A Lesson in Why You Should Read Affiliate Legal Terms

I was just looking at an affiliate program signed up for many years ago, and saw I had earned $62.25 in unpaid commissions. How long had these commissions been unpaid? Since 2008!

Looking at my contact information, my address was the same. Why hadn't I been paid?

Before looking at the affiliate legal terms I was assuming I would see a minimum payout of $100, and since I had not yet met the minimum commissions were still pending.

The minimum payment in the legal terms was $125.

Hmmmm.

If I make a second referral and earn another $62.25, I will have $124.50 in commissions - 50 cents short of getting paid.

Sneaky.

Even sneaker is the "Rule of 2." Studies have shown that where referrals are made the most common number is 2 or less. That is why there are MLM programs called "2 Ups" where the first two referrals are paid to the upline and the sucker gets paid for all other referrals. Since, at most, only two referrals are statistically made, the upline gets paid all the money.

That is essentially what this merchant is doing - using the Rule of 2 to require 3 referrals to pay a commission. Undoubtedly, the merchant is laughing at its affiliate program, rarely paying commissions for free clients.

At this point I can either work on getting two more referrals, or not worrying about. I think I'll put up some free review pages on my sites and see what happens, but not spend a lot of effort on this devious type of merchant.