Bad Affiliate Merchant Practices

This page is not only directed to webmasters using affiliate programs but also to those running programs. There are common mistakes that tend to mark merchants as bad affiliates and sever relationship between parties.

1) Toll Free Posting - when an affiliate makes it easier to call a toll free number to place an order than to buy it online. For example if the user must create an account with a username and pass to shop, most people will call rather than go through the hassle. By posting a toll free order number the referring webmaster gets nothing from the sale.

2) Image watermarks - when an affiliate provides you with images and they have a clear url of their website or business name on them. The affiliates will often restrict you from using their name in any ads or on pages just in case you get some benefit from their name in the searches. They don't realize you are helping them build their brand and they are hurting themselves.

Nevertheless, they use you to brand their name without giving you the benefit of using the brand to attract visitors. You do not get paid for advertising their brand so you are working for free. If they wanted to post an ad on your website, they would have to pay you. So this is a way of posting hundreds or thousands of free ads. They know it and they do it to screw you.

3) Bad product pages - you will continuously see new datafeeds with bad product links. Merchants will intentionally place bad urls to get free ads. Referring someone to a dead link and redirecting to a page building their brand but not offering you a chance to make the sale.

4) Poor Thumbnail Images- If the merchant is serious about selling the product they need to provide clear and visible product images. Yet they tend to give you some crap 50 pixel thumbnail that is barely visible. They do this to save bandwidth o their end, however it renders your website useless. They often start with larger pics and replace them with smaller images later. So when you build the website it looks great. Then you go back and see images at a fraction of the original size.

5) URL Blitzing - the practice of adding their own url or company name in the datafeed product descriptions. Often using html code linking the url to their own website without crediting yours for the referral. We see this in large datafeeds often over 10,000 products. Generally it is done in a small number of random descriptions hoping the affiliate webmaster will not see it.

6) Policy Changes - the mast despicable and hated practice. They force you to agree to a highly restrictive set of rules to participate in their program. They wont hesitate to deduct your commission if you even approach the line they draw. But at some point, they just change the rules.

The point of an agreement is to have a clear and fair understanding of what you should do. Then when they see something that works for you, they make it against the policy. Imagine if the bank could change the rules on your mortgage, requiring you to pay double or an extra service fee. You might lose your house. That is the reason you sign a contract, so you do not get screwed.

This is the biggest income generator for affiliate program sites. They can eliminate high commission webmasters by simply changing their policy. If you see a site that has done this, you can expect to be screwed by them.

7) Canceling Programs or Removing Links - you have taken the time to build a website with 5,000 products and have marketed it, generated search traffic and made some money with it. Then the affiliate site, just stops participating in the program. You now have a productive website that is directing traffic to their site for free. They often join another program or change their program so new people can join, but all your work and money is wasted.

These people think websites are a joke. Webmasters spend serious time and money building websites. If the affiliate had to buy the site it would cost thousands of dollars. This way, they get it free.

Webmasters need to be aware that these businesses are out to make money. They often steal from unsuspecting webmasters through deceptive practices. Make sure you avoid these types of programs.