Integrating An Affiliate System

[Jason Caldwell]

s2Member is fully compatible with iDevAffiliate. I highly recommend this software. We use it for all of our sites, and it works beautifully. I suggest the Standard version ( $99 ). s2Member supports everything that iDev has to offer.

Demo: here is our affiliate program, powered by iDevAffiliate:
http://www.websharks-inc.com/affiliates/

To integrate s2Member with iDevAffiliate:

From your Dashboard, go to:
s2Member -> API Tracking -> iDevAffiliate

[thinkbig]

Crap, I just bought WordPress Affiliate Platform Plugin and have been playing around with that, will this work for me as well? http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpre ... gsite-1474

[Jason Caldwell]

Crap, I just bought WordPress Affiliate Platform Plugin and have been playing around with that, will this work for me as well? http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpre ... gsite-1474

Yes, it will. Just please be sure to get the "latest" version of the plugin, because we recently worked with this developer on improving their integration with s2Member. Please see this article: http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpre ... ftware-368

[PAFoster]

I'm using iDevAffiliate, do you know if I can create an affiliate account as soon as a membership is created?

ie, when a visitor signs up, pays and becomes a member through s2Member, is there a way that s2Member can send the member info direct to iDevAffiliate effectively signing them up as an affiliate immediately so the login is the same for both accounts?

A high proportion of my customers will become my affiliates as well, and it will be a good selling point for those that hadn't considered it if they are already signed up automatically.

[Jason Caldwell]

I'm using iDevAffiliate, do you know if I can create an affiliate account as soon as a membership is created?

ie, when a visitor signs up, pays and becomes a member through s2Member, is there a way that s2Member can send the member info direct to iDevAffiliate effectively signing them up as an affiliate immediately so the login is the same for both accounts?

A high proportion of my customers will become my affiliates as well, and it will be a good selling point for those that hadn't considered it if they are already signed up automatically.

Yes, you can use the API script provided by iDevAffiliate, and connect it to s2Member's API Notification for registrations so that new affiliate accounts are created for each person that registers on your site. I'm attaching some screenshots to help get you in the right direction.

[adamsargant]

I hope this isn't a complete noob question, but I'm looking to build a membership site with (probably) iDev if only because the feedback I get from affiliates who use a bespoke system that I created tell me they like it... my big question is, if I create a membership site with monthly subscription through paypal, the first month of which is free, and follow the instructions in iDevAffiliate Integration Video 2 for 3rd-party call integration... will this track all payments received (i.e., does all payment get picked up by the IPN and then get passed to my iDev Affilate software, so that my affiliates accumulate their monthly affiliate fee for any member as long as they stay a member) if I use the instructions in video 2, or will I need to do anything else to ensure that any future subs are passed as payments on which affiliate fees are due?

[PAFoster]

Hi Adam

1) I'm a noob too, and asking noob questions is how we move up to the 'noob who knows a bit more than the average noob' level, lol.
2) iDevAffiliate is Affiliate Software, not Membership Site Software.
3) I'm confused about your 'bespoke system'. Is that bespoke affiliate software or membership site software that you've created - or something entirely different?
4) I use (the rather excellent) s2MemberPro (by the guys who create/run PremoThemes) to run the Membership Site side of things.
5) iDev and s2Member talk to each other very well, so in answer to your question, yes, when the monthly payment is collected PayPal sends that info back to s2Member, who then sends it onto iDev, and iDev allocates the 'sale' to the affilate. Incidentally if the member cancels, PayPal sends that info back to s2Member, who then cancels the subscritption to the site, and therefore no notice is sent to iDev for that month. Basically then your affiliates will accumulate their monthly affiliate fee for any member as long as they stay a member. (In addition, if a member - or you, manually - upgrades, or downgrades a membership, then the affiliates commission will go up or down too.)

Hope that helps.
Paul

[adamsargant]

Hi Paul

1) I'm a noob too, and asking noob questions is how we move up to the 'noob who knows a bit more than the average noob' level, lol.

