Affiliate payments, am i being scammed ?

18 replies
I have promoted a few products as an affiliate, and doing quite well, apart from one, and would like the advice of the experts here.

This particular product, has their own affiliate program, and recently got sent an automated email stating " Congratulations you have made an affiliate sale, and will get $48.50 commission (50%), but when I logged in, it showed zero sales.

I emailed them, and they told me it was a mistake, and I would not get anything........Felt a little dissapointed, but accepted it.

last Friday, I got another automated email saying "Congratulations, you have made $48.50 affiliate commission", and again logged into the affiliate program ......... no sale again, and was told this time

"it was the sale of another affiliate, and they are getting the affiliate commission , not you"

Since then , I have found out that the affiliate who got the commission is in partnership with the product developer!

Do you think I am being ripped off ?............. Is this a possible scam?

I've worked hard to promote this product, and put up a page on it's own domain and now feel I'm wasting my time.......... Please help me with any advice or suggestions.
#affiliate #affiliate commissions #payments #scam #scammed
  • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
    I would have stopped promoting that product as soon as I found out that there was a "2nd mistake".

    I can rationalize it that they made a mistake once, but telling me for a second time that I made a sale and then taking it away? Nope, that's not going to fly.

    Jeremy
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    • Profile picture of the author Lee Jones
      Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

      I would have stopped promoting that product as soon as I found out that there was a "2nd mistake".

      I can rationalize it that they made a mistake once, but telling me for a second time that I made a sale and then taking it away? Nope, that's not going to fly.

      Jeremy
      I think your right Jeremy, I will stop all affiliate links/banners etc. next week and not bother to renew the domain in November.

      The thing that's really got my goat was the fact that, at no time was an apology made, and what does that cost anyone?

      If it was a genuine mistake, software error or whatever !, and it was my product an affiliate was promoting, I would gladly give the affiliate the commission as a good gesture anyway..........

      Imagine how you would feel, if as a newbie you get an email telling you of your first affiliate sale, It's always feels great the first one!, then only to be told you cannot have it.

      A sure fire way to lose credibility, as well as affiliates in my book.

      Time to move on I guess !
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
    Hi Lee

    I have no idea (obviously) which aff software they are using, but I know one which I'm using (Jroxx) has a bug in it which means if a customer refreshes their download page, the aff is given the commision again

    It's that much a problem in fact that I am going to revert back to the 1sc aff program. It has its problems, (one of which it doesn't show the correct % for coupons used when a product has been bought through an aff program), but nothing like the horrors I've experienced with Jroxx

    Regards
    Kim
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  • Profile picture of the author Lee Jones
    Hi Kim

    Sounds to me like theres a problem with these off the shelf Affiliate programs, as these guy's are using "POST AFFILIATE PRO" on their own server, and after asking for an explination, a similar reason was given, with DLGuard also being used as the download application.

    So perhaps Im not being scammed after all, and if there is an inherent problem, they should have addressed it the first time round, an apology at the least, would have been a nice gesture.

    Has anyone else had similar problems with customer refreshes and multiple commissions with ClickBank or payDotCom, As i have never had any myself!
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    • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
      PAP does exactly the same thing, we used it when we first set up EMP, (what a nightmare)

      Kim

      Originally Posted by Lee Jones View Post

      Hi Kim

      Sounds to me like theres a problem with these off the shelf Affiliate programs, as these guy's are using "POST AFFILIATE PRO" on their own server, and after asking for an explination, a similar reason was given, with DLGuard also being used as the download application.

      So perhaps Im not being scammed after all, and if there is an inherent problem, they should have addressed it the first time round, an apology at the least, would have been a nice gesture.

      Has anyone else had similar problems with customer refreshes and multiple commissions with ClickBank or payDotCom, As i have never had any myself!
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  • Profile picture of the author minisite911
    Hi Lee,
    would it be a good idea if you post the merchant's name here (is it ethical to do that?)?.
    just in case another warrior have ever experience the same with the merchant.

