Ditch Commission Junction

[DavidSJ]

I just received an email from Commission Junction (HostRocket's affiliate program manager) letting me know that starting on March 28, all accounts which haven't produced results in the past six months will start getting charged $10 / month.

Right now I administer two HostRocket web sites (davidsj.com (http://www.davidsj.com/) and asfar.org (http://www.asfar.org/)), both of which have affiliate links for HostRocket, and they have resulted in three referrals each. That's not much, but it was enough to make it worth it to keep the links up.

If HostRocket stays with Commission Junction, I'll feel compelled to remove the links, since I'll be losing money. :(

[HRGraham]

I am not the biggest fan of CJ either. If you guys can get a list together of similar companies which offer this kind of service we might consider it.

-Graham

[don5408]

"I administer two HostRocket web sites (davidsj.com and asfar.org), both of which have affiliate links for HostRocket, and they have resulted in three referrals each. That's not much, but it was enough to make it worth it to keep the links up."

Hi. I was likewize disappointed to hear of this policy change. Although fortunately the change at CJ doesn't effect me personally at this point (in the more than a year and a half I've had an account with them I've been fortunate not to have a single month pass without a check, knock on wood) I *am* enrolled in less active affiliate programs through other companies where 6 months have passed without a payout so it's my hope that this isn't the start of an industry-wide trend.

Are you saying that you have six referrals, but none of them were in the last 6 months? When I saw the notice my initial reaction was that establishing a surcharge when an affiliate has gone 6 months without a payout was a bit stiff and that 6 months without a single sale would be a bit more reasonable, then I considered the fact that this probably wouldn't be overly restrictive to many in HR's program as at $41 per sale the commission is high enough that one effectively only has to have one sale every 6 months to avoid any risk of fees.

While I agree that it's unfortunate that CJ feels that they have to take this step I would tend to think (or at least hope) that with two separate sites with links (I'm assuming that you have both sites associated with the same CJ account so that you only need one sale via *either* site every 6 months to steer clear of any fees) and your track record of success (IMHO 6 high ticket sales such as this in a year isn't too shabby) you wont have to consider dropping out due to this.

Best of luck!
Don

[don5408]

"If you guys can get a list together of similar companies which offer this kind of service we might consider it."

Hi, Graham. FYI two other companies I'm aware of personally which administer affiliate programs are LinkShare (linkshare.com (http://www.linkshare.com/)) and BeFree (befree.com (http://befree.com)).

Although I deal with both I really can't offer much of an opinion one way or another on either outfit (while I don't necessarily blame the companies for my lack of success with them I've yet to see the penmanship of their checkwriters which is my own personal criteria for guaging good vs bad affiliate companies).

For whatever it's worth while I don't happen to share your low opinion of CJ (I'm not hard to please, I'm a fan of anyone who sends me monthly checks) I really wouldn't mind a bit if ya'll made a move to a different company. Stay with CJ, move...I'm a happy camper either way on this one (see, toldya I was easy to please ;-)

Don

[MarkHutch]

Let me add that we are satisfied with CJ too. We earn several thousand dollars per month via their service and shouldn't be effected by this change. However, when we first started a program with them, we didn't earn commission for over a year. This kind of policy would have made us look elsewhere before we really got going good with their affiliates. This new policy isn't thinking about the long run. Sounds like someone on Wall Street that can't think past one business quarter thought this one up.

[DavidSJ]

Yes, I've had both accounts for a while now, and both of them have resulted in no sales for the past six months.

And they are unfortunately two separate accounts, because I'm not an owner of ASFAR, just a board member and its webmaster. So it is necessary to keep the accounts separate. Probably I could work out some way to combine them, but it's a large hassle and might not be worth it.

Originally posted by don5408
Are you saying that you have six referrals, but none of them were in the last 6 months? When I saw the notice my initial reaction was that establishing a surcharge when an affiliate has gone 6 months without a payout was a bit stiff and that 6 months without a single sale would be a bit more reasonable, then I considered the fact that this probably wouldn't be overly restrictive to many in HR's program as at $41 per sale the commission is high enough that one effectively only has to have one sale every 6 months to avoid any risk of fees.

While I agree that it's unfortunate that CJ feels that they have to take this step I would tend to think (or at least hope) that with two separate sites with links (I'm assuming that you have both sites associated with the same CJ account so that you only need one sale via *either* site every 6 months to steer clear of any fees) and your track record of success (IMHO 6 high ticket sales such as this in a year isn't too shabby) you wont have to consider dropping out due to this.
Don

[uhsites]

I think that was a really stupid decision on CJ's part. I like the way the affiliate program is set up and how it is easy to use-- I guess it would be better if HR could find a better company, but CJ has always worked great for me.

However, I can't believe CJ would do that. Won't that chase more people away?

[intricate]

I doubt it. All the bigger "profiters" wont go away. And with all those still left, thats 10$ a pop.

[fac3less]

After I read this.. I'm going to have to leave CJ as well for the time being. I just started yesterday too! Was already beginning to show some promise.. what a great opportunity gone to waste.. oh well..

I like the linkshare one personally. Haven't exactly gotten into it as deeply as I was into CJ.