Affiliate Programs Cost Money?
I was offered an affiliate program recently and when I completed the application, the company told me they require a purchase of no less than $40 before you can be given a discount code?!
I hadn't run into this yet and I wasn't sure if that's a normal thing, but I told them "thanks but no thanks" for now. I understand that to make money you have to spend money, but I feel like there are so many other companies out there who don't charge you to be an affiliate.
Am I in the wrong mindset...is this pretty normal and something I should expect???
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This is NOT normal. First, Kyle said (somewhere in the training courses) that all affiliate programs are/should be free, if not, STAY AWAY FROM THEM.
Second, I'm part of a lot of affiliate programs, the biggest of them is amazon of course, and none of them costs money.
No affiliate program should cost you money in my opinion. If an expert on this can reassure this I would be glad to hear it.
Now that you mention it, I do remember him saying that!! Thanks for the reminder! And yeah, I'm Amazon affiliate too and several other dog toy companies and none of them charged me anything. In fact, they gave me products! I'm glad I said "no thank you" but the feedback gives me the confidence I know it was hte right decision. Thank you!!
Yes. I also found your fitbark on there, on the launchpad, exactly where I found my first affiliate product, and even my niche! It was something called the "Jamstik" and from it I start the learn guitar niche :)
Btw, that fitbark is a great product! Good find!
It sounds like some ropey scam to me. I wasn't an MLM opportunity, was it? LOL.
In my experience, all legit affiliate programs are free to join because it makes no sense to pay to promote somebody else's products.
If affiliate programs charged, the companies wouldn't have very big businesses.
Neil
Haha! Nope, some dog collar company. Overly priced as well...I'll think I'll be ok without this affiliate haha
It is not something I would expect. You should not have to pay money to become an affiliate. On the other hand, it IS good practice to actually purchase and use the product you are promoting, but it should never cost more than the product. You should never pay for the ability to promote someone else's product. Best of luck!
Agree, I'm happy to purchase products at some point, but this was for a dog collar company, and my dog has so many collars right now it would literally be a waste of money, haha. Thanks for the info, good to know I made the right decision!
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Good for you Liz. If these affiliate programs were open and transparent like WA they might get somewhere.