat, og så kan vi se om vi ikke kan hjelpe deg på rett vei.

Min skype id er "oysteinjw" - hører fra deg! :thumbsup

Create an affiliate program
 

The setup I am thinking of is Epoch for my members (already in place), and CCBill for my affiliates.
Technically and specifically, how do you make EPoch communicate sales to CCBill?

Looks like we're stuck with CCBill, only 1 option and frankly when I see their product, as an affiliate, it makes me cry.

Basically you have to set up a Traffic Flow in CCBILL that only has Epoch I believe, but I haven't done the work myself.
https://kb.ccbill.com/Cascade%2BSetu...BEpoch%2BUsers

Or you can do this by using NATS and their built-in "CCBILL PAID" feature.
Members can pay with both Epoch/Ccbill (or just one), CCBILL pays affiliates. The bonus is that you and the affiliates get the great detailed stats and tools in NATS instead of CCBILL's/Epoch's basic stuff.
https://gfy.com/fucking-around-and-p...dam-promo.html

That is very interesting and useful, thanks BigFurry! :thumbsup

I know that system integration and flows are tricky to set up, and now we're talking 4 systems to talk to each other: my website, epoch, ccbill, nats

At first glance it looks like setting up the traffic flow isn't totally straight forward, but it shouldn't be out of reach. (side note, I wonder if this is secure, are all sales effectively cascading to the affiliates).

I think I need to talk to a NATS rep.