10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
10 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Should You Even Bother Trying To Appeal Your Expulsion From An Affiliate Program?

by Jon Tees
10 replies
This is hypothetical, but lets say you are generating a lot of leads and/or sales and making a lot of money with an affiliate program and then one day find yourself booted out of it. The reasons they give can usually be vague such as “we are no longer operating in your state” or “your website is all of a sudden subpar by our standards, even though we didn’t have an issue with it before.” To spare themselves making false accusations of affiliate agreement violations and being held liable, they will often give blanket reasons and unless you knowingly did something wrong it will be difficult if not impossible to plead your case. And on top of this your unpaid commissions have already been involuntarily forfeited. Would you appeal? Would it even be worth it? And even if you win would there even be any guarantee of getting back those forfeited commissions?
#affiliate #appeal #bother #expulsion #program
  • Profile picture of the author XSV1
    The question is really too vague, but, if I felt what I was doing was within their rules I would certainly contact them to inquire about the reason. That said, if you are making a company money with sales and they are good sales, it would be odd for them to not contact you if they thought there was something going on in violation of their terms.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10822738].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Cary Joseph
    Its worth reaching out and seeing why. Maybe you just werent sending enough traffic, whatever the case may be, it can sometimes be worked out by a simple skype chat. Now, if youre sending blatant fraud thats another story!
    Signature
    Express Revenue - CPA Affiliate Network - Accepting New Publishers Now APPLY HERE
    skype- cary.perlman1 Phone: 877-977-2882
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10822865].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Without knowing specific details, normally no. Most networks have specific clauses in their TOS that allow the removal from any offer without needing to provide a reason
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10823083].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jon Tees
      Originally Posted by ChrisBa View Post

      Without knowing specific details, normally no. Most networks have specific clauses in their TOS that allow the removal from any offer without needing to provide a reason
      The affiliate-merchant relationships with ShareASale merchants for example are especially similar to at will employment whereby the affiliate is affiliated with the merchant at the will of the merchant. A merchant could terminate your affiliation with them at any time, for any reason (included but not limited to reasons known only to them) even when they owe you thousands of dollars worth of commissions and you’ve done nothing wrong. Asking for a reason will often result in silence or a negative response-false accusation. All they really want you to know is that you have been removed from their program and it was their prerogative to remove you from it.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10825763].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    If I had not done anything wrong, I would definitely contact them.
    People make mistakes.
    It would be worth a shot.
    Nothing more to lose.
    Signature
    44 days in and we broke the $10K a month recurring bench mark.

    Guaranteed 60% Opt In Rate Traffic-Real People-Fresh Today-High Quality Biz Opp traffic![/URL]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10823117].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Ben Friedman
    If I was ever removing an affiliate from our campaigns, I would always speak to them first to explain the reasons and let them have their say.

    Sometimes the merchant can see things that aren't really there and an explanation can clear things up.

    If you have genuinely been wrongly removed from a campaign I would always say to speak to the merchant and try to explain what is going on and have a conversation about it.

    If it was me I would always listen.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10826147].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jon Tees
      Originally Posted by Ben Friedman View Post

      If I was ever removing an affiliate from our campaigns, I would always speak to them first to explain the reasons and let them have their say.

      Sometimes the merchant can see things that aren't really there and an explanation can clear things up.

      If you have genuinely been wrongly removed from a campaign I would always say to speak to the merchant and try to explain what is going on and have a conversation about it.

      If it was me I would always listen.
      In a perfect world all merchants would do this, actually talk to the affiliates before getting rid of them. Sometimes it’s a simple “issue” like your main website isn’t really a fit for the merchant’s product, without the merchant taking into account that you own a multitude of different sites in various niches (including but not limited to the merchant’s niche) and one of your other sites may be a better fit for promoting the merchant’s product-program. It’s just unfortunate that so many merchants are so short sighted in this regard. And as with most things in affiliate marketing, sometimes you don’t even need a site at all just a domain that you can promote via social media or give out via word of mouth and other offline means that can be forwarded to your affiliate URL.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10826628].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    All you're doing is risking any future money/payout because once you violate a TOS most can keep the money. If you're banned and come back under another name, odds are you're breaking a TOS rule.

    So you tell us, is it worth it?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10826633].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jon Tees
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      All you're doing is risking any future money/payout because once you violate a TOS most can keep the money. If you're banned and come back under another name, odds are you're breaking a TOS rule.

      So you tell us, is it worth it?
      No one should ever knowingly violate terms of service or look for loop holes and ways around the rules. But some merchants can often be dishonest. You may have not actually done anything "wrong" aside from the fact that you are generating commissions and the merchant doesn't want to pay you. Therefore the merchant concocts an excuse to boot you from their program, so as is the case with a lot of affiliate networks your commissions are forfeited (assuming it's before the payment period) and the merchant keeps 100% of the money you helped generate without having to give you a dime.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10838506].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author yukon
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

        No one should ever knowingly violate terms of service or look for loop holes and ways around the rules. But some merchants can often be dishonest. You may have not actually done anything “wrong” aside from the fact that you are generating commissions and the merchant doesn’t want to pay you. Therefore the merchant concocts an excuse to boot you from their program, so as is the case with a lot of affiliate networks your commissions are forfeited (assuming it’s before the payment period) and the merchant keeps 100% of the money you helped generate without having to give you a dime.


        ...and yet you want a second chance with a potentially dishonest affiliate network.

        When does this start making sense?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10840413].message }}

Trending Topics