How to determine the legitimacy of an affiliate program?

01 May 12 12:12 am

Hi John,
Without knowing the details and taking a look at them it is hard to speculate,
1. How long have they been around?
Are there other customer testimonials and can you speak to them or do they have an affiliate forum?
Have they got a good record of paying out?
Is their domain name registered for only a year or 2 years or more, so you know they plan to stick around.
Do they make outrageous income claims?
Is there a contact number or toll-free number listed?
Email them and see if you get a response within 24 hours... if they do not respond..it is not a good sign.
Are they promising you will make easy money and without much work? if they are, then be very cautious.

2. Email them and ask for their business credentials and info. Are they a registered company or business?
You can also look at the whois info for their domain name just go to.. http://www.whois.net/ or a similar service.

3. To check if they pay out, Do they have a member forum so you can get other opinions? Search Google for information..you can type in COMPANY/PROGRAM NAME SCAM or COMPANY/PROGRAM NAME NOT PAYING.. or even just the company name itself brings up details of any disgruntled affiliates.

4. Google is your best friend here.

Hope that helps.
Troy

01 May 12 9:27 am

You may easily search their name online. Most affiliate programs and companies have reviews online. There are also affiliate review sites you can visit to and check if they the affiliate company you are interested in is included in the list. Most importantly, try to also join in affiliate forums and ask members there if they have experienced joining such affiliate company.

02 May 12 4:35 am

Definitely Google is the best option. However asking them questions in support forums, reading testimonial, and finding other people talking about their affiliate program would be some other ways to check their legitimacy.

02 May 12 8:52 am

Cecille L wrote:Thumbs up to Troy! Excellent suggestion. There's plenty of information you can get from the internet these days that to ask a question seems silly now. It's because anything you don't know, you can "Google it". And that is your best bet. Not everything you read online is true of course, but you can get feedback from so many sources. There are affiliate forums there that you can check out, there are affiliate networks. You can always email them back too and ask them directly which is what I would in this case and then take it from there.

Hope that helps. Have a good day!

I agree with you Cecille, but I have posted a few questions in affiliate forums to get genuine feedback and believe me they are not always true.

Hence, to get some honest opinion you can look for testimonials of actual clients who have used the product.

26 Nov 12 6:40 am

Hi

A legitimate affiliate program will always offer support, and contact information either email, or a phone number. If you have questions contact support using the methods provided to see the type of response you receive, and how long it takes before becoming affiliated with the program.
And Yes Google is also good option to check the legitimacy of an affiliate program.

10 Dec 12 9:15 pm

john14 wrote:I wonder how you would verify/confirm the legitimacy of an affiliate program that you haven’t heard of before. The reason why I asked this question is I got an email by someone (site email address) who told me to join their affiliate program. My concerns are-

1. How do I know if they are real/genuine?
2. How do I confirm their business existence?
3. How do I verify if they really pay their affiliates?
4. How do I find out if they are a scam?

Is there something that I should take into consideration before joining their program?

Thanks

You can skip all these steps if you join the programs that are in the affiliate networks. Those are tested programs.

26 Dec 12 2:48 am

manager3 wrote:Hi

A legitimate affiliate program will always offer support, and contact information either email, or a phone number. If you have questions contact support using the methods provided to see the type of response you receive, and how long it takes before becoming affiliated with the program.
And Yes Google is also good option to check the legitimacy of an affiliate program.

I can't agree more with this statement, any program that is easy to get in touch with or answers your questions readily is typically a good sign. Unfortunately sometimes the only sure fire way to know how reliable a program is, is to try it for yourself.