CJ v. Pepperjam: who’s right?

Pepperjam Jammed

All of these large affiliate networks offer affiliate program management services. None of these large affiliate networks manage programs in the other large networks. If Pepperjam is this caliber of network, they have backed themselves into the situation that would be akin to Performics or Linkshare managing a program in the Commission Junction network, or vice versa. That notion is absurd to anyone who knows this space, and anathema to the networks themselves.

This is interesting in light of Google’s attack on Text Link Ads last year, which forced me to think harder about where the line is between aggressive competition and monopolistic behavior. Is it ethical to tell people they can’t do business with you if they do business with X when you don’t have an exclusive arrangement in place? That’s a tough question to answer in the Google situation - no marketer pays Google for a certain spot in the SERPs, so they can’t really argue they’re being denied anything they have a right (paid for) to when they lose their spot in the SERPs. But it seems to me CJ should either demand that all clients be exclusive with CJ, or none. For them to single out Pepperjam clients strikes me as harassment.