CJ takes back earned commissions??

[mis_chiff]

Due to another members thread, I was checking out my
CJ account and noticed a $10 fee in the form of a "credit" but
actually as explained by another member it was a debit to
merchant.

Anyways, I sent a report to support and this is the response:

Dear Wendy,

Thank you for your inquiry. The $10 fee you see in your account is a dormancy fee, due to not having generated any commissions in six conescutive months. After six months without having made a sale, your account will be deducted $10 per month until the balance is $0-- then the account will be deactivated. All this is stated in the Publisher Service Agreement, "PSA", which you agreed to upon signing up for an account with Commission Junction.

Once an account is deactivated the relationships you had with advertisers prior to deactivation have been terminated and your links are no longer valid until you restore your advertiser relationships. You will need to reapply to advertisers and, in some cases, create new links.

All of your account information is still intact—including your website identification number(s) or PID(s). Therefore, assuming the advertiser link (or “AID”) is still active, once you have reestablished your relationship with the advertiser your links will work and record transactions again. However, you are strongly encouraged to review you web site(s), run an Expired Link Report and/or Performance Report to verify this.

We hope this answers your question. For further assistance on this issue, please don’t hesitate to log into your CJ Account Manager and click, Contact Support > Support History .

So I'm sorry, help me to understand this - they take BACK
my earned commissions if I don't make a sale?
So if my website is down for any reason and I don't make sales
they take my money that's been sitting there making them
interest for 2 years? WTF

I am very naive when it comes to this stuff but I have been
a CJ member for years and not once have I seen this charge.

They said I apparently agreed to it, but I don't remember reading
anything [in english anyway] that says I agree to earn Slaes for
them and then let them take my earned commissions if my
site is down/not earning.

Nothing like showing members the door

Anyone else seen this/heard of this?

 

[RazorNF]

$10/month seems excessive.

But that could be their way of trying to get rid of all the "little" guys.

 

[interestedenough]

Hah, I just went into my CJ account and noticed that they've cleaned it almost dry. Really sad.

 

[enlytend]

So I'm sorry, help me to understand this - they take BACK
my earned commissions if I don't make a sale?

'Fraid so. Several of the networks operate on those kind of terms. Clickbank, for example. Besides being a negative reinforcer to increase your promotional efforts, it's a way of reassuring their merchants that the network's affiliates will be productive.

Short term solution: Make a test purchase. Or (if explicitly against merchant's program policies) have a friend make a test purchase.

 

[lothos]

Anyone else seen this/heard of this?

Yes.

If you don't make 1 sale in 6 months, they will deduct from your balance and eventually close your account.

What were you promoting? If you really haven't reached the payout amount in 2 years and haven't made a sale in a long time, I would consider other avenues to monetize your websites.

 

[mis_chiff]

Yes.

If you don't make 1 sale in 6 months, they will deduct from your balance and eventually close your account.

What were you promoting? If you really haven't reached the payout amount in 2 years and haven't made a sale in a long time, I would consider other avenues to monetize your websites.

I used to have a small godaddy banner on the site that has been
on/off the web quite a bit over the last couple of years.

But I've had a CJ account for as long as I can remember and
never encountered this before.

--------

I received a reply back from them, they linked me to the "FAQ"
however, the ammended date was years after I signed up so
I asked for the original that showed the same thing, they
didn't/couldn't provide it so I told then to just close my account
and keep what's left since their intention seems to be taking
the money instead of just the interest it's been making them.

---------

 

[Kate]

They haven't changed much since 1999.

 

[ablaye]

Yep, that's how they do it. I had a friend who kept loosing his commissions and decided not to use CJ. It's unfair that they keep your commissions. They should at least refund it to you before they close your account.
If you are looking for a good affiliate program, try Amazon's. It's the best affiliate program and it is hassle free.

 

[Winleet]

Yep, that is what CJ does. I have heard this from people. They reason they take the fee is because they do not want inactive accounts, and they can't just close an account that has money in it so they slowly take money away until they can close the account.

 

[R3Rbot]

Yep! I had the same thing in my previous account.. I had something like 90$ left in it and was out of affiliation for a while... when I went back to my account when I wanted to start back some stuff on the web, well surprise... my account was deactivated and the 90$ well... they just took it back! Imagine the amount they're making acting like that.. I know it's stated in the publisher service agreement.. but hey.. who here goes ahead and read all of those.. In my opinion it's a kind of low practice to do..

 

[RogueWriter]

One thing, no I don't think that is right, but on the other hand, if you are actively promoting merchants from that site over a period of years, you should be earning checks every month from them. This issue should not come up.

I am certainly not a CJ apologist, but quitting CJ because of this is not the proper course - they have several thousand merchants there you can earn money from.

My suggestion would be instead to go all out promoting products or a few merchants that you trust, get your earnings up to a couple hundred bucks a month instead of ten bucks every couple of years. Rinse and repeat.

You may or may not be able to get your ten bucks back from them, but in the end the ten bucks is not the issue - the issue is that you need to take advantage of the many quality merchants that are there, rather than letting a minor dispute end a relationship that could earn you big bucks down the road.

 

[mis_chiff]

Update: I did receive a cheque 2 days ago for the balance that was left in my account
which was a surprise because they told me I wouldn't get it.

@ RogueWriter I was only signed up with cj for godaddy and now I'm direct with godaddy
so terminating it doesn't really matter. I'm really disappointed as I had an account there for years,
and would have eventually got it going with other merchants...

They have told me I can sign up again if I want, but I loose the years of status I had

oh well, onward and upward

 

[RogueWriter]

I have backed off of cj quite a bit, due mostly to the fact my wife started a brick and mortar business that I help out with. So, I have not received a check from them for a couple of months. There was a time though when I was up to, I believe, 96 checks in a row from CJ.

They can pay out if you put the effort in - and find the right merchant.

 

[enlytend]

I know it's stated in the publisher service agreement.. but hey.. who here goes ahead and read all of those

When you click the "I agree" button, it's the same as signing a contract. Reading first is a good habit to get into - you should know what you're agreeing to.

@mis_chiff - glad you got the check ! Don't rule out going back to them - it is harder to get accepted into programs when you don't have account history, but find a couple of good programs and you'll be back in no time.

I can't remember the last time I *didn't* get a payment from CJ, but I promote a lot of programs and am fairly high up in the network performance ranks. They do pay reliably and I've had fewer tracking issues there than on certain other big networks.