Ecommerce remains big business (despite reports of slow growth). Of all the advice I give to start up merchants, the most frequent recommendation I give is to start, develop and promote an affiliate program. While affiliate networks like Commission Junction certainly have their place, those ecommerce merchants looking to just get their virtual feet wet in the world of affiliate marketing might just want to look into PayDotCom, a unique marketplace wherein advertisers (merchants) can sell both physical products and digital goods.

Perhaps the best part of the solution is that it leverages (and very nicely I would like to add) PayPal for both receipt of payments and payments merchants make to their affiliates (all major credit cards are accepted as well). PayDotCom can be used for more than just one time sales however - collecting ongoing subscription fees (perfect for membership sites) is another key feature. When compared to other affiliate merchant processors, the solution looks competitive for those just getting started. There is no setup fee, account approval and landing page approval is automatic, and it offers a customizable affiliate signup page for your website. No percentage is taken on sales, just a flat $1-3 sales fee which is split by the vendor and the affiliate (PayPal fees are considered separate).

To be honest, the pricing is a little confusing, but it remains a cheaper and more robust alternative on the surface than Clickbank. I plan on personally testing the PayDotCom platform to sell an ebook on buying and selling domains for the upcoming August issue on ecommerce.