[rcoisson]

Hey everyone,

Wanted to see if someone could shed some light on an issue I just had with CJ. When I tried to login to my account last Thursday I go this message:

Our records indicate that your account has been deactivated.

I'm not really sure what's going on? I have been with CJ since 2005 and for them to just close my account like this is pretty upsetting.

Tried to call them, but they said they can't talk about account closures over the phone and that I need to email a specific team. I have emailed them and have heard nothing back. Cj told me that they don't have to respond to my emails so I'm not sure what to do at this point.

I know for a fact that I wasn't breaking any of the terms and have several questions for them like will I get paid out on the money that was in my CJ account currently?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ryan

[Chuck Hamrick]

Ryan, unfortunately you have to go through their system. Worked with a local affiliate who was deactivated and he had to do the same.

[Witzer]

This happened to me once.

At that time and I assume that their rules are still the same, If you failed to make a sale over a period of time, CJ would close your account. They did not pay any monies owed to you if the amount was under their minimum payout.........They confiscated it.

Yes.....They will let you apply for a new account immediately.

[Kevin]

I seriously hate this practice.

[bibby]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I seriously hate this practice.

That's stealing money. Merchants should be fighting this as well.

Merchants pay CJ for the commission plus a fee to CJ. If that is not paid out due to CJ dropping an inactive affilaitwe, they are not only stealing from the affiliate but the merchant as well.

Does CJ return the commission paid to the merchant?

[Chuck Hamrick]

Bibby, we wouldn't have access to this information unless an affiliate notified us. Merchants are charge per sale and the network takes care of the affiliate payout.

[bibby]

Originally Posted by Chuck Hamrick

Bibby, we wouldn't have access to this information unless an affiliate notified us. Merchants are charge per sale and the network takes care of the affiliate payout.

Aren't you angered that netwroks are doing this? GAN deactivated many affiliates who couldn't merge their account with adsense and refused to pay balances less than $50.00. I had commissions earned from Worx and Little Giant Ladder.

Gan stole my money and yours, since they kept my money and yours.

[Rosalind]

Ryan,

No point in getting angry as some commenters suggest. You need to check and see if you earned enough to within the required timeframe to maintain your account, as per their TOS.

I know it's a drag, but them's the rules.

Cheers,
Rosalind Gardner

[bibby]

Originally Posted by Rosalind

Ryan,

No point in getting angry as some commenters suggest. You need to check and see if you earned enough to within the required timeframe to maintain your account, as per their TOS.

I know it's a drag, but them's the rules.

Cheers,
Rosalind Gardner
http://affiliatebloggerpro.com/

It's one thing to terminate an affilaite but not to pay them their balance is stealing. It's also stealing from their merchants who paid the commission. They pocketed the money that wasn't theres. That's stealing and is unethical!!!!!

[ladidah]

I have to agree with bibby. That money belongs to the affiliate and should be paid out before the account is closed.

Today I rec'd $2.63 from Y! which I really didn't care about and wanted to let them keep it once they closed out YPN. If one network like Y! can pay out an account fully then G or Gan, CJ should be able to do so too, esp if it is $50. Can you imagine how much they would make off of "inactive" affiliate accts of $50? Quite a nice sum, I'd say.

[bibby]

Originally Posted by ladidah

I have to agree with bibby. That money belongs to the affiliate and should be paid out before the account is closed.

Today I rec'd $2.63 from Y! which I really didn't care about and wanted to let them keep it once they closed out YPN. If one network like Y! can pay out an account fully then G or Gan, CJ should be able to do so too, esp if it is $50. Can you imagine how much they would make off of "inactive" affiliate accts of $50? Quite a nice sum, I'd say.

Maybe the recession's hurt Google more than we think. Maybe they need the extra revenue from shutting down affiliate accounts and stealing our money....LOL.

[jclaydon]

Originally Posted by bibby

It's one thing to terminate an affilaite but not to pay them their balance is stealing. It's also stealing from their merchants who paid the commission. They pocketed the money that wasn't theres. That's stealing and is unethical!!!!!

To shed some light here -

He was deactivated because he violated CJ's Network Quality policy, meaning he was (or is accused of) doing something wrong like Trademark Bidding, fraud, etc. We know this because CJ's customer service can't talk to accounts that are closed for network quality reasons.

If an account is closed due to network quality reasons, all of those commissions are returned to the merchants that paid them. CJ doesn't "steal" commissions.

[bibby]

Originally Posted by jclaydon

To shed some light here -

If an account is closed due to network quality reasons, all of those commissions are returned to the merchants that paid them. CJ doesn't "steal" commissions.

CJ terminates accounts after 6 months of not generating sales or leads. If CJ does that, will they pay out balances less than $50.00?