2) iDevAffiliate is Affiliate Software, not Membership Site Software.

Sorry... that was a badly worded part of my question... I'm looking to build a membership site in Wordpress using a membership plug-in. S2member is one of my top candidates somewhere. However, I am expecting my major membership stream to be from affiliates, so am also looking at iDev affiliate

3) I'm confused about your 'bespoke system'. Is that bespoke affiliate software or membership site software that you've created - or something entirely different?

I currently run a site that is not a membership site but sells hypnosis mp3 sessions. I'm a competent PHP developer (not primarily an internet marketer) and the functionality of this site was built up entirely from scratch, including the affiliate system. However, maintaining code is time consuming and I guess we are all familiar with the old saying "The cobbler's children wear no shoes"? What I meant to indicate was that my existing affiliates have told me that they like using iDev. And if that gives an affiliate or a potential affiliate a sense of confidence, it seems to make sense to me to give it to them

4) I use (the rather excellent) s2MemberPro (by the guys who create/run PremoThemes) to run the Membership Site side of things.

s2Member is definitely my front runner choice at present. If the system works I'll upgrade to pro purely to put some money into the coffers (I have a principle of paying developers for software that I find useful, particularly if it helps me make money )

5) iDev and s2Member talk to each other very well, so in answer to your question, yes, when the monthly payment is collected PayPal sends that info back to s2Member, who then sends it onto iDev, and iDev allocates the 'sale' to the affilate. Incidentally if the member cancels, PayPal sends that info back to s2Member, who then cancels the subscritption to the site, and therefore no notice is sent to iDev for that month. Basically then your affiliates will accumulate their monthly affiliate fee for any member as long as they stay a member. (In addition, if a member - or you, manually - upgrades, or downgrades a membership, then the affiliates commission will go up or down too.)

Excellent... that was the impression I got but thank you for laying it out so explicitly... I feel reassured enough to proceed on that basis

[Cristián Lávaque]

Adam, have you watched this video yet? http://www.s2member.com/idevaffiliate-i ... ion-video/

[adamsargant]

Hi Cristián

yes... I watched both videos... while I could clearly see that the actions outlined for setting up the 3rd-party call integration with iDev affiliate were necessary for all monthly subscription payments to be registered with iDev I wasn't absolutely clear after watching whether the actions outlined were sufficient for all monthly subscription payments to be registered with iDev

[Jason Caldwell]

Just a quick FYI/update here, related to the Changelog in the latest release of s2Member.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/s2member/changelog/

== Changelog v110815 ==
* (s2Member) **API Tracking.** This release of s2Member introduces two new API Tracking methods, now making it possible to incorporate Tracking Codes *( i.e. affiliate program integrations, as one example )* for `Signup Tracking`, `Modification Tracking (new)`, and also for `Capability Tracking (new)`. For further details, please check your Dashboard, under: `s2Member -> API Tracking`. These new methods are ( in addition to ) s2Member's API Notifications, which remain available. s2Member's API Notifications are intended for more advanced tracking integrations, such as a 3rd-party call through an HTTP request.

[geneaux]

What are the advantages of using idevaffiliate specifically, and would there be much difficulty in using JAM instead?

[Jason Caldwell]

What are the advantages of using idevaffiliate specifically, and would there be much difficulty in using JAM instead?

Having used both of these apps myself, I can tell you that iDevAffiate is the more powerful of the two. That being said, I see no reason why you couldn't use JAM if you prefer it for one reason or another.

I'll leave the sales pitch on iDevAffiliate vs. JAM to these respective companies.

I'd say the top reason to choose iDevAffiliate, is that s2Member is designed to work flawlessly with iDevAffiliate, supporting everything that iDevAffiliate makes possible. That's not to say s2Member won't support features provided by other affiliate management solutions, but it does tell you that s2Member has been more extensively tested against iDevAffiliate.

