Comments on: Automatic Decline of Affiliate Applications — Bad Practice

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:19:27 +0000

This was exactly my reaction. Newegg has basically been our only advertiser through Commission Junction. They’re the only tech company (and thankfully the best) that had no issue with approving our site last year. So far, its been pretty good.

What really gets me is… you’re driving traffic to a website & only get commission if the sale is completed, so why decline sites just because they may not produce hundreds of orders? I’d take a 100 orders from 100 people just as much as 100 orders from one site.

As an alternative, I’d suggest Amazon – they’re more concerned with the quality of your site (keywords, seo, etc.) over numerical figures. Plus, they carry so many items, its easy to recommend commission-bearing items.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:51:16 +0000

Arghhh! So frustrating! Thank you for the article, I thought it was just me.

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:18:20 +0000

Don’t despair,

the heck with the ones who decline you. It doesn’t cost them a dime to give you access to their links. It can only benefit them for the sake of a back link to their site. Lets face it, so many shoppers avoid the affiliate links and go back and buy later after they found the merchant on your site. You are the one that paid to market them with no commission. So for the ones who stupidly decline you, tell them to go to h…. and move on. Go with the ones who approve you or change your niche and start all over.

By: Geno

Geno — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:35:09 +0000

Trevor, there's no "trick" to this. Email the merchant(s) that has/have declined your application(s) explaining your plan for them, and if they really care about their program, they will consider it seriously. If they don't, don't even mess with them. Go with other merchants, or other affiliate networks.

By: Trevor Swenson

Trevor Swenson — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:27:19 +0000

I am curious Nancy or Geno if you have found a trick to this yet or have just given up. I am just starting out as well and want to get started but have been declined by 4 affiliate programs through CJ so far that I am really interested in and it’s really frustrating!!

By: Geno

Geno — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:32:05 +0000

Exactly my point, Nancy! With these merchants, it’s turns into an eternal cause-and-effect circle. The cause of the application decline is the lack of activity/ranking/caliber/stats, but it’s hard to improve unless you get admitted into the bigger brand (or better converting) affiliate programs. I’d say: don’t despair! Just work with the smarter merchants.

I’ve heard that even 4-bar CJ affiliates get their applications auto-declined by certain merchants. What a silly way to target your affiliate application approval process: automatically decline everyone who is less than 5 bars!

By: Nancy Nally

Nancy Nally — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:17:23 +0000

I get so frustrated with this practice! I get auto-denied from programs because I obviously don’t have the magic productivity stats that these programs apparently want to let me in…but I can’t get productive sales stats without getting into these programs that are a good fit for my specific audience! How am I supposed to build a productive marketing history with ads that shows I can produce sales for an affiliate if no decent programs for me will let me in?