I have been invited by some product owner to join their in-house affiliate program. That invitation is personal and the company is looking great. They also have their company listed in a big network and the amount of paid commission is as same as under network. However, I am currently hesitate to join their in-house instead of being in network such as CJ, SAS and more. Their in-house affiliate tracking and honest are a doubts for me. How can they be trusted? They are not offering direct deposit payment either, only check. I have been with a big network because of their payment terms. CJ and SAS or even PJN offering direct deposit which is most convenience for me as I am not living in US and Canada. What do you think about in-house affiliate program? Please share.
To tell you my story, I NEVER go for in-house affiliate network for the simple reason they can do whatever they want. I lost $3000 to a company. I was their biggest affiliate. I stopped promoting them via CJ/SAS also, once i stopped their network earnings drop like a rocket. They are now screwed, guess i taught them the lesson.
unless there is a really good reason i avoid in-house programs, much easier to manage via affiliate networks.
I manage an in-house affiliate program and I understand the risk. But if you think you could do well with them it never hurts to ask about their tracking system and payments options. We do provide real-time statistics and paypal options in our affiliate accounts so some in-house programs are not all that bad. Sometimes what they post is not always the end all, be all. They might be willing to make some exceptions for you, I know I would if I think that it's worth it.
Well, only compare ebay under CJ and EPN .... EPN did a LOOOT of shit to affiliates since start. I will always go for a middleman, godmode is very correct here.
You need to check what software they use to track their affiliate sales. If human intervention is required then you may want to avoid it and stick to schemes managed by a third party.
The ebay trust has been seriously degraded since they took ePN away from CommissionJunction. There will be books written about the way that eBay mismanaged their affiliate program and it will stand as a clear example of what not to do.
frogman, this should be posted over net as much as possible to warn other people. They didn't reply to my questions for whole 3 weeks for example as well. So I repeat it once again I have 0 or even lower trust in in-house programs. David DeAngelo didn't replied for monthes about his aff program I just wonder he will pay so fast as well ? If you think your program is great why not join in CJ/SAS/LS/PJN/etc. ? Answer - your program sucks (you are scamer , etc.)
I wouldn't do the in-house affiliate program unless they paid significantly more than the network commission. That offer would only benefit them (by saving on network fees.) For the same commission, it's just more work for you, with less convenience (i.e. no direct deposit.) Plus, trust is a huge issue even if they offer a better commission if you go direct.
It sucks that one person can ruin it for everybody sometimes. Again I know there are a lot of scamers out there, but I don't think it's fair to write off all in-house programs completely. Maybe our owners should have joined an affiliate network, but they hired me to manage our programs among other things. We may not have a ton of affiliates but we do have a decent amount of pretty good ones and we have not had any tracking problems or payment problems. Our program may suck for those who don't have a site directly related to our niche, but it doesn't mean it sucks overall, or that we are scamers.
AMFM, at least you are on this forum and speaking, this add such trust. Most in-house guys hiding under link "aff program" into their website and may not reply/pay/etc. after you do the job.
I understand, I just want Sxperm to realize that although it is wise to be cautious, not all in-house programs are as bad as they are made out to be. I would advise to look into it and don't pass up on a good opportunity just because they have an in-house program.
AMFM, i am not against all in-house affiliate programs. I am sure some of those are honest and pay on time but affiliate marketers put money from their pocket first (PPC) and make sales for the advertisers. If they are not paid on time or never paid, imagine the loss of money and trust. I am not ready to take that risk with XXXX PPC daily budget.
In-house affiliate programs can be great when there is an affiliate manager. But sometimes the affiliate program is an afterthought, so there's no support, and the product owner is too busy with other stuff and doesn't really care about affiliates. That is the kind of program to be weary of.
I think there might be only few honest in-house affiliate programs. You can trust good companies like the listed ones. For example a good gambling one is titanpoker.com For example: I tried promoting leadingedgecash.com but i seriously doubt their tracking systems. There are few similar products in Markethealth networks so one should not touch leadingedgecash.