When Advertisers Don’t Pay!
When advertisers don’t pay for the leads/sales, do you think the affiliate networks should come forward and do the right thing, that is, pay the affiliates out of their pockets?
I think all affiliates would agree with me when I say, networks are suppose step up and pay the affiliates the money they owe in a situation when the advertiser refuses to pay for the leads that were driven under the guidelines of the advertiser and the network. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the affiliate to run around after the network begging for the money they owe. After all, that’s what networks are there for, to look out for the interest of affiliates. Otherwise we affiliates can just go directly to the advertiser and deal with this kind of headache directly with the advertiser.
I’m waiting for approximately $2,800 in payments from network-X (won’t say the name just yet) for one week’s worth of leads. The advertiser, who has done shady things in the past with others, now refused to pay the network for the leads I drove until further investigation. They claim that lead quality sucks. Funny thing is, I’ve been driving leads to the offer of last 2 months. Just last week they noticed the lead quality was bad? Why didn’t they say anything before?
Anyhow, I sent my affiliate manager the screenshots of my campaigns, which clearly shows that I’m runny ads for the same keywords they run. So in a way, I’m their only competition so far on search. And in some cases my ads show up before them. I belive, this is the reason why they don’t want me out there since now they have suspended their offer until further notice.
Anyway, I just want to be paid. I don’t care if they stay or not. This advertiser has been jumping from network to network. They were kicked out of Azoogle for stealing affiliates data and now at this new network, they are refusing to pay for the leads.
Affiliate marketing sometimes just gives me a lot of headache. Things haven’t been smooth for me lately. With offer dying without notice, this advertiser not paying, I’ve hardly seen an offer stay alive for more than two weeks in last two months, leaving me to scramble for a replacement offers. This month I did break my personal records and got up to $1400+ a day but it only lasted for 7 days. That was in the beginning of the month. But since then, I haven’t been doing much. I’m taking a break from AM for now. Hopefully I’ll be refreshed next month and start from scratch.
-G
Jun 19, 2009
We all go through ups and downs. Maybe your time off will help you focus on your work better next month. I hope you get paid because that is a lot of money.
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
congrats on breaking your record recently. that’s awesome. agree with this “It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the affiliate to run around after the network begging for the money they owe. ” – I had one network allow an advertiser to take commissions out of what I was owed about a month after the fact but before the network paid me. Needless to say, I don’t think that network was interested in sticking up for me. I’m not running their traffic now. good luck on your breather
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
mm i guess is hydra
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
Is it Hydra?
I’m pretty new to aff marketing, well PPC > CPA marketing anyway and I’ve read at WickedFire that Hydra have not been paying some people but I have a friend who says he’s always been paid. ????
What I’d like to ask you is, since you seem to know a lot about the merchant and how they’ve gone from CPA network to CPA network, why did you end up sending them leads if you knew they were dodgy?
See, in the affiliate world, once we start making good money we want to “chill out” because we’re earning good money with a “sure thing” but the reality is, none of these offers last forever!
In 2006/07 I was making about $30,000/month pure profit…but, that was 2/3 years ago and now I struggle. Where I failed was I assumed my offer would last for a long time (actually I knew it wouldn’t) so I didn’t spread my eggs into more than one basket and now I probably earn less than a burger-flipper at McDonalds.
I’d say find another offer, ALWAYS stay on your toes, and be prepared for the worst, especially when things “seem” good.
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
@Scott
I had no offer to go with except this one. I was making $1000+ with this offer when it went offline. I couldn’t accept going from $1000+ a day to few hundred. I was anxious to find a replacement and had to go with it.
They paid me for the previous leads (about $10k worth) but last week they bailed out. My AM is pretty sure I will be paid. When I ask her what f they don’t pay the network, to me it seems like she ignores the question and just repeats the point that they have to pay since you showed us the proofs of your traffic.
Will find out tomorrow.
-G
p.s. I do want to say that this network X has been good so far. I think they are still pretty good. But to me it feels like the AMs there just don’t have much of a say.
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
Well, from the sounds of stuff. Hydra sounds like it. Care to mention the offer? I know it will give details into your campaign, but like most people, I never want to deal with shit like this.
Good Luck.
Post ReplyJun 19, 2009
hey man getting burned out a bit and having networks and advertisers dick around with you sucks. I have been there, you will get way past it and bury them with revenue. Advertisers are shadier at times then fraud affiliates, I got jerked around a few times by an advertiser and a network. Hang in there man, enjoy your breather for the biz and I look forward to reading your stuff next go round.
Post ReplyJun 26, 2009
sorry to hear about that.. please let us know what’s the outcome..
Post ReplyJun 27, 2009
Sounds like Market Health offer at hydra……
Submits are short term business…..go with CPA…
Post ReplyJun 27, 2009
I’ve an update for you guys about the ongoing payment episode. I’ll make another post tonight with an update.
-G
Post ReplyJun 27, 2009
Crappy lead quality? The merchant probably has a crappy offer and crappy conversion funnel… so they should pay you, and if they don’t, the network should pay you. That is what real networks do.
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