[mattd241]

Not going to go into a lot of detail, but just wanted to warn others that there are rip-offs out there.

One I hooked up with, aaanativearts.com, has their own affiliate program and after 3 months I had sent them THOUSANDS of visitors, but was never credited a sale. After testing by having a friend make a small purchase I was then sure I was being ripped off - no commission from a sure sale made from my link. I'm now locked out of the "affiliate" access area.

I was taught a lesson. Never promote a small company with no track record.

[Victoria B]

I am sorry for your bad experience, but have you ever contacted this guys? asked for some explanation?

It's not nice to slander a company with no evidence.

Cheers!

[Kevin]

Matt: Is this program run on SAS? If not, we need to move this thread.

[rematt]

Originally Posted by Victoria B

It's not nice to slander a company with no evidence.

I believe that the evidence is the test purchase made by the OPs friend.

Originally Posted by Victoria B

have you ever contacted this guys? asked for some explanation?

I would also venture a guess that the OP was "locked out of the "affiliate" access area" after confronting the merchant with the evidence.

Keep in mind that the odds of only the purchases that we know about not tracking are astronomical. If an affiliates test purchase doesn't track, it's very likely that many (if not most) sales are not being credited. In situations like this; the affiliate deserves the benefit of the doubt, not the merchant.

-rematt

[Victoria B]

Mmmm... Question:

If I post here that X company is fraudulent and I say that a friend of mine did a purchase that didn't show on my stats is enough? No screen-shot, no stats, no nothing?

Just curious...

the affiliate deserves the benefit of the doubt, not the merchant.

Completely agree with this though.

[rematt]

Unfortunately it happens enough to be credible. I understand that you are an AM and I'm sure that you run a clean, honest program. However, there are merchants that find new and inventive ways to scam affiliates on a daily basis.

I'm not saying that the affiliate is right or wrong and for the life of me can't understand where you have enough information to question the affiliate. Why not let other affiliates chime in with their experiences and let the merchant answer here before you accuse the affiliate of slander?

Frankly, I wold have gotten enough red flags from the number of leaks on their site to avoid them.

Just sayin'.

-rematt

[Greg Rice]

At this point, all we know is 1 sale did not track. Does that mean the merchant is committing fraud?

I'm not sticking up for this merchant and never heard of them but 1 non-tracked sale isn't always fraud.

We also don't know about the quality of those clicks sent. Most managers here can tell you about affiliates sending tens of thousands of useless clicks they got on traffic exchanges. I'm not saying this is the case but thousands of clicks does not have to convert because of the high volume. What about sites that pay their users to click ads?

To backup a fraud charge I think we need more info, including any contact with the merchant about this.

[rematt]

Not saying that it's fraud (not my choice of words) either based on the amount of information available. Which is exactly why we use forums, to gather more information. I'd really like to see what experience others have had with this merchant. The fact that the OP has been locked out of the merchant's interface makes me ask, why? It could be that they suspect some type of malfeasance on the affiliates part, it could be that they are in an unjustifiable position. We don't know...yet.

However, if I make a test purchase and it fails to track, then I am fairly comfortable in assuming that there is a problem. It may not be intentional, BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM and I would expect an honest me4chnat to look for a solution. I repeat, what are the odds that the only orders that don't track are those that we know about?

-rematt

[Kellie aka Ms. B]

Is this merchant on SAS? They aren't showing up on a SAS search for me and on their site it looks like an in-house program? Wondering why this is in the SAS forum. If not, this thread needs to be moved out of the SAS forum.

In general when I don't known the reputation of the affiliate or the merchant, I keep a very open mind. I've seen stuff go both ways over the years. Sometimes the merchant is up to shennigans. Sometimes the affiliate is just retailating from some other issue with the merchant or they honestly misread what was happening (for instance something was wrong with the links on their site). Not making a judgement either way in this case because there isn't enough information for me at this time.

Lots of reasons that a sale may not track aside from wrong doing on the merchants part. Of course the risk of monkey business from a merchant increases with an in-house program, although there are many reputable in-house programs as well.

Some type of supporting documentation is a good idea when making claims such as "ripoff" and "fraud" as they can be considered libel (not slander) if those claims are not correct. CYA.

[loxly]

Moved to Test Purchase Reports forum. Originally posted in the Shareasale Network forum and doesn't appear to be a Shareasale merchant.

[Victoria B]

if I make a test purchase and it fails to track, then I am fairly comfortable in assuming that there is a problem. It may not be intentional, BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM

Once again I must agree with you

Cheers!

[mattd241]

Thought I was clear about this company having it's own affiliate program.

No, it isn't associated with SAS, which is why I was letting others know of them.

I assumed that, since we are all in the IM business, others may like to be forewarned that people do scam with "affiliate program" offers that are not legit.

No skin if off my nose if the thread is moved or deleted. Just tried sharing information with those who might be taken in by companies who are not part of any affiliate house and run their own "reporting system."

And yes, I tested with my own purchase of a small item through my link after being informed by a friend that they used one of my links and the sale was never reported. In fact, never had one sale after sending thousands of visitors to the site. My fault for not keeping a better eye on my business and not checking site reports for those sites I have running on auto-pilot.

Attempts to contact were ignored.

Take the information for what it's worth... or not worth, IYO.

[Victoria B]

I tested with my own purchase of a small item through my link

Do you have the invoice handly?

[PaulS]

Loxly's move of your post out of the ShareaSale forum is in no way a reflection on your post, only where it was posted (the ShareaSale forum is for programs run on ShareaSale... since this isn't, she moved it).