Commission Payments

[Matt Koshko]

There is constant talk about affiliates being paid their commissions. When you put forth the time, energy, and even money towards referring customers, your reward of a sale commission is justifiably earned. Nobody likes to be forced requesting payment nor have to wait 12-months.

 

Questions:

1. What is a reasonable time to wait after a sale is made to be paid your earned commission?
2. How often would you prefer to be paid earned commissions? (weekly, every other week, monthly...)
3. What methods are acceptable to receive such commissions? (Paypal (and similar), direct deposit, check...)

[Jerry Iannucci]

1. 30-60 days is reasonable. I know a lot of companies like to hold payments for 30 days in case of refunds and I am ok with that.

 

2. I like monthly payments. Less paper work to deal with at the end of the month.

 

3. Paypal is fine but getting a check in the mail is nice too.

 

 

[Lisa Martiniuk]

1) Agree with Jerry on that one. 30-60 days.......

 

2) Monthly, or a Minimum Set Fee

 

3) Paypal and Payza are Secure Payment Processors

 

PS Great job setting this up,

and look forward in the future to having option

for Annual Payment (I hate excessive paperwork..)

[Matt Koshko]

Glad you both agree on the 30-60 day time frame. The problem with charge-backs can be dangerous for large commissions - it allows some buffer. Other companies, such as Shopify, pay affiliate commissions much quicker - as short as 5 days after a customer pays an invoice. But, Shopify is in a more professional market with likely far less fear of charge-backs and similar problems.

 

In addition, glad you both agree on monthly commissions. The ever popular monthly subscription plans across the internet make it a perfect fit.

[johnmcclure]

I have joined a lot of programs and up graded.But I have never got a commission.

[Maria McCarthy]

Agreed. 30-60 days is reasonable. I think if you make your members wait 60 days though, for the members who don't already have strong downlines yet & who aren't already bringing in money daily, that can be a tough period of time to have to wait for the work you are doing today to pay off, so I think owners who make their members wait that long risk having certain members opt to promote others over them.

 

Right now, I pay out commissions daily (it says weekly on my sites) If I thought a member were not being honest with their signups in some way, I would probably hold their payments a little longer & if it became a big problem I might consider waiting 2 weeks or 30 days, site wide.... but so far I have not lost any money for paying out commissions quickly and I just feel better doing it that way. If a member brings in referrals and earns commissions one day... I know they have fresh ad copy that they are using and my site is fresh in their mind on that day... I want to pay them as soon as I can, while that ad copy and their enthusiasm is still fresh... I want to give them a reason to get up the next day and choose my site again...the momentum is already there to keep the ball rolling...making members wait too long for the money they earned can lead to promotional inertia.

[John Bell]

Holding payments is pointless in most cases.. I see a lot of sites hold payments for 14 days when they don't offer refunds.. the chargeback period for paypal is well beyond 14 days so why are you even holding it?  If you are holding payments to prevent chargebacks then have it be the actual time that chargebacks can be processed, or you're really not saving your business any money by doing it, you're just slowing down affiliates.  Also if your return rates are that high that you really have to hold every single payment so you don't lose money, then that is a big red flag for me.    ..that being said I really don't care, hold them for a year if you want - as long as I get it I'm happy, I'm not in immediate need so whatever is best for your business, go for it.. but have it at least make sense.

 

Honestly I don't really care about any of those things other than that I do ultimately get rewarded for my efforts.  If I'm leveraging my time, energy, and reputation to advertise a product then I deserve to get paid what is owed -- I don't care if it comes from paypal, check, or is paid in precious metals every 3rd year on the 12th friday -- It really doesn't matter to me as long as it is clearly stated beforehand, remains consistent, and actually happens.

[Kenny Kolijn]

I think 30 days or more is definitely acceptable. I don't mind waiting for a while to get paid, as long as I get paid and I don't have to go find out that I have commissions pending and beg to be paid. The site owner should be the one to pay out commissions after a clearly stated waiting period.For my banner advertising site I pay the commissions at the end of the next month. However,I'm thinking of changing it, there are some benefits to that in terms of "instant rewards" and encouraging members to keep going.

[arkforhad]

1) Agree with Jerry on that one. 30-60 days....... 2) Monthly, or a Minimum Set Fee 3) Paypal and Payza are Secure Payment Processors PS Great job setting this up, and look forward in the future to having option for Annual Payment (I hate excessive paperwork..)

[news]

 

There is constant talk about affiliates being paid their commissions. When you put forth the time, energy, and even money towards referring customers, your reward of a sale commission is justifiably earned. Nobody likes to be forced requesting payment nor have to wait 12-months.

 

Questions:

1. What is a reasonable time to wait after a sale is made to be paid your earned commission?
2. How often would you prefer to be paid earned commissions? (weekly, every other week, monthly...)
3. What methods are acceptable to receive such commissions? (Paypal (and similar), direct deposit, check...)

 

If there is no refund policy ,, should be paid straight away . If there is a refund policy in place we should be paid as soon as this time period has expired !! about payment ,, that all depends on fees charged and who pays them !!

[Matt Koshko]

If there is no refund policy ,, should be paid straight away . If there is a refund policy in place we should be paid as soon as this time period has expired !! about payment ,, that all depends on fees charged and who pays them !!

 

Having a "no refund" policy doesn't stop consumers from getting a refund. Paypal, one of the preferred methods, makes it somewhat easy for consumers to get refunds on non-tangible purchases, whether the refund is appropriate or not. Sellers, such as myself, have been hit with charge-backs/refunds through Paypal multiple times despite our proof that the product/service purchased was provided to the buyer and used by the buyer. Unfortunately with services there is no way for the buyer to return what they used out of our service - why would they be allowed a 100% refund? And usually in these cases the buyer/consumer doesn't bother to contact the seller about their lack of satisfaction.

 

To pay a commission immediately would be opening up problems. Financially it's not logical to pay immediately in the digital product/service market. Of course, if you run an ethical business and don't mislead consumers, you'll have a very small fraction of refunds/charge-backs but to pay a 50% commission on a sale that ends up being refunded? That's very costly.

[gnana]

30 days waiting period is OK if you are already PRO.  But it is tough for newbies who are getting started. 

I think when your refund rate is less, you can take that risk to pay members every week.

[xiqual]

1. Reasonable depends of sale channel used and commission structure program. 

From 15 to 45 days seems reasonable for me.

 

2. Multiple, residual and continuously pay for me, thanks

 

3. Started recently to receive it in Digital Coins as well; 

paypal, cb transfers, eBay payments are OK and welcome!