Affiliate Window has recently removed 154 publishers from their network, in addition to denying 30-40% of all applications that come into their system. The publishers that were cut had their earnings withheld due to some sort of offense against their terms of service or compliance breach. While the total number of marketers affected is fairly small, this is an excellent opportunity to look at what types of things people are doing that can result in getting cut from programs and loss of payments.
Many of the marketers were removed due to ‘deceptive practices’ including telling potential customers that there was a sale, when there wasn’t, or providing them with other incorrect information. According to Affiliate Window, anytime you are attempting to deceive a potential customer intentionally, it is grounds for removal from the system and a loss of any earnings currently in your account.
They also found that some marketers were using unethical PPC practices, including having multiple accounts, using adware or domain squatting . Affiliate Window does not tolerate any type of PPC violations, and this latest ‘firing’ of marketers shows that they take this type of thing seriously. The breakdown of why people were eliminated is as follows:
- 71% Deceptive Marketing Practices
- 14% PPC Violations
- 6% Multiple Accounts
- 5% Adware
- 4% Domain Squatting
Affiliate Window does most of their business in the UK, which is why the majority (59%) of those who were suspended came from that country. The US came in second place (with 24%), followed by a host of other countries who had a small number of individuals affected.
In addition to monitoring and removing unethical marketers, they also charge a 5 Euro joining fee to help deter publishers from joining their network with the intention of malpractice. This is just one more example of affiliate networks taking action to help combat the reputation that affiliate marketing has for being unethical.