    - oki
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    • Profile picture of the author CodrutTurcanu
      I'd include the name of the product/merchant so others won't fall for this "scam".

      I'm not sure what really happened in your case, or what cookies/other tracking mechanisms they're using.

      Maybe you could give some hints about the niche this product is targeting?

      Did you ever get real *sales promoting it besides those "fake sales"?
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    • Profile picture of the author Lee Jones
      Originally Posted by minisite911 View Post

      Hi Lee,
      would it be a good idea if you post the merchant's name here (is it ethical to do that?)?.
      just in case another warrior have ever experience the same with the merchant.

      - oki
      I'm sure in a lot of cases, a lot of you guy's on here would like to know exactly who I am talking about, and by doing so would probably help others steer clear of potential problems, if indeed this is a scam.

      But at this stage, and not having fully arrived at any definitive conclusions, I don't feel I want to reveal any more details than I already have, as it would not be fair if they are not available to defend themselves.

      Having said that, should I decide to, I would give a full account on my blog and give the person concerned, notification that I was going to do this, so they could respond and give their view of the events........ I think this would be only fair!

      I'm not out "FOR THE KILL" I'm just asking if anyone else has experienced anything similar, and could provide me with any relevant information.

      @Codrut............... I wouldn't describe them as being fake sales, just more like incorrectly sent emails, as I said earlier it's in the IM niche, and that's as far as I'm prepared to go at this time. I am really just hoping someone with more experience than myself, could help me out here.
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  • Profile picture of the author SimonRiver
    Sure sounds like a scam to me. Or best case scenario, their tracking system is on the fritz. Best stick to CB for quality tracking.
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  • Profile picture of the author RichardDean
    I made a sale from a guru one time, 98.50 then another 98.50 got a email like you did stating I made a sale logged in and they were there in their affiliate program. Cool Time to get paid I got no money, they said items got returned, I said I had two sales they then said that was a computer glitch.

    I emailed the one person they said they never returned it. I did not know who the other was I tried to find out but could not .

    I was around my birthday my mom asked if I wanted anything I said you can buy me this product online I sent her my affiliate link she bought it, the sale was in the system. I was going to get back the 98.50 and give it to her.

    The time passed I never got anything I emailed them and they said that item got returned. Hmmm Funny because I'm the one who got it, and it was not returned.

    I emailed back and said it was my mom who bought the item for me and I know she or I never returned it. Then the story changed to you can't have your mom buy through your affiliate link you do not get the credit for the sale.

    Took all the links down never ever bought or did anthing with that guru again.

    Richard Dean
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    5 Minute Mobile Sites... My Next WSO Comming Soon.

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    • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
      Originally Posted by RichardDean View Post

      Then the story changed to you can't have your mom buy through your affiliate link you do not get the credit for the sale.

      Richard Dean
      That's a crock of poo

      Why shouldn't your mum buy through your affiliate link.

      We won't pay out if people buy through their own link, it's not fair on those who have bought at full price, but I definitely wouldn't quibble if it was a friend or relative who bought, heck I've done that myself.

      Sounds as though you were scammed

      Kim
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      • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
        Hi Lee,

        I just thought that would it be good if you reg a helpdesk ticket at this merchant and ask the answer to your question if your email is without result. The help desk ticket would not be able to be denied, and it would be taken seriously than email.

        I sympathize with you.

        Sandor
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        • Profile picture of the author Lee Jones
          Thank you for your concern Sandor, I have already asked questions and this is the reply given

          Names have been replaced with XXXXX to protect their identity


          Hi Lee,

          There was a sale, but the script gave 2 people commission for the sale. (You and XXXXX)

          When a customer gets to the download page the script registers the sale. As I use DLGuard, it redirects the user to the page after purchase, and the initial commission is then registered. (To XXXXX in this case). If however a customer clicks on another affiliate link after this, and goes back to the download page - usually after they check their email and notice an email with the DL page link, they go back to it and the commission registers again, even though the sale has already been credited to someone else.
          So this sounds very much like what Kim Standerline was stating earlier...........If this is the case and the script (PAP) is doing this, I would be thinking of changing to something more reliable...........

