Master Affiliate Get's Screwed, Any Ideas?

19 replies
Hey guys, any help or thought here would be great.

We are a master affiliate for a health based product. We have accomplish everything the company has asked of us and out performed. We have over 500 affiliate under us in the system.

The company is now moving to a new affiliate program and structure. We like all affiliates, got an email stating that they were moving to a new affiliate system and that we would have to go and signup there for our new links.

I wrote my contact at the company and asked how this impacts us. He basically stated that they are doing away with us as a master affiliate and we,like everybody else can be a one level affiliate.

So our primary issue is that we brought in over 500 affiliates and no they are saying that we won't get paid for any of those anymore. Clearly not what was agreed to.

We have no idea of what to do here except to grab our lawyer, and we hate doing business like that but it just seems nuts. We built it for them and now are getting the boot. And never received any notices or issues with our performance, just the opposite in fact.
#affiliate #ideas #master #screwed
  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Villanueva
    Wow that is truly a bummer. I would seek legal advice definitely
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    My bet is there is a clause in the contract you signed with
    them allowing them to change the terms and conditions at
    their sole discretion. The email was your notice.

    Have a lawyer read the contract and advise.
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    • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
      Originally Posted by Tsnyder View Post

      My bet is there is a clause in the contract you signed with
      them allowing them to change the terms and conditions at
      their sole discretion. The email was your notice.

      Have a lawyer read the contract and advise.
      The interesting thing is that there was really no contract but I think that works in our favor. We had an agreement with the original owner, he sold the company keeping our agreement in tact. We were told by the new owners that if we reached a certain goal they would continue to do business with us on the same terms. We blew the goal out of that water and continued.
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  • Welcome to the corporate system. "I read every page of the 28 page contract I signed why are you screwing me?". Well paragraph 17, statues 20382 states we can have a secret addendum no one case that on the site changes the rules in our favor so we can screw you and law 203882 says you can't talk about it or your a criminal. Welcome to the new freedom and love it and be proud that we can do this to you, isn't it nice for you?
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    • Profile picture of the author agmccall
      Hopefully you have your 500 affiliates email addresses. I would find another multi-tier affiliate program and encourage them to change to that one

      al
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      • Profile picture of the author origin
        Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

        Hopefully you have your 500 affiliates email addresses. I would find another multi-tier affiliate program and encourage them to change to that one

        al
        yes, if you do have some contact with your affiliates I would leverage the position you have. get them all to move to another program. Even better, start your own health program (so you will be in control) and move these affiliates over to yours.
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        • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
          Originally Posted by origin View Post

          yes, if you do have some contact with your affiliates I would leverage the position you have. get them all to move to another program. Even better, start your own health program (so you will be in control) and move these affiliates over to yours.
          Okay, now that is interesting. We have shown and proved that we can generate affiliates and sales in this space. Thanks.
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        • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
          Originally Posted by origin View Post

          yes, if you do have some contact with your affiliates I would leverage the position you have. get them all to move to another program. Even better, start your own health program (so you will be in control) and move these affiliates over to yours.
          Thats what I was thinking too. If you have that much influence and traffic in that space, become the ultimate producer by starting your own affiliate program.

          As an affiliate, you have no control because you are building someone else's business.

          And I say this as someone who has made and is still making A LOT of money as an affiliate.

          The only thing you control is the traffic, which is great. But at the end of the day, an affiliate is building someone else's business - making them the true producer.

          Perfect example from my own experience:

          I am one of the top 10 (maybe even top 5) affiliates for some product line.

          They decide they want to switch platforms. New platform is antiquated and sucks, but gives them the ability to set their own cookie duration. So instead of it being whatever it is with infusionsoft which is like 30 -60 days ( or more), they set it to 2 days!!!

          To add insult to injury, they swapped out some of their sales pages from having a direct order page on the page to forcing an opt-in. But the ironic part about it is they only send one or 2 emails out on your behalf to potential buyers. After that they just start pumping their offers to them overriding my cookie.

