

Ask HN: Who do you use to sell your ad space? - dawson

I'm considering buysellads.com but would like some other recommendations (as 25% seems expensive). I don't need an agent, as I have interested advertisers, I just want a hosted SaaS solution that can supply the code and handle the merchant processing, CPC/I and inventory etc.
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toddynho
@dawson I can't speak to isocket, as I've never used or talked to anyone who
has used the software. What i can offer you about BSA are a few things:

\- You’re not locked in to fixed 30-day rate pricing; publishers at BSA can
also sell ads on a CPM basis.

\- I'm not sure what type of site you have, but if you look around our
directory (<http://buysellads.com/buy>) you will see many sites that have sold
a ton of ads.

\- It's true; we charge a 25% commission (includes payment fees, BTW). As
such, we're incentivized to actually sell ads for you.

\- For many people, the commission comes down to either a) selling ads
commission free and keeping 100% (minus payment fees), or b) selling more ads,
and likely making more money, with someone whose goals are aligned with yours…
it's one of those 100% of a pie that's worth $100 or 75% of a pie that's worth
$200 scenarios.

\- If you were looking for a commission free ad-selling tool, I'd recommend
using something free like OIO Publisher.

\- There are dozens of publishers at BSA who would likely sell plenty of ads
directly to advertisers without us; however, with BSA in the mix managing
their sales they sell a ton more.

There’s also a bunch of non-biased reviews of what BSA has done for other
publishers here: <http://www.google.com/search?q=buysellads>

(Disclosure: I founded BSA and my blood, sweat, and tears are in the BSA
software… so I might be a little biased)

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dawson
I haven't had a great experience with your service or support so far. I
registered two days ago and logged in, came back a few hours later and
couldn't login anymore. On contacting your support (which took over 3 hours to
respond), I was told no such account existed and was asked to register again.
I did, and received an email this time saying it was a success and all was
fine. I added my website and waited for approval, two days later and this
afternoon I'm still waiting for approval, I emailed you saying can you approve
it and suddenly it's now disappeared from my dashboard completely, not waiting
for approval nor is it approved! I emailed support just over an hour ago and
am now waiting for this to be resolved.

~~~
dawson
This was my fault and not BSAs, I didn't enter the URL correctly on
submission, apologies.

~~~
toddynho
no worries, glad we could help get this sorted out for you!

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dawson
Going to give <https://www.isocket.com/> a try.

~~~
jasonshen
It's tough for many publishers to find the right ad solution because their
traffic, audience, and level of involvement in the business differ.

I work at isocket and want to point out that BuySellAds is great for some
people. If you're looking to sell month-long tenancy campaigns on a
subscription (pay-until-they-cancel) basis, BSA is the best tool for the job.
And for that service, they'll assess a 25% commission on all the ad revenue
you generate.

If you're looking more flexibility in your ad packages - CPM,
daily/weekly/monthly campaigns, grids, takeovers and a flat fee pricing, you
might want to look at isocket. See <http://www.isocket.com/group/techcrunch>
for an example. We're about to release a "free-until-your-first-sale" program
so there's essentially no risk in trying us out.

If you've got more questions, feel free to reach out to me at
jason@isocket.com.

~~~
kongqiu
Amazing how recommending one of your competitors (even for only certain use
cases) makes my impression of your brand that much higher. Thank you!

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staunch
The percentage a network takes is irrelevant. What really matters is your
total net revenue. Fill rate and eCPM are the biggest weaknesses of most
networks/agencies.

~~~
toddynho
+1 for you, 100% correct.

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sammville
You should try Adclays (<http://www.adclays.com>). It helps publishers sell
their ad space directly to advertisers. You can choose between monthly ad
spaces or per CPM. You can also add backfill code so you still earn if your ad
space is not sold. We take 15% of the sale.

Contact me and i can work out a better deal for you.

Disclaimer: I own Adclays.

~~~
kongqiu
Some constructive criticism:

Without logging in, there is hardly any information (beyond marketing
language).

The latest blog post appears to have been November 18, 2010. Just below the
title there's the default "Your Awesome Tagline" as a subtitle.

The FAQ only says, "A complete support page is been put together based on
popular questions."

In short, these are some big red flags for any business interested in your
product.

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chrismiller
Buysellads.com looks great as a self service option. However does anyone have
a recommendation for a company that will actively try and seek out advertisers
for you?

~~~
toddynho
BuySellAds does actively seek out advertisers for you - ping me with your site
info at todd@buysellads.com if you would like me to take a look and give you
an idea of what we can do for you.

~~~
chrismiller
Thanks for the reply Todd. We aren't serving ads quite yet (no ads served
during beta) but I will be in touch when the site goes live!

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profitbaron
If you already have advertisers then you should look at using a solution such
as OpenX or OIOPubisher etc.

