I think we’ve all been busy bees lately with this new Commission Junction PSA haven’t we .

Here’s an update of what I’ve done so far:

• I’ve gone through each of my websites and evaluated the performance of the CJ links. For those merchants that never performed for me or had too many reversals, YANKED. They’re gone.
• For the websites that are now 100% CJ free, I’ll leave for a bit to make sure they’re gone (watch stats for imps and clicks). Once it’s clear I’ve caught all the links, both the domains and the merchants involved will be deleted from my CJ account.
• Check and recheck the agreements of the merchants I still have in place – specifically: what are their return days.
• Started a draft copy of the privacy policy I *may* put in place on the remaining websites that I *may* keep active in CJ. This must be very carefully done to keep in compliance with CJ’s demands – but also not make me legally liable for any shenanigans of CJ or its possible parasitic affiliates.
• Continue a plan of attack for replacing CJ links with other merchants and networks. This includes looking at purchasing datafeed tools – kinda excited about that and will open me up to a whole new world.

At this point I am still 50/50.

What I Like About CJ

• Merchant quality and selection
• Combined payouts
• Ability to find products and grab individual product codes
• Ability to search for new merchants to work with by the products they offer

What I’m Not Happy About

• Uneasy about the eternity timeline for chargebacks
• Uneasy about the exact details and repercussions of the privacy policy demanded – will I be putting myself in some sort of legal jeopardy?
• If by some horrendous chance I was charged back for every commission, there would also be a 1.5% compound monthly interest charge

My decision to delete entire domains as well as the merchants involved is to limit as much as possible the exposure of my web real estate to this new psa (especially the privacy policy potential fallout).

I still have a few days to go either way, but one thing to make sure and note is that if I do decide to pull out of CJ completely, I’ll need to notify them in writing asap:

[6] (e) Notices. Except as provided elsewhere herein, both parties must send all notices relating to this Agreement to: (i) for CJ, via registered mail, return receipt requested or via an internationally recognized express mail carrier to Commission Junction, Inc., Attn: Legal Dept., 530 East Montecito Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93103 USA (effective upon actual receipt); and, (ii) for You, at the email or physical address listed on Your Account (effective upon sending as long as CJ does not receive an error message regarding delivery of the email) or five (5) days after mailing).

At this point I don’t envision a 100% pullout. More a hard shaving down with limited involvement to watch and see what happens. That could change on a dime though. Still watching and waiting – as well as looking around at other options.