Why being a Merchant is a lot more work than being an Affiliate

byfloridajf

1.5K followers

Updated 10 years ago

As I was strolling around some of the commentating hubs here at WA, I kind of realized that a lot of people must be having this question come to mind "What's are some of the differences amongst affiliates and merchants?” While I couldn't really find a recommended internet article to aid them, I did brainstorm some of the differences myself. So now here I am writing this article for you guys! Anyways, the most substantial problem does not come from determining whether or not you should be an Affiliate or a Merchant, but primarily from sellers who are cross-examining the channel discord that might occur amongst Merchants/Resellers and Affiliates. The questions are particularly of much significance in the software field where a few of the sales methodologies are apportioned by both merchants and affiliates. The truth is that we don't really have a dispute because there are a few rudimentary contrasts amongst them. Here are some actually, but they are not particularly categorized in a specific order:

Affiliates only deal with advertising and online vending. Some Merchants have a physical warehouse which they invested a pretty good amount of money into, not to mention a fair amount of employees who maintain their items in a good condition which they also have to provide a wage for btw. But if you ask me, most Merchants go into what’s called drop shipping, where you get your products from a particular supplier and get them shipped out to the consumers, so the Merchant in this case never actually receives the product. Other merchants use their homes as a warehouse, but usually this is not a good idea if you don't want your house to get crowded with things that you are selling. It requires you to have a very spacious home, in other words, an estate of some sort, I joke. Also another issue with having the products shipped to your home is that Merchants have to worry about maintaining their products and shipping each and every single one out to customers. Of course if you have employees, you'll make the job easier for yourself, but still, that is a ton of work. People who utilize this method most likely have a lot of complaints from clients for being slow. So it’s really not the best thing to do, if you are a merchant that is. Some Merchants also have to deal with answering phone calls from their clients and they have to worry about invoicing & billing locally and maybe do some technical support as well, so there can be a work load when it comes to Reselling. On the plus side though the Merchant does get most of the profit if he gets a purchase from advertising that was done through an Affiliate, which in this case is every one of us here at WA, I’m assuming.

Merchants are more geared towards custom/bulk buyers or some complicated packages that also render some extra sort of service. I can't really visualize or glimpse an affiliate doing incorporated, educational or parliament related sales, or see them rendering similar add-on services in municipal market areas. Affiliates don’t really train other individuals to be Merchants. Here at WA we train people on how to become Affiliates, though. If new coming Affiliates are trying to go into the Merchant industry, they will definitely run into a lot of trouble with other Merchants who've done more in-depth research about the merchandise that you are selling.

Affiliates mean pre-selling, Merchants actually do the selling. Affiliates kind of make the site visitors feel welcome and certain that they are prepared to make purchases on the Merchants site. So essentially, the vendor sells straight to the consumer and creates a direct invoice to the buyer. Merchants should do the vending on their own. They buy products in packages straight from the manufacturers, then sell through retail to customers. They then provide an invoice to customers on their account.

Just to kind of clarify, the guy on the left represents the affiliate, while fancy looking man on the right represents the merchant, but you could say this a rather skewed approach because the merchant does risk a lot of money not really being guaranteed success.

It could be a lot faster to get hundreds of affiliates through affiliate networks, but Merchants are founded ventures. Merchants are a lot more trustworthy, I guess. They usually handle their occupation with the same financial concepts as you (the seller) do. Affiliates are statistically more than likely to come and go unfortunately, because they don't have as many commitments to focus on in contrast to Merchants.

Affiliates are, however, more inventive and liberal, prepared to try the most popular or renowned marketing methodologies. Running a small business, affiliates are a lot less bureaucratic, and that’s a great thing in my opinion. However, I do slightly digress because affiliate marketing can be exceptionally competitive- Affiliates have to be up to date and more prepared to handle spontaneity.

It's more expense to be a Merchant. You may need to have contracts and you will definitely have to make settlements, or do marketing co-ops.

What I would do if I were you? Here's my recommendation: I would try being an Affiliate first and then after I have built my foundation and earned a lot of income from my website as an Affiliate, become a Merchant if it’s something that I am really interested in. It is still a huge responsibility though, you will have a ton of tasks at your hand, especially if you are both an Affiliate and a Merchant at this point. This is definitely something that you will need freelancers or employees for. Best of luck guys. :)