Affiliate networks don’t always guarantee merchant compliance
December 10, 2008
When a affiliate marketer first joins a large reputable affiliate network, they naively believe that every program is closely monitored and is always tracking their sales 100% time. That is not the case and there are instances where your sales will not be tracked and although it can be minimized, the risk can’t be totally eliminated. Each affiliate network relies on a positive money balance and for the merchant to have tracking software installed in their shopping software in order for affiliates to get paid. When one of these things stop, you lose tracking of your sales, until it is fixed.
Many affiliate networks like Shareasale and Clixgalore, have a auto-deposit feature available which is visible to affiliates before they decide to join a program. This means that when the money balance runs low, they charge their credit card automatically, so affiliate marketers don’t lose sales. Not every merchant uses the auto-deposit feature, but it is important because some merchants abuse the system by not using the auto-deposit so they can constantly run out of money. WHen they they run out of money the sales don’t get tracked during that time, which means the affiliate merchant doesn’t have to give you credit for that sale. Some affiliate networks tell you when a program is running on a low balance, while many others don’t tell you till it’s too late and you’re getting invalid click reports because you’re not getting tracked anymore. Shareasale is the best network for avoiding abuse, even with merchants who don’t use auto-deposit because unlike other networks, they are the only one that gives a program uptime history. There are many affiliates who abuse it, so it’s important you closely look at it for merchants, not using auto-deposit.
The other way a network must ensure tracking compliance, is that they actually are correctly tracking sales through the use of the software in the shopping cart software. Unfortunately, not every network is on the ball for periodically checking this. Clixgalore for example, waits months before checking compliance. I became suspicious when a big merchant on Clixgalore had gone more than 60 days without a sale. I did a test sale and found it didn’t get credited. I contacted Clixgalore, but the fact that I had to contact myself when it was Clixgalore’s job, shows their tracking compliance checking system is very poor. The only thing you can see is when their last sale was, if it’s been a while then they may have removed the affiliate tracking software. On the other hand, Shareasale consistently tests the merchants for compliance and they show visibly when the last test was done. Overall, Shareasale has the best system in place for affiliate marketers to decide the safest program and that is why I recommend them above all other affiliate networks.
