When using an affiliate program, how does the affiliate know he/she is not getting screwed?

How do you know? Like any business, you do a little bit of searching, and understand the affiliate game you are going into - if someone is playing games, you usually can find it very quickly. One of the great thing about affiliate programs is that the affiliates are independent and talk - always do diligence on any affiliate deal first and ask around, search around - understand there will always be complainers, but the bad programs are bad and if someone is not tracking orders, word spreads throughout this tight community. Yet while affiliates really control the traffic, all the money flows downhill from the advertiser. So the game of quantity and quality becomes apparent; bad affiliates in lead gen stuff more data into their files, and less quality, as time goes on to increase revenue. Some merchants have tried to avoid reporting sales, but it's pretty dumb today because the affiliates know their traffic, know what converts, and have benchmarks to compare the new affiliate program to the old. While they may not "know", if they don't make enough sales, they'll drop the program. So hiding sales is really not a smart approach for a merchant, because the people creating those sales will drop you if they don't see sufficient performance. While a merchant might get away with that in the short term, they do get outed in the long term, which is why new merchants have so many challenges - because it's not just do they track every sale, the real kicker is, do they pay you? Paying affiliates can be a game, for big and small companies, so look into how they are in paying their affiliates on time (watch big companies here, who love the extend the time to pay affiliates). And while big brands can be better, understand that games can be played at every level. The only way you really know a sale is being made is if the tracking technology is good and reliable - which is why you see so many using CJ, ShareaSale, LinkShare, et al, where the tracking is good and reliable. You need to tap into this community, from Affiliate Summit to the many online affiliate related communities such as ABestWeb, or whichever community appeals to the products you are interested in offering. If a merchant is new and no one knows? Know your numbers and the numbers your industry gets for conversion. And if you don't make sales, you will dump the program, and it is hard enough getting affiliates to run a program, much less run it regularly. Nowadays there's little benefit to lie, because there are so many benefits to having an affiliate program run well - although it always has been a high cost customer acquisition channel.

Great question. As the other answers indicate, using an established network and promoting major brands is the way to go, especially when you are starting out as an affiliate. Established companies have usually earned their reputations for a reason. Here are some more tips: Compare performance across networks. If you have concerns about the network that is running the ads, then consider running a test through another network if the offer is available elsewhere. Keep in mind that you usually need a certain volume before you can jump to conclusions. For example, dropping from 10 conversions to 6 conversions over the course of a month may not mean the other network is skimming. You need to look at other stats like total clicks, conversion rate, seasonality, bonus offers, etc. Compare notes with other affiliates. It's also good to talk about networks, programs and performance with other affiliates whom you trust. For example, I know several people, myself included, who have had problems with an unnamed network. After comparing notes, we realized there were too many inconsistencies with this particular company, and it was no longer worth the uncertainty of dealing with that network any longer. I moved all of my business away from them and moved it to some of the more established networks. Go through the primary network when possible. Some affiliate networks actually run links from another network through their system, creating another layer of redirects and tracking. This isn't always advertised, but it happens more often than you think. When possible, try to determine if the network you are running your links through is the primary network for your program, or if they are running sub-affiliate links. When possible, I try to make a contact with the affiliate manager at the top of the chain. It reduces the margin for error and gives you the opportunity for a more personal relationship - which is always good. Try to find out who the major players are using. If the major affiliates in your niche are all using one network, it's probably for a good reason. If you have doubts, go where the crowd goes. Don't be afraid to go small. All of the above things considered, don't be afraid to try running ads through a small company. I've done very well running affiliate programs with some new companies and you can often find a more personal relationship with your affiliate managers, giving you more opportunities to new programs, advance notices of changes, new offers, special promotions, etc. In the end, it comes down to trust. Go into affiliate marketing with the expectation to help people by promoting useful products and services, and your users will trust you. Go to the networks with the expectation that you will work with them to promote their products and represent the product or company well, and you will often have good results.

Reputable affiliate programs allow affiliates to also track their referrals.  For example, with http://profitpress.com affiliates see the same data that the affiliate program manager does.  This is important because since ProfitPress pays out $100 per sale, every sale counts!

Shaving sales or leads is never in the best interests of the Merchants and the Networks. In a connected age, if companies were stealing their affiliates commissions or not paying up, you can be sure it'll be touted to every social network out there. As it is, a great deal of affiliates prefer to deal with networks, networks are paid on performance so it is in their best interests to ensure you're making sales and getting paid. Plus you can rest easy that a professional network with integrity have a department dedicated to monitoring any scrupulous activity and work for the affiliates interests. Whilst the affiliates can outnumber the merchants 1000:1 each and every affiliate is still a client and an asset to the company. Everything is digital and leaves a nice big trail so it's rare that a network couldn't easily monitor things and come up with answers.

Despite all the indicators listed above, it's very easy for a merchant to remove the odd sale/commission and get away with it - the affiliate is none the wiser. So ultimately it comes down to trust. My business has received commissions from literally thousands of merchants across a wide range of industries - and I can count on two hands those that haven't played ball. So, don't worry too much about it. Do the wise thing and promote multiple merchants to lessen risks. A merchant going broke and leaving you unpaid is massively more likely...

This is a really good question. This is primarily why most affiliates trust networks. Since a network is third party an affiliate can be sure that there wouldn't be any fraud from the merchant's side. A network would take the responsibility of tracking and reporting a transaction. At the same time I would like to point out that a responsible merchant would never do this to any affiliate. You have to understand that an affiliate is an important element in merchants marketing efforts. Affiliates bring in sale and larger merchants would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship and sales that are coming in via the affiliate channel.

It's all based on cookie-based electronic tracking, so if the cookie is dropped in the user's browser and they purchase within the duration of the cookie (which can vary from 1 day to 10 years) the affiliate gets credit for the sales. However, there is some level of trust that needs to be in place. Sales can be lost to the phone or purchasing from another computer. You can ask the merchant for a designated coupon code to better track the sales that occur without happening online. Sale go untracked in affiliate marketing all the time, it's part of the industry. Most affiliate tracking is reliable in general however in my opinion.