$$$ Problems with Traffic Cash Gold
 

I'd like to ask you for an advice, here's what happened:

I started sending my traffic to TCG sites at the end of november 2003. I was using regular linking codes for which I was paid 35$ per sale, I didn't even know then that linking directly to join pages is allowed and possible at Traffic Cash Gold (it isn't mentioned on the site). After few weeks I received a check from them for first 2 weeks, but I sent it back - I wanted the money by wire and much later, for tax reasons.
So then in February I asked Laura from TCG if I could link directly to join page, and if yes then how the links should look like (too bad they didn't mention that they pay 25$ for signups from join page links). So in the beginning of February I changed part of my links to direct join page links and after a few periods, with stats still showing 35$ per SU, the rate has suddenly changed to 25$ per SU for current period.

So I asked why is that, found out about the different rates, decided to go back to regular links and asked them to change the rate back to $35. They did change it back.

But then I finally started talking about the wire transfer - I had a new bank account set up at last. And when I asked how much will the payout be, they gave me much smaller number than I calculated. It turned out that they counted all my sales from the beginning as 25$ per sign up!! The difference is more than $20k so it's a pretty big deal to me. :/
Their stats are not too good, they don't show if I'm using regular links or direct join page links (still waiting for TCG 3.0...), they had to change the rates manually.
So when I contacted them it turned out that they ASSUMED that I was using direct join links in november and december (they say their tech. dept. doesn't have logs for those months anymore) because majority of my links were sent directly to join page in January (not true!) and February (that is true)... They are ignoring the fact that the check they sent was for 35$ per sale - well, they're now saying that it was an error and it should be for 25$ per sale...
They still claim that I was using direct join page links in January (and they claim they have logs showing that), but there's no way I was! I found out about the different linking method just in February and not even one direct join hit could appear in their logs in months before that! So something's not right...

Of course they don't want to show me the logs for January, because they can't "disclose confidential information"...

So I mentioned to them the facts - a chat with them where I asked about join page links, a similar post on GFY (both around the beginning of February), the first check they sent me (with 35$ per join), that the 35$ rate was in stats for 3 months from the beginning - they just ignore them, saying that the tech dept. is saying otherwise...

There is also the Wayback Machine http://www.archive.org/web/web.php that could prove that I was using regular links in those months - unfortunately right now the latest archived copy of my site is from October. I wonder whether they would ignore this fact too...

So I'm asking you guys - what are my options? How should I approach the case in order to get the correct $ amount that they owe me?

Any help will be appreciated :/

You should really email them mate!! Laura is a great girl and I've had no problems with them in the past!!

I'm sure if you email them and show them proof then you both can work something out!!

I cannot help you, but I can bump this for you.

Best luck.

Contact Jay.
He's a great guy and i'm sure you two will sort it out (espesially if you push so much sales)

$20k money difference is BIG
hope you get it resolved

Unfortunately more and more paysites are being mismanaged.
Very few have proper stats and as for keeping a history of their stats,forget it.Its too much work for fly by nighters.

The only thing TCG have got in their favour IMO is that WiredGuy is in their corner.I just hope his friendship with TCG isn't clouding his judgement.

Good luck with it.I hope it gets sorted out to your satisfaction.

did you save up enough money to buy poland?

Well, actually I was talking with Laura who then directed me to Jay. I tried to sort this thing out with him for few days, but with no luck - he is still staying with the 25$ per join for all the signups, ignoring the proofs that I give and just saying that the tech dept. claims the logs show otherwise.

Hehehe. I'm a strong supporter of TCG because they've been my top sponsor consistently. I honestly don't like the fact that all my eggs are with them, but the returns from them are significantly higher than any other sponsor so I can't afford to lose out on the extra ROI. If I felt insecure about TCG, I would work on a prepaid basis, but since they've been around 3+ years without any disputes, I'm fine without asking for my joins upfront.

In regards to link to join, console free, and other linking options, they're all available in 3.0 (at different payouts respectively). The current link codes (2.0) don't really have a setup for distinguishing which joins came from what type of link. Your best bet is to contact Jay or Laura Lee and try to resolve the difference but chances are they can't tell what kind of joins you sent without looking at the referral logs, and if you're talking several months or logs, this could be hard to track down.

Best of luck.
WG

I've been sending them traffic for going on 5 years, they are hardly a "fly by nighter"

OK I am sorry,I am a bit sensitive at the moment to non paying sponsors.:) Maybe they are not fly by nighters but I really don't think there is an excuse for a professional outfit not to have a modern stats system with referring urls
The bigger you get the more responsibilty you have to do it right. :2 cents:


WG,:)
My conversion ratio is 1:500 qualified with them so I hope I am not paying for your good numbers.:Graucho

JB and crew run a good tight ship over at TCG.

We have been doing business with them for years and have never had one problem. Oh and of course they pay like gold :)

Peace

Todd

1:500 ? On what type of traffic?
WG

tcg is a blood program. never had problems in the day.

you should have been getting $40 per sale for that kinda volume.

Good point.

