Check, Please

Despite the use of outsourced affiliate technology solutions complete with administrative reporting features, many merchants fail to pay their affiliates on time. Often, affiliates don't get paid at all. Affiliate outsourcing companies cannot do much to ensure prompt payment; generally, they refer the affiliate to deal directly with the merchants. Many frustrated affiliates post to discussion boards such as ReveNews or AssociatePrograms.com. Check in to the discussions to learn more.

Many merchants are hard to reach by e-mail or phone. If there is an e-mail address on the Web site, such as affiliates@companyx.com, it might be checked rarely, or messages might be redirected to a privately labeled support service that sends canned replies. Do a support test: E-mail the company to check the promptness and quality of their reply.

Glitches, Delays, Questionable Contracts

Merchants are usually responsible for a significant part of the server tracking process and, if this is the case, must upload tracked data in batch files to the affiliate technology provider. As a result, the tracking process is prone to glitches. Moreover, some merchants don't admit to lost data, and there is no way to verify it. The trend is clear: Affiliates prefer Web-based, real-time tracking of their sales to server-side solutions.

Quarterly payment schedules — often 30 to 45 days after each calendar quarter — have become popular. But I don't know many Webmasters who want to wait up to five months to get paid for their efforts. In most cases, quarterly payments are just a sign of laziness and ignorance on the merchant's part. I do not endorse any program that is not on a monthly payment schedule. The only exception is if the merchant's business model requires collection of revenues from third parties before affiliate payment can be made.

Finally, many affiliate associates don't read their contracts carefully before they sign up. Many contracts are unfair, including conditions that allow an affiliate's competitors to join. Simply put: All rights to the merchant and no rights to the affiliate is the rule of thumb.

Get Proactive

While most Webmasters use the exit strategy to relieve frustration, some are taking actions I think will benefit the affiliate industry as a whole. Specifically, they have joined forces to create certification criteria for merchants with affiliate programs. The movement is called Affiliate Union.

Affiliate Union does not rate programs. Instead, the union aims to make merchants disclose as much information about their program policies as possible. Read the proposed draft of criteria.

If you are an affiliate, join the group. If you are a merchant, it is well worth your effort to check your affiliate program against the proposed criteria and to support the cause of Affiliate Union.

The views of our authors don' t necessarily reflect the views and policies of this company or its advertisers.