Introduction

The Plimus platform gives you access to products other than your own to sell, whether you are an Affiliate or a Vendor. Using the Network Sales capabilities, Vendors can promote others’ offerings, giving them a virtually limitless inventory of items to sell.

As a Plimus Vendor you have two ways in which you can drive revenue through others’ products. You can add a direct link to the Partner’s Buy Now page; and you can additionally sell Partners' products alongside your own as Promotion offers. And of course, when you agree to promote a Partner’s products, you can negotiate a reciprocal agreement in which they promote yours.

Affiliates also benefit as Plimus Vendors come to reap the benefits, and understand the vast potential, of promoting through all types of Partners. Both Affiliates and Vendors can list Partner product links to Buy Now pages and so build their own customized product catalog pages. The Buy Now pages can also be customized to match site branding and design.

Once you master the principles in this guide you will be able to develop positive sales relationships with the thousands of potential partners using Plimus.

This guide shows you how to increase your product inventory by partnering with other Vendors.

I. Access the Affiliates & Partners Section

The starting point for finding products to sell is the Affiliates & Partners section. From the home page of the Control Panel, open the Affiliates and Partners link situated on the top menu.

The opening screen gives a brief overview of the steps you need to take.

Click on the Locate New Products To Sell link or Find Products to Sell button.

Featured Products Ready for You to Sell

The quickest way to begin selling Partners' products is to select one of the Featured Offers listed on the Locate New Products to Sell screen.

Some of these items are cleared for "Immediate Sale" and the relevant Contracts will be automatically added to your Affiliated Products list once you complete the associated login steps.

There is no limit to how many Affiliated Products you can sell or market through Buy Now links on your site. Just press the Sell this Product button to activate.

Note: Even though a product has been offered as a Featured Product, Vendors are entitled to amend or cancel the offer as they see fit. In such cases you will be notified. Vendors will block parties from using an offer if they suspect misuse or abuse.

Search for Complementary Products in the Plimus Catalog

There are thousands of items in the Product Catalog that are available for you to sell.

For most of them you will need the proposed Partner's consent to sell.

1. Start by running a broad search first. You can then narrow the criteria if you receive too many results.
2. If you see a relevant product, click the Sell this Product button to issue a Request to Sell.

In this illustration Happy Example Software wants to sell F16 Simulator (Medium Version) for Network Selling.

Issue a Request to Sell a Product

Use the Request to Sell form to issue your request through the Plimus system to the relevant Vendor.

1. You may use the pull down menu to request permission to sell a single contract, or all products in the Vendor’s catalog.
2. You may suggest a different commission value or percentage than that proposed by the Vendor; bear in mind that the Vendor may or may not approve this adjustment.
3. It's always helpful to add some comments in the provided space to start out your business relationship. Don't forget to state in the comment field whether you will be selling as an Affiliate or Cross-Vendor, as different Vendors are seeking a different mix of these kinds of Partner. There is no need to put in contact details as these will automatically be taken from your Plimus contact information.
4. Click Submit

The request will be issued to the Product Vendor. On their next login, they will see your request in their Pending Requests queue.

When the Vendor accepts your Request, then the Product will appear in your Affiliated Products list on the Home Page of the Control Panel.

The Request is Listed in your Pending Request List

If the Partner's Contract settings require manual approval of Partner requests then prior to acceptance your Request will be shown in the Pending Requests list on your Account screen.

Affiliated Product Details

When clicking on the Product link you will see all relevant product details, including whether the product is Cross-Vendor Sales Enabled. At the bottom of the page, all the relevant approved Contracts are listed. Clicking on one of the Contract links brings up the settings for that Contract.

Note: As the contract is cleared for Cross-Vendor Sales, you can now offer it in one of two ways: a direct link to the BuyNow page (very similar to the process followed by an Affiliate); or as a Promotion within the purchase process of your own items. These processes are fully covered in the second part of this guide.

Acceptance of Your Request

After acceptance by your Partner, the Contract will then be shown in your Affiliated Products list. Click to the Contract link to view full details of what you’ve been approved to sell.

Full Details of Affiliated Contract + Affiliate Buy Now Link

The contract page shows the Buy Now, Product Information, and Trial Download links. The Buy Now link can be immediately be used to generate sales by both Affiliate and Vendor Partners. The next screen shows the Buy Now page.

Tip for Advanced Users: If the Buy Now link is being used to sell the product on its own (i.e. not within a promotion) then an IPN receiving script link can be added in the Notifications field. If the Contract is added as a Promotion to your own item, its details will be included in the IPN notification you already receive.

The Basic Buy Now Page

In this example the Buy Now link leads to this order page. This is an Affiliate-type sale, where Happy Example Software is selling an item supplied by Igal V1 The One and Only and sold on its Buy Now page.

II. Extra Steps for Cross-Vendor Sales

Having received a Buy Now link from your Partner, you can start selling this Affiliated product as a Promotion within your own Buy Now, so long as the Contract is approved for Cross-Vendor Sales.

In the following example, Happy Example Software is going to set up a Promotion to sell the Affiliated F16 Simulator, as a Promotion with its own product Hot Writing.

Cross-Vendor Sale Set Up - Step 1 Select Main Contract

The item is cleared for Cross-Vendor Sale so if the Partner is a Vendor in the Plimus system it can add the contract to another of its own contracts and offer it as a Cross-Vendor Sale. This is done through the Promotions area by the Partner.
Open the relevant contract and then the Promotion link.

Cross-Vendor Sale Set Up - Step 2 Set Up Cross-Vendor Sale Promotion

1. This interface controls the Promotion section text and appearance for Promotions relating to the final Order page.
2. Select whether you want the Promotion item to appear on a Standalone page, or as part of the standard Contact Information step.
3. Click Add New Promotion.
4. Select one or more Contracts to offer as Promotions.

Cross-Vendor Sale Set Up - Step 3 Add Specific Text for Each Promotion Element

On the second Promotion screen select the contract(s) you want to add within the Promotion.

To help increase conversion, you can replace the standard label (which would be the Contract name) with alternative text that encourages purchase. For instance, you could change the text from F16 Simulator Medium Version to "Don’t miss this opportunity to add F16 Simulator to your basket and improve your results!"
The Promotion can be date limited, and quantity restricted if required.
Press Submit to save changes, then you can view the resulting page by clicking the Test BuyNow button.

Cross-Vendor Sale Set Up - Step 4 Test the Buy Now Page

Click the Test BuyNow button to review the resulting order page.

Cross-Vendor Sale Set Up - Step 5 Access Buy Now Link

The final Buy Now page link can be accessed from the Contract's General Information page.

The Buy Now page will automatically take on the look and feel of the Buy Now setup associated with it. However, any party linking to the Buy Now page (whether the owner, an Affiliate or a Vendor Partner) can replace that look and feel by associating a different Buy Now template. To do so, simply add the attribute &templateId=XXXXXX, where the series of X's is replaced by the relevant template code.