Yes, but not for the first 70 sign ups in every period.


http://www.trafficcashgold.com/tcg_terms.htm

Nearly all google traffic.
Everybody brags about their TCG conversion rate at being around 1:200 but I can't crack it.
1:800 unique today and 1:950 yesterday over 9 niches
For example in these last 3 days I have links on a page targetting "gangbangs" and I had 4 links to tcg's gangbangmodels including the 1st text link on the page and havent got a sale.I have 3 links to topbucks gangbangsquad and had 6 sales in 400 uniques.
I am not complainung,its just interesting.
My conversions are way down on what they used to be with all my sponsors so its probably something to do with my sites.:(

I have noticed a big difference in being no#1 for a serp and being no#6 or 7.Also Yahoo traffic converts 3 times as well for me and I have lost a lot of traffic there.
Cheers.

The ratios you gave, are those based on your first page clicks you send to your sponsors or is that the stats that the sponsors report to you (ie: TCG's 2nd page uniques)?

And you seem to be right about the SERP's lately. I have a #1 on a great high volume keyword but its not converting all that well. It seems being 3-5 was doing more sales than #1. Go figure. I guess with the large volume of traffic comes a lot of curious free loaders. That keyword I'm only getting 1:500 right now, but the volume that comes with it makes up for it. Most of my keywords gets a 1:100 - 1:300, all Google and PPC traffic.

WG

Im sure talking to laura will get it all cleared up

Thats the sponsor stats report.

I'll trade you all my postion no#5's for all your no#1's :winkwink:

I apologise for getting off topic xl11

Hehehe, the sales aren't worst, just the traffic doesn't convert as well :)

But that is really strange that your conversions are that low, are you filtering your traffic in any way or are you doing straight redirects from SE's?

WG

No redirects but not filtered in anyway.
An example of my sites is this one which ranks in Yahoo but not google. www.gay-nude-black-men.com

This one converts 1:60 but its a speciality niche and yahoo traffic.If it was google it would be probably be 1:250

1:60 is definitely a great ratio and you're right, for the traffic you are qualifying it specifically to gay black men. Can't get more targetted than that :)

WG

If I where you I would get them on the phone and talk about it.
Perhaps make some kind of settlement where you can kiss goodbye to some of the money.
Show them the e-mail where you asked about the linking codes directly to the join page as well.
If they can be replaced with another sponsor you can also tell them that they should pay up, switch sponsor and take it to a civil court to get them to show the log files and pay up.
I have before solved disputes (only a few K on the line though) by removing all links and sending to someone else, then call them and tell them that we need to get this solved, because I would like to continue to send traffic, but not before I received all my money.
Remember when you are on the phone with them never raise your voice or say anything that can piss them off, it will just be a slap back in your own face. Keep it on a proffesional level no matter how much it sucks

this week really sucks for me as i am sadly at 1:600 with TCG
for the last 1.5 years i was at or below 1:100 with pretty nice traffic
in general TCG is really a nice program
will continue to use them.. hope this bad week is over soon lol

TCG will always own.

Lets hope you dont lose much... :(

Due: thanks for advice. I was talking to Jay and Laura over the net (icq, yahoo) and couldn't get them to change the decision. You think that calling them on the phone would be better? I already gave them all the proofs I could get... Maybe stopping send traffic to their sites would be the best solution right now...

As for the advices like "talk with Jay" or "talk with Laura" - well, they aren't really helpful, because all I was doing for the past week was talking with Laura and Jay (with him mostly) and couldn't accomplish anything (even though I gave them all the proofs I mentioned here).

Oh, and another thing. They have something called "Gold Bonus" and they give you extra 5$ for every signup in excess of 70 per period (it's in their terms). Well, I also found out that I'm not getting that...

Check the wayback machine and see if it has cached your site during the time period that you claim you didnt link to the join page?

hope that helps ya

Maybe talk to BT in stead? I'm sure that when you have a dispute over 20K in differences(2000 joins) they would be glad to help you out, becuase that way you will proberly keep sending them traffic:) I never had good experience with tech ppl either. They only care for the security, stability etc...(and that's their job:))

Andre

It doesn't seem like there is a will to resolve this problem.
I don't know xl11 but he looks like a honest, hardworking webmaster.
What he is saying here looks reasonable and $20k is really a lot in this case.
He can't sue TCG, since he's not from the US, but that SHOULDN'T BE a reason to treat him different, because he cannot defend himself in a proper way.
There are always two sides of a story, but here it seems like he is simply fucked and nothing can be done about that.

xl11, I wish you best luck. Maybe you should send more traffic to SC, they not only convert quite good, but also are fair to their webmasters, no matter where they live. The second can be also said about ARS.

Well what can you really do now. In the fiture don't link to the join page.............. seems like it's not worth the trouble.


I agree with the post above.. try other programs like Silver cash or Top Bucks .

xl11, i would pre-pay you for some of your traffic so you wouldn't have to worry about the same issue.. my ICQ is 868140 if you wanna talk about it.

I've been linking to join pages for years, but i asked permission first plus i send a couple hundred or more signups a week consistently. If i had to send to a site's front page, i would simply look for another program that let me send to thier join page.

Interesting thread


Xl11,

your nick says warsaw, is that right?

Just curious whether you're from the US or not.

Thanks for all the good words & advices.
Actually I do send traffic to SC, Topbucks and some other sponsors too.
It's just that TCG has been converting quite well for part of my sites and I'd like to keep sending them my traffic, but I don't know if I will after their attitude lately...
4Pics: I already mentioned the wayback machine in the first post.
And no, I'm not from US.

Bump : interesting thread. Can you update the board on the outcome?

just contact them, i am sure you will solve that out