Finally, the last three factors ...

10. Reversal rate

First of all, let’s define the term: the reversal rate is the percentage of sales (or qualified actions) that were reversed for any reason during a given time period. It’s a very important factor which usually won’t be disclosed upfront, therefore most frequently you’ll have to find this metric out from your own experience. Either way, you should keep on eye on this one, because the reversal rate can be an indicator of very bad or very good things …

Reversals happen, and that’s just fine. There are many different possible reasons: cancelled orders, invalid credit cards, duplicate orders, frauds, technical issues, etc. Evidently, the lower the reversal rate, the better, but for obvious reasons it’s almost impossible to define a “reasonable” or “acceptable” percentage. Also, there is a huge difference between an overall reversal rate (the average reversal rate of a given affiliate program) and an individual merchant-specific reversal rate (the reversal rate of a particular merchant that is member of a given affiliate program). Anyway, pay a great attention to this metric and always choose the program – or the merchant – with the lower reversal rate.

11. Support

This is extremely straightforward. You’ll want to partner with someone who cares about your partnership. Someone, who is always ready to help you under any circumstances. Contact them and ask them a few questions to see how quickly they get back with you and how detailed, helpful and to the point their response is.

12. TOS

Check out carefully every single word on their TOS page. Pay special attention to elements like available payment models, promotion restrictions, qualified actions, commission recurrence, imposed minimum quotas or other special requirements, anti-spamming policy, special clauses, etc.