I know GAN never did and that's stealing!

[shuvee]

My account has been closed by CJ several times for not generating sales. They let you reopen it immediately, but they do confiscate any earnings (under $10, I believe). Luckily for me, sort of, I only generated $6 of earnings once, so that's all I have lost. They allow you to immediately re-activate it, and I have done so - perhaps foolishly. I have joined several different merchant programs since that first sale and have yet to generate a single sale. In one case, I was selling tickets - the same tickets that also sell via Buy.At's Ticketmaster program. I gave my visitors a choice of which merchant to buy from. Over a period of several months, I sold a few of those tickets via Ticketmaster and none via the other (prominent) ticket-seller who had a program under CJ.

Although a few people report success at CJ, I have had none. The programs involved were all different types of products, but all closely related to my web site. The same product types sell using other merchants on other networks, or through their own in-house affiliate programs.

At this point, if I am interested in a merchant and that merchant's program is on CJ, I am unlikely to spend any time on it.

[bibby]

So they are stealing affiliate and merchants money. Obviosuly they should just keep the account open but maybe it's their way of earning more revenue by STEALING affiliate earnings.

I will not agree that it's a fair, ethical or moral practice!

[slang701]

It happends to me also. CJ sucks sometims and they should change their old brain.




QUOTE=Kevin;1028385]I seriously hate this practice.[/QUOTE]

[mailman]

It has just happened to me also. I tried to re-join but it keeps telling me that the email I am using belongs to a inactive account. Done trying and it's really to bad because there are some great merchants at CJ. I still get email updates from all of them.

[Daniel M. Clark]

It's happened to me twice. I get all set up and then either get distracted and don't promote as heavily as I should or I choose a merchant that doesn't convert well for the niche (perhaps not a good niche) that I'm targeting. It does suck that CJ has this policy, and I agree with the point of view that they are stealing commissions.

The worst part though, is that when they deactivate you, you lose your merchant connections and you have to reapply for all the programs you were a part of. In some merchants cases though, they don't let you. After the first time I was deactivated, I tried to get set back up with Apple to promote iTunes, and they wouldn't let me. Apple has decided that they will automatically reject anyone that CJ deactivates, regardless, apparently, of the reason.

[mailman]

It's not we the publishers that suffer so much, the merchants do. I will bet most of them don't have an idea whats happening unless they visit here.

[twotours]

As with Biddy I just found out that I was charged an adminstrative fee of $10 for a website that had not had a sale in 6 months. Well gee it took me 20 months to make that $10 then poof its taken away for CJ's extended administrative work. (Pun) Kind of like the Federal Govt doing so much for me. Linkshare sends me checks every month I earn something and with no fees attached. I think I will move on with them. Anyone know the procedure to quit CJ? And I bet they will have A FEE involved or they take all my money I made over 20 months time. I could have spent my money on the Lottery instead of having CJ take it from me with no redress available. Live and Learn.

[Witzer]

Originally Posted by twotours

As with Biddy

It is Bibby

I think I will move on with them. Anyone know the procedure to quit CJ?

You don't need to do anything. They will take care of that for you as soon as your funds are used up.

[JCSupSvc]

You don't have to ask them to cancel, they have a great system in place already. If you go long enough without bringing in any income, they'll cancel your account automatically.

[bibby]

Originally Posted by Witzer

It is Bibby

You don't need to do anything. They will take care of that for you as soon as your funds are used up.

Thaks for the clarification.

[avgsuperheroine]

Originally Posted by twotours

As with Biddy I just found out that I was charged an adminstrative fee of $10 for a website that had not had a sale in 6 months. Well gee it took me 20 months to make that $10 then poof its taken away for CJ's extended administrative work.

This has happened to me two months straight now too. I understand that it's in the terms--but I do a lot of business (all so far) with one company that only uses CJ. My old site had to be taken down and I recently rebuilt it. I had a check sent to me before for around $60, and I had a balance of $41. I'm down to $21 now while I wait for my new site to build traffic again. How completely discouraging to see those dollars disappear that took so long to build. Especially after putting in all those hours to build my new site.

[Witzer]

Originally Posted by avgsuperheroine

This has happened to me two months straight now too. I understand that it's in the terms--but I do a lot of business (all so far) with one company that only uses CJ. My old site had to be taken down and I recently rebuilt it. I had a check sent to me before for around $60, and I had a balance of $41. I'm down to $21 now while I wait for my new site to build traffic again. How completely discouraging to see those dollars disappear that took so long to build. Especially after putting in all those hours to build my new site.

CJ sets a perfect example of how to encourage and help new or less than successful affiliates become super affiliates..