Affiliates (Commission Junction)

This article covers the following topics for our Commission Junction Affiliates

1. Basic Setup - How-to Search the Affiliate Catalog
2. Advanced Setup - Pulling Data to Your Own Database
3. How to Create an Affiliate Link

 Note: Currently, only the U.S. Catalog is available.

1. Basic Setup – How-to Search the Affiliate Catalog

We have a dedicated page on our Developer’s Network site that explains the API endpoint you will be using, along with some additional instructions:

The v3/catalog API will be used to perform real-time searches for specific products by providing an "identifier" in the API request. The "identifier" will be searched across all numerical identifiers (ISBN, Print ISBN, SKU, etc...) for all product records available to the VitalSource Catalog.  This method of calling the Catalog Lookup API will not return the full VitalSource Catalog (over a million items). It only matches of the "identifier" sent in the request.

The Lookup API will return the product records that match the provided "identifier" along with current pricing, metadata and URLs to the VitalSource Store Website for that particular product. If multiple products match the "identifier" (rental durations of the same item) each product duration will be returned in the API response as a separate item.

Part of the call will return a block of price related items. You will want to use the <store-price> value. It can be lower in some instances.

<pricelist>

            <publisher-list-price>0.00</publisher-list-price>

            <agency-price>43.99</agency-price>

            <digital-list-price>43.99</digital-list-price>

            <sell-price>43.99</sell-price>

            <store-price currency="USD">43.99</store-price>

 </pricelist> 

One example identifier you may use to test:

• L-999-70103

2. Advanced Setup - Pulling Data to Your Own Database

Higher volume Affiliates frequently like to import the VitalSource catalog into their own database to allow for the data to be manipulated and controlled to meet their needs. This can be achieved with the v4/products API

Deltas (Data pulls to identify product changes over a defined period of time.)

• Use “from” and “until” parameters to pull deltas
• We recommend pulling deltas daily to ensure data is accurate. They must be pull every 29 days to catch items being removed from distribution.

Price Type Hierarchy

Use Price > Type > “recommended-retail”

                {

                    "type": "recommended-retail",

                    "value": "79.56",

                    "currency": "USD",

                    "discount_codes": null,

                    "territory": null

  If there is no “recommended-retail” price, use Price > Type> “digital-list-price”

{

                    "type": "digital-list-price",

                    "value": "83.75",

                    "currency": "USD",

                    "discount_codes": null,

                    "territory": null

                },

3. How to Create an Affiliate Link

Note: Please defer to instructions on Commission Junction, as their process may change from time-to-time.

1. Pick a CJ root domain to link on www.anrdoezrs.net, www.tkqlhce.com or any others root domains that CJ offers.
2. Find any generic link ID for the advertiser by logging into CJ and viewing the Links tab. A good link to use will be something that's not likely to be deleted, like their brand logo.
3. Take note of your Publisher PID
4. The SID can be whatever you want- it’s how you want to track it on your side. Most people use the search term or product ID
5. URL - encode the actual destination you want to link to.  Additional directions.

Constructed URL example:

http://<cj-root-domain>/click-<your-pid>-<advertiser-link-id>?sid=<product-id>&url=<url-encoded-redirect-link>

Looks something like:

http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-XXXXXX-13385193?sid=1544325207&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vitalsource.com%2Ftextbooks%3Fterm%3D9781544325200