          Pretty shitty. But only things I can do other than kick and scream and cry wolf is either

          A) Keep my mouth shut and deal with it and continue to promote their products

          B) Stop all traffic going to them (which I have for the most part) and find something else to promote as its replacement. Maybe they'll ask what happened to all of my traffic and then I will tell them. Otherwise it's pointless to even waste my energy arguing with them about their chosen business practices.

          Point I'm trying to make is as affiliates, we have little control other than where we choose to send our traffic.

          Just finished reading MJ Demarco's Millionaire Fastlane and it reinforced this truth I previously begrudgingly ignored because I didn't want the baggage that comes along with owning your own products.

          But that is how you have a ton more control. Plus you can get affiliates to promote your stuff if it converts well enough or the product is quality.

          I am now in the process of creating some of my own products to help create some more balance in my business.
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      • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
        Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

        Hopefully you have your 500 affiliates email addresses. I would find another multi-tier affiliate program and encourage them to change to that one

        al
        Yep, we do have emails and are looking for a new home right now. If anybody knows a good product that we could get on-board like that with I'd be happy to hear it.
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        • Profile picture of the author origin
          Originally Posted by chuckharris View Post

          Yep, we do have emails and are looking for a new home right now. If anybody knows a good product that we could get on-board like that with I'd be happy to hear it.
          Chuck, it may be a bit more work, (or just a different mindset) but start your own product / product line. You already know the ins and outs of your market. If you start your own you will have 100% control, being an affiliate for someone else is just a hobby, they are in control of your "business". Start your own affiliate program for your own products. Moving them over to another product leaves you open for the same thing happening again.
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          • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
            Originally Posted by origin View Post

            Chuck, it may be a bit more work, (or just a different mindset) but start your own product / product line. You already know the ins and outs of your market. If you start your own you will have 100% control, being an affiliate for someone else is just a hobby, they are in control of your "business". Start your own affiliate program for your own products. Moving them over to another product leaves you open for the same thing happening again.
            I totally understand man, we actually sell a number of our own products so I get it. This product is in the sudo medical space and it would be quite new to us for sure. Also, it's a manufactured physical product, so something new there as well. Currently all of our own products are digital.
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            • Profile picture of the author origin
              Originally Posted by chuckharris View Post

              This product is in the sudo medical space and it would be quite new to us for sure. Also, it's a manufactured physical product, so something new there as well.
              I am currently in the process of getting a range of supplements Private Labelled. Just find a private label supplier and you are in business!
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              • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
                Originally Posted by origin View Post

                I am currently in the process of getting a range of supplements Private Labelled. Just find a private label supplier and you are in business!
                This is a pretty niche product is the issue. I'm not even sure how I would find the "source" as it were.
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  • Profile picture of the author stevenjacobs
    Banned
    well your screwed

    talk to a lawyer, but i am guessing they covered themselves legally
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    • Profile picture of the author Walter Parrish
      Explore your options with your Lawyer and in the future always work towards eliminating the middle man when they can affect your business if not always have a way out.
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  • Profile picture of the author LiftMyRank
    It all comes down to the contract you had with them, they've most likely got their butt covered, the lesson here is when you build a business solely around 1 company they've got you by the balls and can squeeze them any time they dang want...friendship and loyalty doesn't count for shit...
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    • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
      Originally Posted by LiftMyRank View Post

      It all comes down to the contract you had with them, they've most likely got their butt covered, the lesson here is when you build a business solely around 1 company they've got you by the balls and can squeeze them any time they dang want...friendship and loyalty doesn't count for shit...
      Thanks, they certainly aren't the only business we do, they are in fact a fairly small piece of what we do . . . but we hate getting jerked around. :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author chuckharris
    Just to update everybody on this, we are in the process of negotiating with a competitor.and plan on moving our affiliates over to them.
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