Affiliate Program Scams And Other Affiliate Program Issues



If you going into affiliate marketing, or venturing in that direction you have to look at the possibilities that you may encounter an affiliate scam or two, as well as, some discourteous affiliate programs that have there own interests at heart.



Protect Yourself From Affiliate Scams

Anyone can be taken in by an affiliate scam. And usually it is those that are just starting out. Why are they targeted? If you haven't worked on the Internet before you may still be of the belief that "they wouldn't do that to me". Well, erase that mindset from you mind quickly. However, I do not want you to get discouraged, because there are more good apples than bad apples. And as you will find out, the bad apples will be quickly exposed on the Internet.

Affiliate Scams come in many forms, so if you are brand new to the affiliate game it's time to take notice. 



Commissions That Are Too High?

A merchant will never pay more on a commission then what they will get out of the sale itself. This is the draw for the scam.

Whatever you are selling, or wanting to sell, it is always wise to look at the commission that is being offered and if the commission is appropriate to the product or service you are selling. Here is a quick listing of what to expect for the different types of products:

1. ebooks- ebooks will give you the biggest commissions from 10% to 50%
2. products- 2% to 15% (depends upon the product or service)
3. software - 5% to 30% sometimes higher



Returned Checks

You're excited, you made a sale and you've met your threshold (what you have to make to get your commission sent to you). The check arrives, you cash it-it bounces. Time to immediately take the links off your site. Complain all you want-but it may be in vain.



Contact Information

It is always wise to check the contact information from a prospective program. If there is no contact information on the website you might be wise to look for a different program. Especially if the program is not within an affiliate brokerage firm. However, that does not mean that some bad eggs do not get through. With that being said...

Even if the affiliate program is not within an Affiliate Brokerage firm, I would advise checking out their website, as well as, doing a quick search through Google. If something is amiss, you will know rather quickly. On the Internet, information travels quickly.

Check their email address and see if they respond. If they don't respond, you have a problem.


Other Important Affiliate Program Issues

Once you have selected your affiliate programs and placed them on your site, your job is still not done. I call it the Never Assuming Affiliate Program Check and Balances. On the Internet never take anything for granted. And the word "Trusting" should be replaced with "Due Diligence". With that being said, here are thing to keep an eye out for with your affiliate programs.

Disproportionate amount of Refunds on an Affiliate Program

You can always tell if an affiliate program is in trouble or it could be a scam if you are getting a lot of refunds through your affiliate brokerage firm. This is wise to do a quick search in Google to see what people are saying about the product. (Tip: Remove links and banners as a line of protection for your business)

This alone, is one good reason to use an affiliate brokerage firm. They protect you, by protecting themselves with individuals or companies that do not want to pay their bill. And the affiliate brokerage firm will honor your commission, but will tell you to take the links off immediately because after a certain date they will no longer honor the commissions of a said company.



Not a Scam-But is Your Affiliate Program About to Fold?

You think you have some good products on your site and you're coasting along nicely. But do not neglect to click on the links occasionally. If a company is not doing to well you may find the following happening:

1. The Link that once went to the site says "Sorry for the inconvenience, this vendor is currently not available". Meaning, they are not honoring their contract agreement with the Affiliate Brokerage Firm. It may make you angry, but it does protect you and the affiliate brokerage firm from lost revenue.

2. If banners are not being updated-warning sign

3. Not sending you new offers, warning sign

4. Commission restructure downward

5. New banners and links go nowhere-404 return. Don't believe this won't happen? It does. A company may find that the expense is not worth it and will silently leave, without a courtesy of saying they are closing their affiliate program. If you based that product or service around a web page, be prepared to hustle to get all the links and banners off your site, because those dead links can stop the search engines from venturing too far into your website.



Affiliate Programs that Want You To Pay Them

If you encounter an affiliate program that wants you to pay them to join. Click that mouse button as quickly as you can, because you are not going to come out on top. Examples of such programs are: Typing jobs.

These borderline typing programs may pay you, but it will probably take you 6 months of 12 hours days, working 7 days a week to get your $39.95 or $49.95 back-and that's a maybe. Bottom line, you do not have to pay to belong to an affiliate program. These scam artists control the money output by saying things like-You did not conform to our rules. 

Unbeknown to you, you may be spamming other websites. These websites can ban you and report you for spamming. Not good, you are destroying your online reputation.

Typing programs are immediate pulls for the novice-don't bite. If you find an affiliate program for typing programs-move away from the notion. By the way, there are legitimate typing programs, but you will find that you do need the qualifications to qualify.


To conclude, there are many, many legitimate affiliate programs. Your job is to do your research. Yes, it's tempting to get a little lazy and not do the research. But remember, that sudden spurt of laziness can cause you lost revenue and jeopardize your integrity as an online affiliate marketer. 

If you need to report a scam-go to my web page "Report Your Scams"
I've tried to give you a summary of how each of the sites I have listed can help you.