Buy.at – Welcome, But Please Remember…
The U.S. Is A Brand New Market
After reading all the good reviews about Buy.at launching in the U.S. I thought I would head over on Opening Day to take a look at what they were about and to look into creating an account depending on what the folks from the U.K. had to offer. After all, I am always excited to see what sorts of innovations other affiliate networks are developing, especially from other countries because I think they have an ability to look at things from a completely different perspective than U.S. companies.
I have to say I was a bit disappointed.
We Do Not Know You Yet
There was not much description or examples of features or content on their pages, and they only have one affiliate program, CD WOW!, whose brand I did not recognize and had never heard of… (which doesn’t mean a lot – I don’t get out much:) ) - I recognize all of this could be because they are just getting off the ground – but, from what I understand they have been around for a while in the U.K. so I was hoping for more.
Note: An article about the 2003 lawsuit involving CD WOW! and the British Phonographic Industry (pronounced with an F - NOT a P) can be found here at Wikipedia and here at The Register.
Again, due to the high praise folks have been posting about But.at recently, I thought there might be more content “inside”. So, I started the account creation process where I found they wanted a Primary URL, permanent Buy.at handle which apparently cannot be changed and Financial Details – routing & account numbers.
Now, I don’t mind the URL and handle so much, but, they mention that, “…your web handle is permanent, and as such needs to be unique to yourself, and be suitable for use across all of your operations.”
It Is Better To Date Before We Get Married
I don’t even know what “operations” I’m interested in with Buy.at yet, and they want me to create some sort of permanent handle? A lot of thoughts ran through my head – should I use my common “handle”? If I do, what if they turn out to be less stellar than I have heard? I don’t want that “handle” nor do I want a Primary URL to be associated there… What if they turn out to be great? If clients will be exposed to it, I don’t want some sort of generic “xyz2468” thing to be my handle. Remember, there is nothing on any of their U.S. pages where they disclose how these pieces of information will be used in their programs.
I was also extremely uncomfortable giving an affiliate network I am not familiar with my routing & account numbers without, at least, reading a privacy disclosure statement or knowing more about what the network has to offer.
Bottom line – And this is just me– I did not create an account with them today. There may be a lot more trust in the U.K. where folks feel more comfortable making these sorts of commitments and giving away sensitive information without the full picture. But, I think for me, at least, I will wait for a little more disclosure and a lot more trust to be built by them before I jump in.
What do you think?







