Paying to be an Affiliate? Yes or No
Last Update: Jun 18, 2014
I am curious if other people at WA pay to be an affiliate. The reason I am asking this question is I am pretty happy paying minimal fees to represent products.
I did not have much success belonging to various companies like Amazon, or some others, because they told me I did not have enough content on my website for me to represent them; mind you I made a sale with Amazon within the first three months of having their links on my website, but that still was not good enough to be a member.
My niche is health and wellness, I pay to be a premium member at WA and don't regret that choice at, just like I 100 percent don't regret being a member of Herbalife, another company I pay to belong to, and with these memberships I have a lot of resources to help me.
The one freebie that I belong to is Total Gym, however, I am extremely familiar with this product as I sold it when I worked at a telemarketing center.
Taking WA's advice I have sampled various products and I am now thinking of belonging to another company that charges, it is called It Works, before I make my final decision, I just wanted some feedback.
Please let me know what you do and if it is working for you.
Recent Comments
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To answer your question: No, I do not think it is right to pay to be an affiliate.
One can buy Herbalife products from a distributor and not join the business, if one just wants the products. So "joining" Herbalife means joining the business.
One can join WA and be an affiliate and earn commissions, without paying to join.
Would I pay for premium even if WA did not have an affiliate program. You bet I would! The affiliate program is free. It is optional for both free and paid members.
We should all have a choice to buy products and services and/or to participate in a company's affiliate program at no further cost.
Monica, I recently wrote an article about Herbalife on my site. ~Jude
Jude, thanks for your input, I think you should 100% get the option, but at the end of the day I FEEL I have more success because I have the resources, now don't get me wrong I pay for them. I could have done WA the free way but I thought if this really works might as well commit.
I have yet to make any money from WA but I continue to pay my stipend and have access to all these resources, and hopefully I will be able to be successful with this hobby. I feel the same way about Herbalife I believe in their product and signed up as a distributor for the discount I receive on their products, if I am able to show people the benefits and help live a healthier life than it was meant to be, if not I will pursue something else.
I have bookmarked your article and will comment at some point today
We are in agreement, Monica. I usually find it worthwhile to pay for premium services when I can.
Free is never really free because the cost is having to put in extra time and effort. But when money is tight, it is better to trade time for money than to do nothing at all.
Thanks for visiting my blog and your comment. I really appreciate it. I have left one on yours too. ~ Jude
Hey Monica,
A program like Herbalife is more of a network marketing kind of situation (or multilevel marketing) where the only ways to get paid are either by selling the products directly to others, or by recruiting people.
Although we pay a monthly membership here at WA I don't believe it to be a network marketing situation as they don't have an upline/downline scenario, i.e., the multilevel aspect. Further, there are plenty of members here who have never referred anyone to WA and still make very nice incomes from outside niches. So no recruitment or selling of WA is needed to make money using the techniques we are taught. Also, WA has a pretty comprehensive starter membership where people don't pay any fee and can still earn commissions.
I remember from your previous post that you use the products from those network marketing companies and love them. So that probably makes it worth the monthly fee for you. And if you are able to recruit others, that makes it even better.
Generally speaking, with traditional affiliate programs, i.e., Amazon, ClickBank, etc., I would be reluctant to pay a monthly fee unless they offered something very worthwhile for the fee like WA does. The training and support here are extremely valuable and justifies the fee.
I am not in any way knocking network marketing arrangements. It's just a different business model.
Best Regards,
Jim
Jim,
Thanks I totally get what you are saying, since I like Herbalife and benefit from their products, I see no harm in paying them a nominal yearly fee.
I totally see your point about Amazon, Clickbank etc. however do you think that if you had to pay a yearly fee of $15 and with that you received customer service or help, would that change your mind.
I guess you are helping me make my point, lol, I just feel like when I am paying Herbalife and WA, I am gaining customer service, and the help I think I need, I never got that from Amazon, I just was told thanks for making the sale but you don't have enough content.
As you can tell it left a very bitter taste in my mouth. I am just trying to weigh my pros cons
Thanks for your input
Any kind of program that charges based on continuity, monthly, quarterly, yearly, really has to justify what that fee is for. I can't speak for Herbalife but WA definitely massively over delivers IMHO and are worth every penny of the fee.
For others to charge, you just really have to wonder what it is you are getting for that fee. I know you were only using customer service as an example but is their customer service really going to that much better if I pay them $15?
I just think, especially in the case of affiliate programs where you are making them money, it just doesn't sit right with me that they should be charging. After all, you are spending your marketing dollars and time selling for them.
I guess one way I could see it being okay is if they gave people who paid a bigger commission. WA has that kind of built into its affiliate program. Premium members get double the commission than starter members get. Again, you have to weigh what that fee is going to get you in return.
Best Regards,
Jim
I would beware of any program or anyone that wants to charge you to be an "affiliate". It is usually the other way around that you get paid as an advertiser for the product.
I believe there are programs out there such as the WA that promote an affiliate program, but with other items that can be associated to the monthly charge or initial charge.
Here we pay for hosting, training essentially that I see.
Its like be in an MLM and required to purchase product to be a member. To me that is forced sales. I know if you sell a chevy, you should be driving a chevy, but as for many folks, beginning out and ask or forced to purchase something to promote that product is a little strange to me.
Just my opinion.
Thanks.
I really understand your point which is why I am writing about it. I had such an awful time getting started, I mean I literally cried when Amazon rejected me, lol, seriously! Then I wrote Kyle and he told me not to worry about it and try some other places, I did same negative response. When I pay Herbalife, WA, there is some customer service that goes along with it, I really like that.
I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, thanks :)
No problem. That is why we are here. To learn, bounce ideas off of each other. Take care and best wishes to you.
Outside of WA, the only program I paid to be a member of was Affiliate Window and it was only $5 to join. So far the jury is still out on how well the overall program works. I did a review on the initial stages of using it so far on my site, and will do an updated one as time wears on.
Overall my feelings are as long as it is a nominal fee I am not too worried about it. Even with Affiliate window that $5 went into my commission pool anyway so I will get it back when I reach payment thresholds.
Thanks for your feedback, I agree if it is small, I am not sure the harm, and if they somehow someway give the money back to you in products, I am not sure the harm, but again I don't want to go crazy and then end up paying something ridiculous
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Hi Monica!
What do you want to know about ItWorks?
And where do you live? USA? Canada? or another country?
I was a distributor for ItWorks, and now, I am selling off my articles because MLM is not for me.
If you succeed in building a dynamic team, it should be interesting for you (as all MLMs). And I think the products are really good.
But if you only want to sell, I am not sure that it is interesting to join this opportunity.
If you want to talk more about ItWorks, you can send me a private message with your questions, or join me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natali974 or Skype: nathemi974 for a live chat.
I have sent you a PM