ValueClick and Commission Junction Class Action
August 2nd, 2008 by Alan YuOkay, this is the earliest blog post I have ever done, but it was just too interesting and I must be out of the loop in the world of affiliate marketing. I just received this e-mail and I’m still kind of confused about the whole matter. This was the e-mail:
From - Sat Aug 02 01:03:46 2008
Received: (qmail 17595 invoked from network); 2 Aug 2008 08:00:45 -0000
Return-Path: mail@bliemail.com
From: Settlement Recovery Center v. ValueClick settlement
Reply-To: info@embsvc.com
Message-ID: <96f05ef25cb3467a85766e6c171d2d02@bliemail.com>
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:01:14 -0400
Subject: Settlement Recovery Center v. ValueClick settlement
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printableRE: Important Legal Notice Regarding Commission Junction’s Affiliate Network
If you joined or were a member of the affiliate marketing networks operated by ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc. and/or Be Free (collectively, “Defendants”), between April 20, 2003 and the present, you may be a class member in Settlement Recovery Center et al. v. ValueClick, Inc. et al., No. 2:07-cv-02638-FMC-CTx, a lawsuit which is pending in the Central District of California. The Settlement Notice informs you of the Court’s certification of a class for settlement purposes; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement or object to the settlement.
The proposed settlement will resolve claims that Defendants failed to adequately monitor Commission Junction’s Network for the use by third parties of software that does not comply with Commission Junction’s (“CJ”) Publisher Code of Conduct and that is intended to steal or divert commissions from publishers on CJ’s network (“Non-compliant Software”), failed to adequately monitor or prevent third parties from engaging in the theft or “hijacking” of commissions from Advertisers and Publishers on CJ’s Network, and failed to make sufficient disclosures regarding the existence of Non-compliant Software and commission theft, resulting in losses to both advertisers and publishers on the CJ Network.
The proposed settlement will provide a monetary recovery to eligible class members. For class members that currently maintain an account on the CJ Network will receive payment through payments or credits deposited or applied to their CJ accounts; eligible class members that no longer have accounts on the Commission Junction Network will receive a check for an equal amount.
If you are a member of the class, your legal rights are affected by whether you act or do not act. You should review the Settlement Notice as soon as possible as there are several important deadlines that you must meet to take certain actions in connection with this proposed settlement. In particular, the deadline for filing an objection or excluding yourself from the proposed settlement is September 30, 2008. For further information, please refer to the Settlement Notice.
For a copy of the Settlement Notice, click on the link, or visit the case website at www.CJSettlement.com
So apparently there is some kind of lawsuit going on against Commission Junction and anyone who signed up as a publisher with them starting from the date stated above should be involved in this. That is me technically I guess. As many of you may know too, I’m personally not a big fan of that company. Feel free to enlighten me about this if you are someone who has been in the loop. I’ll do some more research later on.
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August 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 am
It isn’t just publishers, its advertisers as well. The settlement is for $1,000,000 and is split into 30% for publishers with 70% set aside for advertisers.
I’ve been a member of CJ for years and always felt something wasn’t quite right with that place and my advice is opt out of this class action and if you really do have concerns take your own action. Staying with this one will probably reward you with $0.50 at best based on how many are likely to be sharing the kitty.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 am
I got one of these too. I’m wondering if it’s a scam.
August 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 am
You lazy bum… at least read the email…
It’s about those parasites who steal affiliates commission. Apparently CJ didn’t do enough to stop them (the parasites, not the affiliates). Hence the class action.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:56 am
I got this email, too. I’m researching how much truth is in it. CJ’s website looks just the same as ever…
August 2nd, 2008 at 7:40 am
We will pay your commission to Commission Junction and it will pay you in accordance with your Publisher’s Agreement with Commission Junction.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Thanks for those who replied. So by the looks of it this started back in April 20, 2007 and there is a page at http://www.cjclassaction.com/ where you can read a bit more about it if you wish aside from the site stated in the e-mail.
Like many too though, I thought there was a chance that this was just some kind of scam/spam e-mail. I guess that kind of puts that thought away.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I’m a new member of cj, since May. Im wondering why I didn’t I get this email? I do, however, feel that I have missed out on some commissions, because I will pay for ads and get no impressions on my destination page, or I get “0″ impressions with clicks! Has anyone else had “0″ impressions with clicks? Is this something I should be concerned about? Okay, I know I may sound like an idiot, but how were commissions stolen?
August 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Pam,
The getting 0 impressions with clicks sounds like there is something wrong with the pixel graphic that is normally used for tracking impressions. I know that is usually from publishers who want to modify their affiliate links and don’t bother to add that pixel graphic.
As to how commissions were stolen, keep in mind I am just guessing. Speaking from my own knowledge though, there are these programs that people install on their computers and without them knowing these programs secretly replace say affiliate and banner codes on your site to something of their choice which your site visitors are oblivious to. Hence, they click on an ad and you get no credit.
I remember one example way back in the day where people were installing this free application that helps you organize and remember login information for various sites. Seemed innocent enough from a user perspective. What happened was that for sites these people visited the program would replace the banner ad codes to serve ads of their own.
There was an anarchy about this and various advertising networks pledged that it would not condone people who conducted those types of practices on its network.
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Wow, okay. Thanks Alan!!
August 4th, 2008 at 5:01 am
One thing that frustrates me a lot is this whole Opt-Out business. A lot of businesses these days, assume that you won’t have a problem participating in something.
When you install certain software, you need to be careful during the setup process because all kinds of things are pre-selected, most of them will violate your privacy and you will have to explicitly Opt-out from these services. Some unethical shopping sites will pre-select certain services/charges, from which you need to opt-out if you don’t want some additional charges on your credit card.
This one certainly takes the cake. Who the hell said I want to participate in this lawsuit. Commission Junction was so lousy that we pulled out of the program because too much effort went into publishing their products for nothing in return, so we never made a single cent from their affiliate program. If we are not even eligible for a claim, why on earth would we want to participate in this lawsuit.
They should have automatically excluded inactive accounts that never earned any commission, because what is the use in filing a claim for something you never made. This is just an easy way to force all the paperwork and administration down on the millions of publishers and advertisers and let them do the dirty work for the plaintiffs.
If we haven’t already wasted enough time on promoting CJ products, now we have to waste our valuable time again (AND TIME IS MONEY) to opt-out from this bloody lawsuit.