I am looking to create my own affiliate program. Anyone have a suggestion on for which network I shoul use to create it with? Shareasale, Commission Junction, Performics, etc?

I think ShareASale is the cheapest of the ones you list, but I am not sure if you would get access to same number of and quality of affiliates as say with Commission Junction.

Hi there,

I am late on joining this discussion (just a few months) but thought I'd add my two cents anyhow for those who may just be peeking in to see the inquiry now (like me) and who are looking for similar insight...

Each of the networks has their pros and cons, and everyone in the business has their own opionion on each. Having said that, whenever anyone refers to the big 3 in this biz, it's usually in reference to CJ, SAS (Sharasale) and Linkshare though competition has cropped up left and right in recent years.

In my opinion, CJ has the most comprehensive reporting but their servers get bottlenecked a lot and it tends to get slow during peak traffic times (esp. in afternoons). They have a full customer service team which is nice for when you have a basic question but can take a very long time to get back to merchants when a technical problem or inquiry crops up. There is a lot of controversy over the quality of CJ affiliates though CJ merchants have access to a very large pool. It has been said that they don't screen their affiliates well, and therefore allow parasites, spyware etc. to run rampant - it is left to the merchant to try and weed them out in order to keep the program clean. While this can be said of nearly any network, CJ has earned a special reputation for such. For those merchants who have a dedicated AM who stays up on key issues, it's possible to maintain a clean program on CJ. CJ charges a few thousand for initial setup, 30% of every commission goes to network fees, and they require a minimum $500 in the merchant's rolling deposit account at all times.

SAS has earned a reputation for being extremely affiliate friendly and clean of parasites. They have a more thorough screening process and are trusted by anti-parasite affiliates. No pornographic type programs are allowed on this network and Brian Littleton (the guy who runs the show there) along with his team of professionals over at SAS offer personalized small-biz type service despite their quickly growing pool of joined affiliates. They have a very affordable setup fee of $350 (I think it may only be for a limited time but regardless set up is quite reasonable) and charge 20% of all commissions in the form of network fees. If your network fees do not equal $25/mo they charge you the difference - not such a bad deal.

I haven't personally worked with Linkshare (LS) but I hear they are professional, strict on policies, demand exclusivity and are more pricey than CJ. I've used LS on the affiliate side of things - the interface is alright - but leaves something to the imagination. I have personally had no bad experiences w/ them however.

My current client uses MYAP from Kowabunga technologies... I'm still getting used to it. While an affordable alternative to the traditional networks, the reporting leaves a lot to the imagination and the interface is less than intuitive. However, once you learn where things are (where to get your data etc) it's not all bad. However, with MYAP you're responsible for making affiliate payments on your own - they don't cover that liability in any way shape or form. While the MYAP merchant interface allows you to keep track of sales (pending, validated, etc.) physically making payments is strictly the merchant's turf. There are however no network fees so that may be a bonus if you're willing to take on the liability for the payments.

Hope that helps...

Have a good one,

Do you know what CJ's setup fee is?

Hey good morning Mike,

If I recall it was $2 or $3K to set up (USD) initially.

It may depend on the level of program you choose to go with... they offer a few different options. There is CJ Access, CJ Vantage, and BeFree which merged with some other type of program they had going - I was never a BeFree merchant so I don't know a lot about that. We were on CJ Access and essentially that meant we didn't have a dedicated rep helping to manage our program - we did it all in-house, while paying CJ 30% of every commission we paid our affiliates.

Hope that helps. If you have other questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers,
Liz

Hey Mike,

Did you ever end up launching a program of your own? What did you decide in the long run and what kind of affiliate program is it? How is it going?

Cheers,

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I'm not saying you should sign up there...Just check it out and maybe you'll like it. You can check out some track records over here.