Is it better to have your own affiliate program or to use third party established one? In my situation it applies to a relatively small website of 80,000 registered members www.DoubleSign.com
it all depends if you want to deal with paying hundrends or thousands of people ot just one... as you can cut a check just to the network or you can cut a check to ALLL your affiliates... each has its pluses and minues.
i use a third party. having my own affiliate program will cut cost but i have to think about the security and some other issues. having an established third party affiliate program will save me a lot of time. this allows me to concentrate on my promotion.
Security is caught up going for a dedicated server and installing a certificate, that is important for security and confidence in your service.
I think you may try combination of both i.e. promoting other good affiliate programs and your own site's referall program/products.