For instance, Coupon Codes, API Scripts, API Notifications, are all things that can be implemented to further improve and expand your ability to track and pay affiliates. s2Member and iDevAffiliate work very well together in this regard, at both a basic and advanced level.

[hokkaido]

We've run into an issue with iDevAffiliate and S2Member where since we are in Texas, we have to charge Texas residents sales tax on their online purchases. In our old shopping cart, the sales tax was excluded from the comissionable amount. For example, if $100 product with 8.5% sales tax and 50% affiliate commission, the affiliate payment would be $50 since the subtotal is $100 but the total amount charged to the purchaser is actually $108.50. What's happening currently in the S2 member / idev setup is the total amount is being passed instead of a subtotal amount to idev so it is generating an commission of $54.25 incorrectly instead of $50. I tried asking iDev and below is their response:

"That's actually going to be a question for the S2 guys. The integration is setup on there end. They just need to change the variable being used to send the sale amount to iDevAffiliate to a sub-total amount instead of the grand total."

Is there a switch we can can flip in the S2 setup so it will send the sub-total amount instead of the grand total?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Sara

[Jason Caldwell]

@hokkaido. Thanks for the follow-up.
What payment gateway are you using please? PayPal Pro or Authorize.Net?

[hokkaido]

Both PayPal Website Payments Pro and Authorize.net

[Jason Caldwell]

Thank you. I'm investigating possible solutions to this now.

[hokkaido]

Thanks Jason. Appreciate the help. With taxes becoming a bigger issue online I suspect more people will run into this issue that have affiliate programs.

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for the follow-up, and for your patience.
Unfortunately, there is no quick-fix for this. I am however, placing this on our TODO list, so that Replacement Codes for net amounts and those which include tax calculations can be obtained via s2Member's tracking and API Notifications. This feature will come in a future release of s2Member.

[hokkaido]

Thanks Jason.

[InfoKing]

Yes, you can use the API script provided by iDevAffiliate, and connect it to s2Member's API Notification for registrations so that new affiliate accounts are created for each person that registers on your site. I'm attaching some screenshots to help get you in the right direction.

I have s2members-Pro and now think about buying iDevAffiliate. Each member shall be automatically registered as an affiliate. That could work with the API you mentioned.
But I also want the members need to login only in Wordpress to see their sales from iDevAffilate inside a wp-page (protected by s2m). In detail: The members should never need to login separately to the backend of iDevAffiliate. I want that they will not notice that they use two different systems. Do you think that's possible Jason?

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks for the follow-up.

Well, anything is possible, but it's not something that's already built in. You would need a PHP developer familiar with both iDev and WordPress. You can pull details via MySQL and pull them into your WordPress Dashboard. Honestly though, if you're going this route, I would recommend an affiliate package that is already designed to work in this fashion. For instance WP Affiliate is becoming popular.

I still recommend iDev as the most powerful solution overall though. I'm just recommending WP Affiliate or similar for your specific feature requests here.

[jwb391]

Hi I am a noob to this board and was wondering if anyone could help me? I have successfully installed s2member and am now trying to integrate a affiliate system. Unfortunately I bought the wrong one! I bough idev-affiliates not idev affiliate. Somehow they have similar names but I didn't use the link in s2member to purchase it (my mistake).

Now I am trying to perservere for a while with idev-affiliates as it can see the referrals but I can't get the sales to be tracked. The support guy over there was trying to help but as s2member uses its own shortcodes for paypal buttons he couldn't see how to do it.

These are the usual 3rd party IPN:

add

?xyz=<?php echo $affid; ?>

to the end of your Paypal IPN notify URL field in your button and

Open the IPN file of your 3rd party script and add the following line to the bottom of that file just before the closing PHP tag, which looks like this: ?>

INCLUDE " /public_html/idev-affiliates/ipn.php";

and that's supposed to be it!

So not sure how to get the paypal button to notify the idev-affiliates and also where to put the include script.

If anyone might know I would appreciate it.

Thanks