Hostgator affiliate with cj.com

[debradeyarmon]

Hi friends,
I have join hostgator affiliate 2 month ago and has been able to make up to 8 sales but all my sales got reverse every-time. I contact support and they told me that the customers you send didn't pay or blah blah, but 2 of the customers that i have send are my friends and they told me they paid and still using their services.

Today i got another mail now it says "The traffic you are driving to the site has not been quality and that is why the sign ups are getting reversed. I would suggest revisiting how you are driving traffic."

This is fake as all my traffic come from my site and they are valid.

What your views is hostgator affiliate scam or i am wrong ?

Thanks

 

[NameOmnia]

I have no experience with them but I remember reading online more than one person having the same problem. Even on warriors forum there were people complaining about their affiliate system so maybe you can browse the internet and find some useful info about this issue. Good Luck

 

[enlytend]

There have been problems with their CJ program, going back many years. Reversals that don't make sense, sales that don't track.. . I had client sales that didn't track - they definitely paid, were actively using their hosting account, traffic couldn't be higher quality.

There were rumors (not sure if they were ever proven via test purchases) that cookies from their independent program were overwriting or even being given precedence over ones from CJ.

This is old, but should give you some idea of the history:
http://www.abestweb.com/forums/test-purchase-reports-19/hostgator-cj-no-go-92230.html

If you must promote them, do NOT go through CJ. Sign up with their independent program through their site.

Yes, the commission is "less." But would you rather have :"less" or $0?

BTW. if you have a lot of reversals and you're sending bad traffic, most merchants will drop you from their program. If they don't, you have to ask yourself why. Especially if this is not the norm for your sites.

 

[Paul]

I never have luck with affiliate programs. The companies that specialize in affiliate programs are the worst: they skimp in every way possible. I would never work with a company like cj.com; I'd have better luck reselling directly.

 

[enlytend]

CJ itself isn't the problem ... though it sometimes contributes to problems by not responding to reported issues or letting merchants get away with stuff they shouldn't. Sometimes affiliates KNOW something stinks and the network just turns a blind eye...

It really comes down to the merchant and how well they run their program, network or not. I have my share of merchant horror stories, but most of my experiences through CJ have been positive (I was a 5 bar affiliate - top 10% - for quite some time) ...

 

[Paul]

CJ itself isn't the problem ... though it sometimes contributes to problems by not responding to reported issues or letting merchants get away with stuff they shouldn't. Sometimes affiliates KNOW something stinks and the network just turns a blind eye...

It really comes down to the merchant and how well they run their program, network or not. Most of my experiences through CJ have been positive (I was a 5 bar affiliate - top 10% - for quite some time) ...

Not surprising. HostGator prided themselves in being the absolute cheapest option for hosting resellers for a long time. Can't expect top-notch service, I suppose.

Still, I don't trust affiliate networks. I'm sure they've been well aware of the problem for a long time and just aren't interested in fixing it.

 

[enlytend]

Experienced affiliates look for programs managed by people or management companies they know and trust.

The problem is just what you said - the networks like to avoid merchant-affiliate disputes. And CJ has been known to let their big dogs get away with some pretty shocking shenanigans.

(Like the merchant who reversed a bunch of sales 6 MONTHS AFTER THEY WERE FINALIZED AND COMMISSION PAID because of a categorization error on THEIR end. CJ not only let them get away with it once, it happened TWICE.)

Sometimes honest mistakes happen - good merchants and good affiliate managers are responsive and will investigate issues and fix problems if they find them... and thank you for letting them know. Those affiliate managers are the ones doing their job right, and they're worth their weight in gold.

In the long run, deliberately cheating affiliates is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Word will get around and the good affiliates - the ones most likely to produce a good ROI and actually do something positive for your brand - will avoid you like the plague. Then you're left with the bottom of the barrel, the ones who convert so poorly that they drive traffic by any means possible to try to play a numbers game.

Not surprising. HostGator prided themselves in being the absolute cheapest option for hosting resellers for a long time. Can't expect top-notch service, I suppose.

Can't even expect middle-notch service since they were sold. You'll like this: Right after a server move, a 3rd party datafeed service stopped working on my HG sites. I *knew* it was a configuration and/or permissions problem on their end. What does the clueless support droid do? Decides for some mysterious reason that it must be my .htaccess files (unchanged and working for years) and DELETES them!!! Trashed all my redirects and rewrites and created a slew of 404's. To say I was pissed was an understatement. PS - the issue WAS caused by the server move.

I used to occasionally refer clients to them because they were inexpensive and OK for the price. No more.

 

[sells]

All Affiliates = Sucks!

 

[SearchEngineZ]

Hosting would be one of the worst niches to be an affiliate in. I used to be a PPC super-affiliate, and had the same problems with reversals. Some hosting merchants would reverse 50%+, and yet we knew our leads weren't spammy, they were via Google ads.

Also, because the payouts are often around the $100 mark, hosting programs are targeted by cheats and spammers. It is a very competitive space.

Also, reversals can legitimately be for a variety of reasons - plans they don't pay out on (read the small print), people who take the 30-day money-back guarantee, sign-ups from countries they don't accept...

Try looking for well-regarded but lesser known hosts to promote.

 

[enlytend]

SearchEngineZ nailed it.

Hosting = Competitive, lots of dirty affiliates and some sleazy merchants.

Try looking for well-regarded but lesser known hosts to promote

I second that.

All Affiliates = Sucks!

Not at all!! You can make a lot of money from affiliate programs if you do it right. Most people don't know how to promote affiliate programs or are too lazy to put in the work.

Just throwing banners on a page, like you do Adsense code, isn't the way to do it.