Ethics In Affiliate Marketing

Is there any Ethics left at all?

but one of the problems has been where by an affiliate program has gone unchecked through a number of reasons, a few examples, in a recent survey conducted by E-Consultancy.com “More than a quarter of merchants say their organisations are poor at managing networks (28%) and policing & monitoring affiliate activity (26%).”
“The admission that 28% of merchants have poor communication with affiliates and that 91% spend less than 8 hours a week in communication with affiliates (over half communicating less than an hour a week) is a serious indication of lack of inter personal relations and communications between merchants and affiliates”
http://www.affiliateprogramadvice.com/index.php/2008/09/22/affiliate-marketing-still-cost-effective-but-budgets-shrinking-apa-response/

some networks were already unscrupulous, PrimeQ.com by way of an example. http://www.affiliates4u.com/forums/primeq/ which ultimately lead to a lot of bad press.

Some networks don’t have any patrolling quality control and place the onus on the affiliate to protect them selves. So when things go awry and they can and do, there is sometimes very little recourse for the affiliate which will give rise to more bad press about our industry.

Some merchants come into this sector and don’t understand that voiding all sales to save them a buck or a pound, euro… et al, will have long term implications on the success of their affiliate program.

There are some rogue affiliates who think they can cheat their way to income, which gives rise to further bad press.

Lack of knowledge is still the main problem from where I sit which can lead to conflict.
Ego seems to get in the way, rather then say, sorry I made a mistake we would rather sweep it all under the carpet as quickly as possible.

But let’s keep this in perspective the above are all in a minority and people would rather rant then rave, its in our nature as a society either online or off.

There are some brilliant affiliate networks out there that really are proactive in most areas of their business and ensure affiliates and merchants are protected.

The Majority of merchants want their affiliate program to work and put in the time and effort and are fair.

We are seeing affiliates policing themselves in their quest to rid this industry of rogue elements.

Where the industry needs tightening up is in the area of affiliate protection, terms and conditions and more vocal about the good stuff as well as the bad.

Jessica