DISQUS

Bill · 2 years ago

Wow. I couldn't imagine doing anything like that on any of our sites, even if it was more usable (modal window, link from homepage, etc.). Customers just don't need to know that sort of thing UPFRONT when browsing the site. If you want it on your customer service page, ok, I could see that. We've had issues with people not getting stuff when they thought they should or orders processing a little longer than normal, but again, that's what customer service is for.

Kyle · 2 years ago

Web Usability 0.5 cardinal sin.

- Never write a novel in a javascript alert and expect ANYONE to read it, or even care (close window)

Mackin · 2 years ago

NUTS

It also stalled FF for me.
Had to shut FF down

Pat Grady · 2 years ago

Well, maybe they're so ingrained with the theme of being "scary" that they just could not help themselves. :-)

Scott · 2 years ago

yeah, I did see the irony there Pat!

Dave Oliver · 2 years ago

I would love to hear the reasoning from the guy or girl who thought this was a good idea.

Scott · 2 years ago

This site feels very mom & pop or at least run by a small business and I feel a bit bad making an example of them. But there surely is academic value here.

What gets me the most is that this was done with apparent disregard for their affiliates who are sending them valuable traffic. We sent them a lot of traffic yesterday for nothing.

A little communication around out of stock issues, shipping issues, etc. would go a long way. I'm guessing we're one of their top affiliates and we didn't get any communication on this at all.

I have other halloween merchants letting me know immediately when top selling products are out of stock, because they know that I may be paying for the traffic I'm sending to them.

This is critical for a seasonal business like this where the model in many cases is to completely sell out of stock.

Dan · 2 years ago

Right on, Bill. What the hell is the value in even displaying the message on the front page? Did anyone stop to think "do my POTENTIAL customers absolutely need to see this?"

But it definitely helps customer service issues - because you immediately slice your customer acquisition rate in half!

Sam · 2 years ago

Wow, this really is not a good idea.

Trisha Fawver · 2 years ago

I'm just shocked that anyone would think that would be a good idea. You did inspire me to check out my own affiliates and make sure the links were all suitable. Thanks for the kick in the pants!

Takeoffzone · 2 years ago

A crazy idea... What were they thinking? You could solve that issue just by placing a simple link to the policy page without obstructing the view of the main page. It looks like the website setup of the '90s! Thanks for the article.

fireblade · 2 years ago

Day after day I find problems with being an affiliate, from tracking to reporting to the question of 'am I going to get paid?' And then of course there is downtime when your buying traffic and search penalties for affiliate links. It's not as much fun as it was..

Work At Home Tom · 2 years ago

It seems like they don´t even want any customers, or they have no sense of how business is made.

Site Smart · 2 years ago

I don't know whether to laugh or violently hurl insults. Do web developers not ever view their own websites? How is that usable, helpful, or anything positive for that matter!

If I was that guy's boss I would be hastely looking through my file of job applications.

Steve Harold · 2 years ago

I wonder if it's because they didn't check it out in Firefox. I know I have been guilty before of not checking out how my sites look in different browsers before.

Martha, how to get the most of · 2 years ago

"...is a good idea for affiliates to visit your merchants sites once in a while to see what your customers are seeing."

Maybe we, marketers, have to look to alternatives, to avoid heartaches.

Hot Computers · 2 years ago

This really is a huge no no, when it comes to e-commerce and online shopping. I am amazed...

Gids · 2 years ago

I just love the title, which at first glance looks like -
PLEASE BEWARE
I know people spend lots of time trying to push people away from their site but this must be the most effective.

Colin McNulty · 2 years ago

Haha, nice. I heard a better one the other day though. Some decided the 2nd week in December was the right time to move his domain registrar for his only eCommerce site, one that is very much in the Xmas boom market.

Shouldn't be a problem right? Indeed it wasn't. Everything went smoothly.... except one thing: Google decided to ditch him from the index. For whatever reason, I don't know, but his 1000+ pages got de-indexed faster than you can say "Transfer Out" and obviously just about all his organic traffic dried up.

This is this guys only income source and he was on target for his best ever month this month. Not any more obviously. I have no idea what possessed him to make a change like that 2 weeks before Xmas, it was utter madness.

3D Printers · 2 years ago

I wonder how long they left their site in that condition. Checking your site in different browsers is very important. I check my pages with browsershots.org to see how they look on different platforms.

Aaron · 1 year ago

i dont understand how people could think that this is a good idea.. plsss.. give me your reasoning....

Claire · 1 year ago

It really amazes me that website owners do not check the results of tweaks and additions to websites. Especially leading up to the most important times of the year! I wonder what they did for xmas!! This would have had me leaving instantly!

Adiadi · 1 year ago

Well, hope it doesn't annoy people with that. Sometimes it's really interesting to know what people would do just to get attention.

John Hunter · 1 year ago

Good example. I am also reluctant to pick on small sites. However when a huge company does similarly lame stuff I am not hesitant. This is two years old but still - Gap closed their entire site for days.

Website Optimization - Terry R · 1 year ago

Some people should never get their hands on anything that has to do with a website especially the code.

Karl Erfurt · 1 year ago

Wow, that is pretty scary- I agree with your advice on affiliates checking up on vendors/merchants sites to make sure that nothing has gone wrong. In fact, I probably ought to check a few of the sites that I may still be promoting in various links; it's been a while since I have run through them all.

David Deangelo · 1 year ago

This is a first for me. I've never seen anything so vile!