Be careful with joining rakuten affiliate program!
This is just a friendly warning if you are with, or thinking about joining the RAKUTEN AFFILIATES PROGRAM.
I have only been with the Rakuten affiliate program for only just over a week now and have only signed up to a couple of merchants and waiting for a few to be processed and confirmed.
I have a few banners up of the merchants that I have been accepted to, but thankfully I haven't created any posts or pages containing any merchants products which as anyone who has their own website will know takes a lot of time and effort to put together
Now I'm not normally an angry person and I shouldn't have taken it to heart and threw my android tablet across the room nearly breaking and loosing the only way I can create my website at the very impressive and legendary WEALTHY AFFILIATE.
But.....oh yes, there's a BIG but....and I don't mean my fat ass!!
I just recieved an e-mail out of ghe blue from the www.linkshare.com which I believe is part of, or partners with rakuten which I took a screenshot of.
All my details were correct
All my details were up to date, my payment details were correct and the information I had down about my website www.shwnisports.com were spot on, so why did they suspend my account????
Time to take a look at section 20 I think...
What is section 20? I hear you ask...
Well after I had calmed down and picked up my tablet from the floor, still in one piece thank God!!! I took a look at section 20 so I could see what the problem was.
I couldn't belive it!!!
I copied the section 2 out so i could paste it here and this is what it was...
Rakuten section 20 of the terms and conditions
20. Termination, etc.
20.1. Termination. You or Rakuten Marketing may, at any time, with or without cause, terminate this Agreement and your participation in the Network or use of any other Rakuten Marketing Offering. You may affect such termination through your Network Publisher Account Area or by written notice to Rakuten Marketing subject to actual receipt thereof.
20.2. Restricted Use. Alternatively, Rakuten Marketing may, at any time, with or without notice, in its sole discretion, suspend, limit, restrict, condition or deny your access to or use of all or any part of the Network or any Rakuten Marketing Offering.
Now I'm baffled...
I don't know about you but maybe I misread it, does it actually give me a reason?
NO IT DOESN'T!
I e-mailed them straight back (obviously) but to no reply. So now I am left clueless as to why my account was suspended and having to look through all my posts and pages to check if any of them have any links that will not work now.....and not to forget, a cracked tablet!!
I am just glad I hadn't got to a stage where I had quite a few posts and pages littered with rakuten affiliate links.
So for anyone who is with RAKUTEN AFFILIATE PROGRAM or thinking of joining up, just be careful that they don't do the same to you.
All the very best
Cheers
Matthew
Recent Comments
24
Thanks for mentioning this and you are right to highlight this and share with friends at WA. Some might be facing an issue in other affiliates place and some might not while the other never sign up for Rakuten Affiliate Program, example.
And I am yet to sign one under Rakuten. It is due to some stuff like you highlighted above that for me very very "grey" and aren't "clear" enough to make me sign up one.
I had this kind of situation with eBay that still makes me ponder the wrongdoing I did when the first 3 days they welcoming me and urge me to get every working tools they provide and the next 3 days when my email get notification of termination etc.
Thanks for sharing, my friend :)
You're not alone. I didn't read it all but maybe the discussion thread for the post below might shed light: Bad News: My LinkShare account is terminated five days after regisnation ~Jude
I joined them but boy their dashboard is a mess, some newbie tried to find a company on there last week and neither of us could find it - and all the comments inside said the same thing
maybe write to the companies you want to be affiliate with directly and tell them not only of your experience but that you are a member of a global affiliate marketing club all of whom have been informed
what niche are you in?
and maybe find some calming techniques to protect your ipad next time ? :)
Lol, I have bought a protective case for it now.
I'm in the sports niche at the moment but I have a lot of programs to fall back on so I should be ok.
Thanks for the comment :)
Have you contacted them at the compliance address in their email? You may have inadvertently violated some obscure condition of theirs without realizing it.
With their termination clause coming in at number 20, any of the preceding 19 items could have been the cause.
A simple difference between exactly what they meant by some term and what you think they meant could trigger their software to flag your account for some violation. (Since they're a big operation and undoubtedly get more than their share of spammers, a real response from a human being might take a bit of time.)
good thing is I haven't done anything yet. Because I haven't heard alot about this company I decided to message the actual companies I signed up with and asked for samples of their products so I can give an honest review. So I will be waiting to see if I get samples before moving forward at all :)
I hope you get something, I have had over £600 worth of products sent to me in the 2 months I have been here and it really does help with product reviews if you don't have the product to hand
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Hello Shwni, I came across your blog, and yes Rakuten did the same to me few days ago, I have no ideas why. I replied and asked them what kind of things did I do to terminate my account, they couldn’t even explain and answer my question, always use the section 20 to answer me, oh I should read your blog before apply their network. I’m quite mad because seems some WA members has this issue, and I hope Kyle can help us with it.