For well over a year I was a supremely happy Liberator.com affiliate.
I was happy not only because my readers seemed to enjoy — judging by the number of purchases– Liberator’s affiliate banners, but also because I have adored every one of their products that I’ve tried. The Zeppelin? Heavenly. The Esse? Brilliant. And the Throe? If possible, I’ll take it to my grave.
So it was with extreme pleasure that I watched the dollars add up. Every time I logged into my affiliate account I imagined how much fun the items’ new owners were having and a happy jolt passed from brain to cunt.
Um. Surely I’m not the only one who gets slightly excited by this sort of thing?
Eventually enough dollars accumulated that I reached Liberator’s very high pay-out amount. Some affiliate programs issue payments at $50 or $100; Liberator requires $200 before they’ll pay. Is this because the products tend to be pretty pricey? Or because they figure that few will stick with the program long enough to earn that much? I don’t know, but since I’d reached the level without undue fuss I didn’t much worry. I gleefully clicked Liberator’s “Pay Me Now” button and waited for my miniature windfall.
Almost immediately I began to hear murmurings that all was not well in the land of water-resistant sex positioning furniture. “They’re delaying payments,” one rumor went. “The whole program is frozen,” said another, and my previous confidence began slipping. I fired off an email to the company requesting information. It went unanswered. More rumors reached my ears. Am I ever going to get paid, I wondered, realizing that by then it had been many more days than one might reasonably expect for a check to wing its way from Atlanta to the Upper Midwest. Does anyone have a number for their main office, I asked via Twitter, and Twitter once again proved itself to be capable of answering my every question.
Reader, I called them. Immediately I was connected to someone who was not, by her own admission, in charge of the program. She was, however, quite chatty. “We’re a couple months behind,” she told me frankly. “We’re paying the big guys — the ones we owe hundreds or thousands of dollars to — first. The little guys like you are seeing their payments delayed.”
Well that’s hardly fair, quoth I.
“Not much I can do about it,” she said, and that’s when I asked to speak to her boss. Of course she wasn’t around; I was encouraged to email her (I already have, I pointed out to no avail), and the conversation was over. Imagine my surprise when not even five minutes later my phone rang and on the other end I found the head of the affiliate program herself.
“Problems? In our program? Delays in payments? Of course not,” she said, and went on to explain fourteen ways to Sunday how they were just transitioning over to a new program and while payments might seem ever so slightly delayed in my perception, in reality everything was perfectly, glowingly fine. Just fine. In fact things were so fine that they’d decided to lower the pay-out amount from $200 to just $100.
Hm, I said. So might I have my check?
“Of course!” she gushed. “We’ll put it in the mail today!”
And the check did indeed arrive in the exact number of days one might expect for a missive sent from Liberator corporate headquarters. Only one problem. The check was not for two-hundred-plus dollars. Instead it was for roughly 70% of that amount.
What gives? I asked in an email to the head of the program. I earned twice the amount of your current payout, you promised to pay me, and this is what you send?
“You are so very wrong!” she said. “You earned over $200 but not all of that was eligible to be paid! You need to sell more in order to get your $200, you silly girl you!” And she continued on with an explanation I hardly heard due to a massive case of annoyance.
While I love Liberator products, I don’t love having to wonder if I’m going to get paid. Not even a little tiny bit. So how do I express my love without supporting an affiliate program which has (shall we say) issues? Here’s how: I’m sending you to Amazon, which is the best of both worlds. You get fabulous Liberator products (if you so desire) and I get paid.
Doesn’t get much better than that.
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Sending a big wet kiss and my thanks to Bacchus from ErosBlog who provided invaluable advice on the topic of affiliate programs and their foibles.
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Read more below the cut…
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http://consumerist.com
This sounds like the kind of thing they might be able to help with. Or at least give very good advice. Even if you don’t need either help OR advice, it would be appreciated information for the consumers of that site.
Fabulous post. In the “real world”, most businesses still have to pay for advertising – what a boon then, to only have to pay for advertising that is effective, which is what an affiliate program is. And to not even do that? Dishonest, and I don’t care how good the product is, it does speak to how their customer service might be with people who buy the products as well.
Well that’s not fun. I’ve been through a similar experience with a different high-profile company and saw over $150 vanish into thin air, my questions unanswered, and my account bluntly and completely deleted the day after I made my payout request.
