I'm looking at the big 3 affiliate tracking solutions that are out there: Mansion, X3 and NATS.

I've already analyzed all three thoroughly based on specs, demos, presentations and generally as much as I can from the outside looking in. But I'm curious to hear from people running each of them.

Glowing endorsements are fine, each has fans and major programs running their software. But what I'm really interested in hearing about is what are the fleas? Any piece of software has some little quirk that people do not like, a bug or just a feature that would be really useful but isn't in the current release. That's the type of feedback I'm currenty looking for.

I'm also curious about how bad the learning curve is. How long did it take you to get all of the subscription configurations and options setup initially?

I'm not looking for dirt or to sling mud on any of the products, I'm just trying to figure out where the shortcomings are of each one. There's no such thing as a perfect piece of software, and if there were none of these companies would need to offer support options.

Free Business Idea for anyone who wants it: One thing our industry lacks in either print or online is a reliable independent unbias test house for reviews of industry tools.....something along the lines of PC Labs for PC Magazine, etc. I'd love to see someone put something like these packages head ot head, see which is fastest and most efficient, etc.

X3 works well although the actual 'admin' side of things can become confusing for a while whilst you are setting everything up.

It does however offer a shitload of options when it comes to what you can offer affiliates by way of promotion if you have a simple understanding of php :)

You could always use Analog stats and three redirects.

Worked for Serge. :D

Fuck that!

MKSTATS baby!

Interesting no one has really come forward on this one...

So which programs use which.

Are there anyothers?

I heard there is one that has more backdoors than a Victorians whores drawers (gotta keep the line fresh , Dravyk) ;-))

Same one that has the email exploit built in with the shave?

Name and shame!

This is Oprano!

I love NATS
it's great for marketing to affiliates (a lot of them are actively seeking out NATS-based programs), it's also highly funactional and once you start learning what it can do, quite powerful...

the fleas?
I'd like to see a better built-in email module for mailing my affiliates
I little sexier interface would be nice
when they first started really taking off, they grew a little to big, too fast (victims of their own success) and it was harder to get support, but sicne then they've added more staff and the service is top notch

the guys behind NATS are good at responding and taking into consideration everyone's wishlist demands

Thanks Sykk....this is exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.

Spent a lot of time looking at NATS at the show including sitting thru their seminar/demo. Seems like a good team of folks who know their shit, so I can see why they've come on so strong in the last 6-8 months in particular.

Fuck that!

MKSTATS baby! [/b][/quote]
And you know i STILL install MkStats for every major site that I build out.

And you know i STILL install MkStats for every major site that I build out. [/b][/quote]
same lol

same lol [/b][/quote]
All the new stuff buries the things I really want to see under a humongous pile of crap I could care less about....

60 seconds in mkstats tells me all I need to know about how a site is doing.

I dont need something that drops a 60 page fucking pdf file in mailbox every morning for each site....

You just don't like the colorful charts. :)