Is this absurd or what?

Can you sell the product without the website? If you can, then do so!
If you can't, then its up to you - it doesn't matter what we think. The program will sink or swim on its own merit.

Free attracts more affiliates, paid attracts less but more productive ones. They have to earn to get to 0 at least in terms of profits I have seen both but I don`t really like to be charged to sell a product for someone..

Is this absurd or what?you mean marketing ! more like the thread is

If you are serious about building an affiliate business, you've got to get used to investing in yourself - if you want to be successful.

Personally, I don't want anyone promoting my done-for-you services if they're not willing to invest minimally in themselves as I invest significantly in each of my associates.

I guess the real question is, are you really interested in the value offered by this affiliate opportunity or did you just want to make some money?

If it's the former, an affiliate fee would not prompt you to write this thread. If it's the later, then you may as well quit now because paying an affiliate fee is minor compared to the huge roadblocks your going to face down the road.

Rain,

FYI - Roadblocks come with the territory;-)

This is a simple formula that is used by most people that have a membership site, you can pay to be a part of the service and can use it for the value, and also promote it to make money as well. Sites like this offer recurring commissions which is what you would want anyway. I would rather have 50 people paying me $10 a month and make a recurring $500 check. Look at the benefit of the benefit.

I have only seen this with scammy pyramid type programs.

Basic member is $49/m for access to training. But then they have a whole bunch of levels like gold member or inner circle that go up to $599 then $1500 etc.

You can only get commissions on what you are buying in at so if you are a $49 member and someone signs up under your affiliate for the whole shebang of $5999+ those commission go to the next person up the line who paid for those levels.

There is more than one high profile program like this. You see them promoted all over YouTube and the net by guys posing with Ferraris and Porches.

I have seen this same approach on a number of occasions. It's just a little twist on the normal marketing model for affiliates.

Some business owners will do this to screen their affiliates before they approve an affiliate contract. Of course, the theory is that affiliates that pay for the "right" to join the program will be more serious about working the program to earn income.

Some business owners do this to make their affiliate program seem "exclusive" - kind of like a private membership club.

Also, I have seen cases where the business owner wants all his affiliates to have already joined a community, or paid for a service, or purchased a particular product before they are allowed to sell that same opportunity.

So no, it's not absurd to see affiliates paying for the right to sell something. You will see this same model at work after you've been in IM for awhile.

Steve

This is the biggest problem I have with this. There are many affiliate programs that require you to be a customer, whether it is a one off product purchase or a membership. I do not think I would pay just to be an affiliate, and I sure as hell would not pay and then let them have total control of my business by owning my website

al

To be honest, it sounds like a ripoff to me. If I were you, I'd run away and never look back.
But it's completely up to you. Caveat.

"If it's too good to be true, then it probably is."

Sounds like GDI and GVO to me.

I've only ever come across this once and I didn't bother being an affiliate for it..

That was the MTTB program..

Seemed Ok till I read a thread on Warrior about it then I chose to avoid it.

As I say I've never seen it other than that program but after reading some of the comments on here as to why people do charge people to affiliate their products I can sort of see why they do it. Doubt I'd ever pay anyone to promote their stuff though as there's so many things out there that you can become affiliates for that are free..

Up to you I suppose

Like others have noted, there are many programs that use this business model - there is nothing absurd about that.

It might not work for you, but who knows, it might work for someone out there. I personally wouldn't recommend such a program.

It's nothing new.

Any affiliate program requiring you to pay a fee to join is a scam exactly 100% of the time. No exceptions! This model is especially popular in the get rich quick scheme industry where newbies are conditioned to buy a product to access the affiliate program for that same product. They may also claim that the payment is going towards training materials or hosting, but it's still a scam and one that the Federal Trade Commission has taken action against numerous times in the past.

The argument that it helps to weed out bad affiliates isn't legitimate. There are many affiliate programs with a bar of entry higher than being able to fill out a join form. These programs require a minimum amount of traffic to be sent. Theory being that if someone can send X number of qualified clicks, they are almost certainly legitimate. Paying a fee to enter the program proves absolutely nothing other than the affiliate was willing to pay a fee to join. It says nothing about their ability to send good traffic, which is why no legitimate affiliate programs do this.

Take it or leave it. You don't need them to succeed and make great money online. I'd leave and move on to the next program.