Weekly payouts via PayPal for high earners. (Threshold of $500 or so)
That would certainly be a feature that would put us apart from most CPA networks. Right now I'm not sure what financial impact that would have on the network, but I'll look into the possibility.
Pay on time.
can care less about features.
That does seem to be a resounding issue around many CPA networks. Really, our main edge over the competition is going to be:
- Full transparency
- Honesty & Integrity
- Accessibility & Availability - as long as we know you can bring in legit traffic, the network is available to you
- On time payments - the traffic you're sending us costs you money and it's our responsibility to pay you on time so you can continue to bring in traffic (and pay the bills). Think of it as a long term model - paying you is the best part of the "cycle," because that's when you can afford to bring in traffic again.
Paying whether the advertiser has sent you the money or not.
I think that is one of the biggest fuck ups in aff networks. CJ has been the only one whos been able to do so.
Of course, in order to do this you'll need a big investment to cover risks and so on.
Do you have the money to run a proper aff network or is this another project where a person creates an aff network with the hopes of getting great publishers (playing lottery)
This isn't some sort of fly-by-night, one man show. There are real investors who are ready to invest five-digit amounts and maybe even some larger investors. I (and the other people involved in this business endeavor) are not playing a lottery with this type of money. If we can't put together a "real" CPA network that is the best in the business at the four talking points I've listed in an above response, the CPA network isn't going to happen.
Zero shaving and pay by PayPal / Bitcoins / VCC
That is actually a great suggestion. We will definitely look into incorporating alternative forms of payment that are suitable for everyone. Look below for my response to shaving.
Zero Shaving 
Right now, before I've had time to work out the financials (which isn't possible until everything is finalized, anyway - things are still in a very early stage of development), I can't make any conclusive statements on that.
However, I'm aiming for this to be the "dream network," so if zero shaving is what is important to publishers, we're going to focus on making that possible.
There is one thing I can be entirely confident in saying
right now: what we do isn't going to be a closely guarded secret. There will be full transparency coming from us. We intend to shape the network in a way which allows us to avoid shaving and take a lower profit margin on the idea that as a result, the network will grow. Furthermore, we understand that keeping old publishers is more important than acquiring new ones. If you've been bringing in revenue for us, we'll do everything we can to make sure
you want to stay.
Zero shaving and pay on time, all the rest is just so not important
That appears to be the most prominent factor people consider when choosing a CPA network and staying at one. As I said, our main goal is to gain popularity simply because we're better than other networks when it comes to issues such as honesty, integrity, and transparency. If we can't build a network like that, we simply won't build a network.
I think we all can agree that we want an HONEST cpa network.
When I say honest, I mean to the points other have made here, but we all understand the need for shaving and/or low quality traffic. You should be upfront with your affiliates, don't wait for the pay day to look into the quality of traffic... do it on the upfront and let your affiliates know if their traffic could potentially be flagged or if you don't think it is good. This way we stop producing that traffic and save our money.
Being upfront with your affiliates will save to money and time down the line.
GL!
Yes, yes, yes. This resonates with everything that has been said today. We're looking to make this network as profitable as possible for everyone long term, which means saving your money is just as important as saving our's. We understand the need many networks have for shaving and we're looking for a way around it that everyone is happy with. If we do decide to take measures against low quality traffic, we'll make sure to hire staff who constantly monitor this so that in the worst case scenario, publishers/the network lose only a small amount of money.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. The biggest thing I take away from this is that everyone's looking for an honest network that has a business plan which allows them to sustain that veracity for the long term. Every single suggestion has been taken into account and we look forward to making our network work for
everyone. This thread is still open to discussion, so if anyone/other people have more to add, please feel free to chime in.
