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is no longer valid?

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

Youve promoted a product, possibly even made some sales,
and you might never get paid. Your efforts can have brought
the program 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 can give affiliate programs,
and marketers who promote them, a bad name.

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

And who knows how long I was selling , sending visitors and
possibly sales to the owners domain, before I knew my
affiliate URL was not valid!

All I understand is, there are program owners out there,
somewhere, who owe me $10 or $20 here and there and Ill
probably never see that funds . 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 program, why the heck dont
you move your affiliates to the new program?

2. How about sending an email to let your affiliates understand
theres a new link for them to promote? If you positive 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
code ! I dont care if its only $1 - its *their* money
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 do not appreciate it at
all!

Whew! I feel better taking that off my chest.

So what can any of us do about this situation?

Unfortunately, its not always elegant to judge whether or not
youre joining a *good* affiliate code . Perhaps the best
thing to do is keep an eye on your stats on a weekly basis.
Its not a perfect solution, but hopefully youll be able
to correct the problem within a short period of time.

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."