Apparently, the company felt that because I, among others, voluntarily left the company, they didn’t have to pay their affiliate money out. One co-worker had a similar run of it, and had to threaten legalities to get hers. The whole experience left such a bad taste in my mouth I let it go. I have my screenshot, they know what they did, and I know in time those dishonest practices will come back to bite em in the ass.
I think I know this high-profile company of which you speak. :)
that is completely irritating and of course unfair. i find myself reading that fine print over and over because they seem to create loop holes for themselves.
Sorry to hear that happened with you. I toured the Liberator factory over a year ago and had a great experience. The VP that I met, though, is no longer with the company. Things must be downhill.
Hi Everyone,
Like the author rightfully noticed, she was much irritated with the situation and did not hear the explanation due to this fact. When you sign up for Liberator affiliate program, it clearly states that to receive a payout you need to reach $100.00 in earnings and after you reach the amount, Liberator will take up to 30 days to issue the check to ensure the correct amount of the payment. After all, we live in the real world and products get returned as well as other situations occur.
After we issue a check, your balance clears to $0.00 (or whatever is left after the payment sum is deducted) and you keep accumulating earnings until you reach another $100.00 and get another check issued.
While I understand the frustration of the author, I should point out that it is a standard practice in the industry and even Google takes 30 days to issue a payment after you reach $100.00 (has anyone ever used AdSense?). To be fair, Liberator has not yet reached the Google level and cannot do better that the biggest company in the world!:-)
To all affiliates out there (not only Liberator’s): please read your affiliate agreement when you sign up for ANY program. Few people do it (who really reads that stuff, right?). Due to affiliates like that Liberator was possibly looking to increase payout minimum to $200 instead of $100 but it hasn’t been approved as of now.
I hope that the author of this article stays true to her concept of honest feedback and will let this reply stay on the blog. As a final note, the author’s unpaid balance as of last check was under $50 and this is what sparked the whole storm…
Are checks issued in the exact amounts owed, or only in multiples of $100?
If it’s the latter, you’re saying “screw you” to affiliates whose earnings aren’t nice round sums, based on the other information in your comment.
Also, you mentions returns, in discussing the 30 day window to issue checks.
…Returns ought not to count against your affiliates! What the hell? Affiliates aren’t responsible for customer satisfaction, and that’s not why you’re paying them. If merchandise bought through an affiliate link is returned, it’s a non-issue in affiliate terms. Their role is a form of advertising and guiding customers your way – not production, design, customer service, or any of the other duties a company has to its customers.
While I’m very, very glad to not see another corporate canned non-answer, you haven’t adequately addressed why AAG wasn’t paid the full amount owed to her.
The agreement *was* $200 and has recently been changed to $100. I reached the $100 point by mid-December 2009. By your logic I should have been paid that amount by the end of January 2010.
Instead I had to email twice and call before you agreed to send a check. Please see screenshots above.
While I certainly was irritated after hearing tales of late/slow payments, I wasn’t irritated enough that my bullshit detectors shut off.
As usual, your problem solving skills are flawless. It sucks that you had trouble getting your payment, but it seems you always know what cards to play to win the hand.
Unlike many other companies referred to by readers in comments above, Liberator is not ignoring affiliate feedback and complaints/requests. I think it earns us a plus somewhere :-)
I haven’t earned any money yet from my Liberator Affiliate but will definitely keep both your post and the resulting response in mind for the future.
Thanks for the info, both AAG and Liberator. I am a consumer who takes recommendations very seriously, and also demands quality and integrity from the products I buy.
I had never even heard about Liberator products until I read about them on this blog. They seem really wonderful, and I am thinking about treating myself to both the Esse and the Throe!!
AAG’s reviews have *definitely* influenced my desire to purchase them. Even though I know there is a financial incentive here for AAG, I have taken and been happy with AAG’s recommendations for products in the past, so I trust them!! And I also want to support her ability to write and review/recommend great products.
So, Liberator, please don’t downplay the importance of individuals in selling your products, and be fair. You will be rewarded with many customers that way.
And, AAG, please keep on backing up great products/companies.
