When Affiliate Programs Go Wrong

Posted on May 1, 2007
Filed Under Affiliate Programs, Ebooks, Google Adwords, Pay-Per-Click, Search Engine Traffic

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How do you truly evaluate a product?

Do you rely entirely on the product owners marketing materials for their affiliates and sales copy or do you make a purchase to make own personal review?

In some cases where you have a merchant who is consistent with producing high quality products such as John Reese you can be sure that the product has been rigorously tested by real people long before being launched to the online community.

In most cases you would be best to purchase the product or if you are in good standing with the merchant you could request a copy for review.

We are human and we can sometimes get it wrong no matter how many cautionary steps we have taken to make a thorough evaluation.

Rosalind Gardner talks candidly about a more than problematic merchant who apparently was not impressed with her critical review. After five months she finally received her commission payment but couldn’t log into her affiliate control panel to check up on statistics.

"UPDATE:

START

Further to a personal interview with the merchant mentioned on Rosalind’s post I have found that as with ALL cases that there are at least TWO sides of the story. Without getting into further debate and cause unnecesary conflict I have to say that this debate has been somewhat blown out of proportion.

For instance, if you use 1Shoppingcart system you will recall last year’s internal problems with tracking and emails. This coupled with a mutual breakdown of communication has fuelled the above case.

I’ve decided to withdraw my initial bad merchant stand and will do my due diligence before contributing to ANY post where controversy or gripes pointing towards a known individual or company. No sides are being taken here but I wanted to add this point rather than just deleting this whole post." END

Rosalind also bashes a number one ranking ClickBank product which has been a topic of controversy and debate over at the Warrior Forum.

Do your due diligence and make regular checks on exactly what you are promoting.
Ask the product owner as many questions as you can think of to get a clearer understanding of a product and read through the terms of your affiliate contract and address any topics of concern.

Looks like we have to be trained undercover FBI agents just to ensure our own integrity when a merchant goes bad or uses deceptive tactics to get people to buy into an idea.

Stay safe online and beware of false promises of riches and the like,

Nancy

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Comments

2 Responses to “When Affiliate Programs Go Wrong”

.X. on May 2nd, 2007 7:37 am

Nancy -

I’m the “unscrupulous merchant” you’ve noted in your article.

If you want to know the REAL story, I’d be pleased to do an interview with you.

Warning: when it’s said and done your heroine ain’t gonna look so rosy no more.

.X.
Nancy P Redford on May 4th, 2007 11:43 am

Hi there,

I would love to get your side of the story. You can Skye me at a time that is convenient for you. Just set up a day via email

Thanks for dropping by.

Nancy