          I'm sure the skeptics among us could just as easily say, that if this is a problem with the PAP script, a dishonest seller could use this as a way to "get out of paying" affiliates.

          I guess there is no real way of getting to the bottom of this, either I accept it and continue to promote this item, or just put it down to experience and move on. I just hope this topic will be of use to someone else when they are in a similar situation, or should they be thinking of buying an affiliate script for their own products.

          I'm personally going to now draw a line under this, and move on......... Thanks to all those who have given help and advice.

          Regards to you all

          Lee Jones
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          • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
            Hi lee

            It certainly sounds as if it could be a fault of the PAP script, if I remember correctly we had a couple of similer problems when we used it, (which lead to me using 1sc). I think we paid out both affs in the end because it seemed so unfair to them.

            To be honest I don't think any aff script is perfect, I thought I'd found the "one" with Jroxx, but it has it's bugs like anything else, I've already gone back to 1sc on the aff sign up for EMP, I just need to pee my affiliates from JROXX off now by telling them they need to change all their links (yet again).

            The secret is (I think anyway) is being completely upfront and honest with your affiliates, whoever your affiliating with obviously haven't done this and that's a shame.

            Kim

            Originally Posted by Lee Jones View Post

            Thank you for your concern Sandor, I have already asked questions and this is the reply given

            Names have been replaced with XXXXX to protect their identity



            So this sounds very much like what Kim Standerline was stating earlier...........If this is the case and the script (PAP) is doing this, I would be thinking of changing to something more reliable...........

            I'm sure the skeptics among us could just as easily say, that if this is a problem with the PAP script, a dishonest seller could use this as a way to "get out of paying" affiliates.

            I guess there is no real way of getting to the bottom of this, either I accept it and continue to promote this item, or just put it down to experience and move on. I just hope this topic will be of use to someone else when they are in a similar situation, or should they be thinking of buying an affiliate script for their own products.

            I'm personally going to now draw a line under this, and move on......... Thanks to all those who have given help and advice.

            Regards to you all

            Lee Jones
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  • Profile picture of the author Ken Troyer
    To be honest I don't think any aff script is perfect, I thought I'd found the "one" with Jroxx, but it has it's bugs like anything else, I've already gone back to 1sc on the aff sign up for EMP, I just need to pee my affiliates from JROXX off now by telling them they need to change all their links (yet again).
    Yeah, I thought Jrox was the answer too...then I started bumping against a few restrictions.

    They are a first class company with a great product, but if you want to do recurring commissions based upon ACTUAL payments processed, then you are forced to use PayPal as your only payment processor. And frankly Paypal absolutely sucks are recurring billing/subscriptions.

    This is the kind of stuff makes me go back to the drawing board and I begin to think that ClickBank is still the winner when it comes to an affiliate program.

    Or...

    With all the admin headaches, is it really worth it to host your own affiliate program. I'm starting to think not.

    Ken
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Thompson
      Hi Everyone,
      I happened to stumble across this thread, and I am the "mystery scammer" that Lee is talking about.

      I won't get into a great debate about everything, but I think it's a bit off that you'd start a thread about it, rather than replying to my email I sent yesterday explaining the situation.

      I'm more than happy to send you a screenshot of the sale receipt, that shows who the actual affiliate was for the item. At the end of the day I can only pay out 1 commission per sale, to the person that made the sale.

      I understand your frustration at thinking you'd made a sale, but I can't credit sales that didn't occur. I pay out hundreds each month in commissions to numerous different affiliates, and can assure you that no "scam" is taking place!
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      • Profile picture of the author CodrutTurcanu
        Anyway, this teaches us an important affiliate marketing lesson.

        Only select reputable, reliable and hoenst affiliate companies prior putting all your effort, time, energy and money into promoting a product where you get paid "on action"

        Just think about this!
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