Small Merchants , How to research them?

[positivecarry]

Hello 5 star associates,

I am getting into some niche areas and the merchants I want to work with look like they have self-administered programs. I am guessing that with smaller companies there is definitely the possibility of non payment and underpayment. What type of precautionary measures should one take to discover the legitimacy of the program? Do you just have to try it and see if you get paid? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi positivecarry,

The best way to find out if anyone is talking about not getting paid or tracking problems is through forums. Try Googling: "XYZ affiliate program" forum. Not to try to find their own forum but any other forum where their name comes up. Could also try searching for "XYZ affiliate commission" "XYZ affiliate check or payment" and see if anything shows up. But if it's a really small Indie maybe you can't find anyone talking about the program.

Joining Indies is a little riskier, but then again I know some affiliates that prefer them and have done well once they find a couple good ones. Even though it could be riskier, there are also benefits to working with Indies such as less competition and higher commission typically, so maybe things sort of even out.

 

[positivecarry]

Thanks much , great advice

After reading here I know finding a niche is probably the best way to go for a newbie, and all these very niche products run their own show. Great advice on the searches. I wonder if these small operations only take a certain amount of affiliates or are more picky with regards to your site. Guess applying is the only way to find out. Thanks again.

 

[MrCat]

You really won't know until you test the waters - always choose the shallow part of it

 

[Linda Buquet]

"I wonder if these small operations only take a certain amount of affiliates or are more picky with regards to your site."

Even though it's bad to stereotype and there are exceptions to any rule -
I would tend to think the opposite would be true. I think small in-house programs would be a little more open and lax because they may not be managed by pro affiliate managers and don't get hit with all the fraud that the big programs on networks do, so may not feel the need to screen that carefully.
May not even know they need to or why they should, which isnt really a good thing either.

But like you said, just try it.