Patent ID: 7584118

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for determining a compensation due an affiliate from a merchant for traffic to a merchant Web site that originates from an affiliate Web site, a computer, on behalf of the merchant, performing the steps of: defining, by the merchant, a plurality of different compensation plans, each of the plurality of compensation plans determining the compensation due to the affiliate at least in part according to measured traffic of at least one of new customers, returning customers and click-throughs to the merchant Web site from the affiliate Web site; receiving an application from a potential affiliate, the received application including sales and marketing information of the potential affiliate; evaluating the received application and defining a profile of the potential affiliate based upon the sales and marketing information in the received application; selecting which of the plurality of different compensation plans to expose to the potential affiliate based upon the defined profile of the potential affiliate, the selected ones of the plurality of compensation plans being fewer in number than the defined plurality of different compensation plans; exposing the selected ones of the plurality of compensation plans to the potential affiliate, the exposed compensation plans being tailored to at least one of the potential affiliate and a product or service offered by the merchant, as determined based upon the defined profile and the evaluation of the sales and marketing information in the received application; accepting a selection by the potential affiliate of at least one of the exposed compensation plans, the potential affiliate then becoming an affiliate, the accepting step being separate and distinct from the application receiving step, and measuring traffic to the merchant Web site that originates from the affiliate Web site and applying the measured traffic to the at least one compensation plan selected by the affiliate to determine the compensation due to the affiliate.