On a separate note, while in my above post I’ve mainly touched upon the problem of merchant-affiliate communication (or lack thereof), there is another problem that is even more important to address. As an affiliate has tweeted:

…with such “synching issues” you definitely want to check with CJ if this has happened (or still is happening) with other affiliate-referred orders. Your affiliate program’s AOV must be quite high, and with the 4% commission you’re paying now, having issues like these would mean substantial amounts of commission leaking.

I just confirmed with CJ that the order has been approved and they have issued the credit to the affiliate you used.

It appears there was a synching issue when we sent our reporting to CJ.

Once again, my apologies for your experience and your 3 lessons are duly noted.

No, you do not sound “cheesy” when you say that you “do care about affiliates”. Your actions precede your words (in this case).

Three lessons to learn (for all merchants) from this:

1) When the main contact info for your program changes, change it everywhere, and/or forward mail from that “Jonathan’s” email address to land in the appropriate email box.

2) If you’re running your program on an affiliate network, make it your daily routine to check your affiliate network’s inbox.

3) When a negative experience is posted, tweeted or reported in any other form, address it swiftly and honestly. Negative reviews do increase sales, especially when properly addressed.

By the way, why hasn’t that sale tracked in the first place?

I am Dayana Villagomez, I handle the affiliate program for AJ Madison. I noticed that you have recently posted a poor affiliate experience with AJ Madison. The reason for no response on our end is due to Jonathan no longer being an employee. I appreciate you documenting your experience which has brought to my attention that we need to update our CJ contact information immediately.

I hope we can rectify this situation and give the affiliate credit where it is due, please contact me. I am available today between the hours of 10-5pm eastern or please email me when is the best time to contact you.

Thank you.