I’ve always enjoyed promoting programs and products of people I admire. I especially like to see the message come up in my inbox: “Cathy Goodwin, you have made a sale!” Or I go to my affiliate page on someone’s site and see that I’ve got money coming.
Unfortunately, those indicators are misleading. I expect to receive a commission check. The computer shows that someone owes me money. But when I ask, I hear, “Oh, they were already in our database so it doesn’t count.” Or, “I forgot to mark that product as “no commission.”
The 1ShoppingCart system can be confusing too. Not all commissions show up in the Commissions Due section. You have to look at the order pages.
What’s that going to do to the whole affiliate idea? Should we just promote products from clickbank or paydot, where there’s no conflict? After I’ve promoted a program in my ezine, tweeted the link and posted to Facebook, I get … zero?
My argument is that even though someone was in your database, maybe there was something in my recommendation that pushed her to say yes. Maybe she saw the announcement of a book or a class in my ezine and somehow hadn’t caught it on the original site.
And if you forget to mark a product as no commission….hey, pay SOMEthing. Especially if it’s a huge four-figure product that I sold for you.
Finally, how about a Wall of Shame for big-name Internet marketers who won’t pay their commissions? Some of them just say, “I won’t pay you” and some just don’t answer queries. Sure the amounts are small, but a few $97 commissions can add up when you pool them together. And if you’re not eager to pay commissions, just kill your affiliate program.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Shun Jian, Thanks for the comment! A reduced commission may be appropriate, as long as you warn people. I’ve grown leery of promoting others. If they have huge data bases, chances are my affiliate message will reach their existing clients.
Right on, my friend!
I like that you have the guts to say it as it is… Merchants must respect the efforts that affiliates put in to help generate the sales…
Maybe they can have a reduced commission if the customer is already in their database… but not paying at all is really like “robbing” the affiliates