A little worried

[ushop-online]

soaperror Object ( [sCode] => ns1:Client.LIMIT_1 [sString] => Insufficient Quota [sDetails] => getCategoryTree: You have used all your operations quota )
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soaperror Object ( [sCode] => ns1:Client.LIMIT_1 [sString] => Insufficient Quota [sDetails] => getHotPickProductList: You have used all your operations quota )
1
soaperror Object ( [sCode] => ns1:Client.LIMIT_1 [sString] => Insufficient Quota [sDetails] => getCategoryTree: You have used all your operations quota )
1
soaperror Object ( [sCode] => ns1:Client.LIMIT_1 [sString] => Insufficient Quota [sDetails] => getCategory: You have used all your operations quota )
1
This is being reported by some affiliates who have exceeded their quota.

As AW have just informed me that they consider me worth no more than 15,000 there is the possibility of this problem arising for me.

Sorry but this sort of message being presented to customers is very unprofessional and needs something far more friendly.

NB: I have been with this product since day one and this is the second support forum I have supported -- am I one of the best affiliates - no where near it -- obviously you don't want me to be! 15,000?

[amarath]

Hi Ushop,

Sorry this must be an error on my part yesterday, your quota is supposed to be 150,000.

Ill do this now.

Apologies

Amo

[ushop-online]

Thanks but that is not the point of this thread -- I have put that in bold above.

[amarath]

Hi Ushop,

Sorry I quickly posted that message before calling a couple of my colleagues about this issue to identify the best possible way forward both technically and commercially (in the interests of the end user)

In the interests of affiliate sites using ShopWindow, we are going to try and output a more user friendly and informative message as supposed to the SOAP errors currently output.

I will admit that until launching the Toolset, we had perhaps not focused enough on the issue of communicating quota errors whilst maintaining the user experience an affiliate is aiming to provide.

I believe that the best way forward would be for us to create an image or error page that is clean and offers users of an affiliates website some information on current status.

This would allow you to identify an error, and not cause confusion amongst users.

Next week I will have a meeting about this with our Development team, and get some timelines for this.

Also, we are going to develop other notification channels to both the affiliate and ShopWindow team.

eg. flag up all accounts which have 10% quota remaining perday and issue a notification to both the affiliate and ShopWindow team.

I will look into this on Tuesday.

Regards

Amo

[ushop-online]

I think a simple message such as 'our database is undergoing upgrade' or similar would appear okay to an end user with something like 'please try again in x-hours'.

Just a quick idea.

[Andy]

Personally, i think there shouldn't be an error message at all once the account is made fully active. It makes the site look unprofessional, even a custom error page makes the affiliate look bad.
I honestly believe that there isn't really any need for the quota to be set. If an affiliate has 150,000 none buying calls per day, then who knows if the next one could result in a sale. With the present system, no-one gets a chance to find out. What if the Aff has more than one installation? that 150,000 calls have to be shared between installations. I could have about 10 fully functional api's running, all making money. but with the present system that would mean just 15,000 calls per day. Bearing in mind each page refresh can contain between 2 and 10 calls, that isn't alot of traffic before the errors start showing up.
No quota's, this is my theme.
Granted, AffWin need to restrict the overall bandwidth of their server, but there are better ways. Refine their backend code, compress the backend output and the bandwidth throughput. Cache each affiliate's feed daily with crons serverside so each call is just a list of info instead of 3 billion MySQL connections. Are the MySQL tables indexed correctly? In essence, is the AffWin system up to the job?

Why not employ some database use on our end? perhaps some of the data doesn't always need refreshing, or could be held for a day or 3 at our end.

The possibilities are endless and with each improvement made, our api's will increase in speed, therefore profitability. Every one's a winner.

[amarath]

Hi Andy / Ushop,

Thank you for your posts / ideas on this, I have taken note and will use them in my meeting next week.

I am aware that this is an issue that has been ongoing since launch and still requires some work in order to get right in the interests of affiliates and end users.

Please do bare in mind that although the quota is in place, we are providing each affiliate every opportunity to contact us and detail any bespoke requirements. We appreciate that the potential use of ShopWindow within your site/s can require a larger quota than all ready provided, and as a network we therefore make every effort to ensure that we do meet your requirements.

In an ideal world no quota would be excellent, however we have to be able to monitor and sustain usage levels on an ongoing basis. This is to ensure that we not only offer you the Toolset, but also provide and maintain the service levels required.

Although the current quota system allows us to monitor usage etc, it does require further development in order to be more efficient from an affiliates / end users end.

As mentioned, I will detail your needs in my meeting next week, from which I will hopefully be able to communicate some changes to you.

Regards

Amo