Hi all,
"Which is better - being a merchant or an affiliate?" Oh what a GREAT question! It came up recently at a private forum I belong to, so I thought I would bring up the topic here too. Here is what I think...
I'm a consultant in between both worlds and I sure think it would be better to be an affiliate. They both have pros and cons but if I had to make a choice it would not be employees, stocking problems, shipping problems, credit card problems and all the rest. Too many headaches for me! Not that being an affiliate is easy, mind you. Affiliates have much less control over their destiny since many things are in the power of the networks or the merchants. That must be frustrating. However you have much more control over how you spend your time. So overall if I had to choose, I would go the affiliate route before becoming a merchant. That's my just my opinion.
One of my favorite affiliates that I named "Affiliate of the Year" for one of my programs 2 years ago just made the switch from affiliate to merchant. I should ask him the question since he has done both. He is selling most of his affiliate sites even though he was making GOOD money, so I guess he is pretty committed to going the merchant route. Time will tell if being a merchant was a good choice for him or just a case of the grass is always greener!
Like I said, lots of pros and cons both ways. What do YOU think?