Have you ever tried to check your stats for an affiliate
program and discovered either the website no longer exists
or the owner has changed the affiliate code and your backlink
is no longer valid?

Isnt it annoying, frustrating and *definately maddening,*
to say the least?

Youve promoted a item, possibly even made some sales,
and you might never get paid. Your efforts can have brought
the script owner some cash, but theres no cash for you.

Whatever happened to common courtesy? How about business
ethics? It seems theyve gone down the drain when it comes
to doing business on the Internet.

Dont get me wrong. Not all Internet business owners are
that way. But those who are might give affiliate programs,
and marketers who promote them, a bad name.

I dont understand how many programs Ive belonged to over the
last couple of many years that have gone belly-up or changed
affiliate payment processors and I was no longer an
affiliate or was not sent the new link to promote.

And who knows how long I was promoting, sending visitors and
possibly sales to the owners domain, before I knew my
affiliate URL wasnt valid!

All I know is, there are code owners out there,
somewhere, who owe me $10 or $20 here and there and Ill
most definately never see that money. It might not be much, but
its mine.

Why didnt I e mail them about it? I did! Guess what? No
reply! I am sure they "conveniently" didnt receive my 6 or
8 e-mails.

Am I on a rant while writing this? You bet I am! I am an
honest person and I like to think Im dealing with others
who have high levels of integrity, too.

I have a few things to say to all affiliate script owners
who operate in such an unethical way:

1. If you change your affiliate script, why the heck do not
you move your affiliates to the new code ?

2. How about sending an e mail to let your affiliates understand
theres a new backlink for them to promote? If you absolutely need them to
sign up again, just say so.

3. And heres a novel idea - pay your affiliates all money
due them *before* changing or closing the affiliate
script! I dont care if its only $1 - its *their* funds
for gaining you a customer!

4. As if its not bad enough that I got screwed out of my
funds , what do I look like to my subscribers for
recommending something they joined, then they got shafted?
There goes *my* credibility and I dont appreciate it at
all!

Whew! I feel better getting that off my chest.

So what might any of us do about this situation?

Unfortunately, its not always easy to judge whether or not
youre joining a *nice * affiliate script. Perhaps the best
thing to do is keep an eye on your stats on a weekly basis.
Its not a perfect solution, but hopefully you will be able
to correct the problem within a short period of measure .

And for Heavens sake, if you run your own affiliate
script, now or in the future, dont fall into the identical bad
habits. Treat your affiliates with respect and your title
will never be "Mud."