The thing (point) that both AAG and Liberator is missing here is: that AAG continues to promote a company that “she feels” has been less than fair with her. The rest of us can read and choose to do business with “Liberator”. I personally would not. Can you imagine trying to get a refund for a broken or damaged good from a company who chooses to be unfair with their business partners?
The whole situation stinks. Perhaps when we get screwed, shouldn’t we run the other way? And not help invite others to get screwed as well?
Unless something changes radically, aab, you’ll see no more banner ads from me. I did include a link in this piece with my affiliate code attached. If, after reading the piece, you care to buy through that link, you will know exactly what you’re getting into.
I think this is a key reason why we need a third party affiliate management system, where individual companies can set their percentage discount/paybacks and tracking code method, with the third party standardizing payment and payment times. Someone should invent it.
Essentially, when one becomes an affiliate, what you are agreeing to is results-based consignment advertising. The company is asking the blogger to trust them and promote their products, not even on the premise that they WILL make money, but on the premise that they MAY make money, if the stars are aligned properly, and readers have some extra cash kicking around. To take this big a leap of faith and experience – at the least – conflicting stories when looking to collect on some honestly-earned cash tends to leave a bad taste in one’s mouth.
And xtine, while I agree with you in principle, the reality of it is that returns do have to count against earnings, else a less honest affiliate may have their buddies buy, say, $500 worth of products and return them a few times. It’d essentially be stealing money, and you can’t track customers the way you can track IP addresses.
Agreed. Returns can’t count.
However, did you read Liberator’s paragraph (above) about returns? They’ll BILL YOU for returns made after they write the check?
Bwahahahhahahaaha.
Yeah. Good luck with that one.
Peeps, as of today, we live in the world where everyone has the freedom to decide who to do business with and who not to. While we had a delay in payments due to staff changes in Liberator (yes, we are all human and have problems, imagine that!), we apologized for it repeatedly to the author personally over the phone and caught up with the payment leaving the under $100 balance to be paid off once she reaches the minimum again.
As far as the minimum balance, these are the terms she accepted when joining the program. I wasn’t with Liberator when the author joined but can for sure tell you that ANY company reserves the rights to make changes to their affiliate terms over time. Do I understand correctly that now the author is complaining about the past change from $200 minimum to $100???
Thank you everyone for your comments, honest opinions and in some cases understanding of fair policies and the strive to be fair. Bottom line: if you do not like our terms, please do not join us as an affiliate and be aware that we have the right to terminate any affiliate at any time for any reason as we also have the free right to choose who to do business with.
To those affiliates who currently work with us, or to our customers, please feel free to contact me personally with FAIR complaints at socialmedia@liberator.com. I cannot promise every issue solved over night (if there is any) but I CAN promise that I will listen to you, respect your opinion and address it immediately on personal level.
Peace.
I’m not complaining about the step down from $200 to $100. Not at all. I’m just stating it as a fact.
Also, this is the first time you’ve admitted that there was any delay in payments. Thank you for that!
I’ve got to say that the way you’ve responded to this post makes you sound angry and defensive. Probably not the best way to attract future affiliates and customers.
Is that really what you want?
I just want you to know that because of this shady business, I am no longer planning to purchase from Liberator. I was a potential customer.
That is too bad, Patience. Try Amazon, maybe?
I have had problems getting my affiliate payout from a different company and it’s no fun.
Here’s the thing that everyone seems to be missing. AAG mentioned that she requested her payout when her account showed that she was owed over $200 and yet, everyone seems hung up on the fact that recently the program changed to $100 payout and that her $205.00 payout didn’t show up, that she received a check for about 70% of that, which is about $140 with no explanation as to 1. where the balance was and 2. a reasonable explanation as to why the late payout and 3. the unprofessionalism involved with Liberator as to unanswered emails.
I realized that less than 2% of sales of any company come from their affiliate programs. However, that doesn’t give the affiliate owners permission to treat their affiliates, basically people who have volunteered to be sales people for them, like crap. I don’t care how good of a product someone makes if you are going to shoot your affiliates in the foot, refuse to do payouts, not answer their questions, etc. they are going to let people know. It’s how things work. No company is going to go out of business if they loose their affiliates, but at the same time, how the affiliates are run and how their affiliates are treated tells the world a good deal about how the company is run and how much they really do care about people.