Do You Read The T.O.S Of Affiliate Programs When You Join Them?

[Lee]

Just curious about this i know i dont read all of the ones i join and i know i should

Wondered what makes you read the TOS of a specific sponsor and not others?

For me i think as long as the sponsor has been around for a fair amount of time i generally skip over the TOS :eek:

So does everyone else here read the TOS or not when they join a new affiliate program?

Regards,

Lee

[AusCoding Allan]

Read it down to the letter, call me strange but I've always been one for not signing something (digitally or otherwise) unless I've read it. Too many dodgy employment contracts out there.

Cheers,

Allan

[rick]

I always do, but have read horror stories on other boards of people who didn't and it cost them a lot of money.

Some sponsors are real bastards and put things in tiny print and you're not aware of it until you're nailed.

[Dzinerbear]

I haven't for the most part. Although when joining an AEN type situation I would read everything to make sure I got their rules straight on how many pictures a gallery needed, how many banners you were allowed etc.

But we should be reading (and trying to understand this stuff). I've just dealt with a webmaster who put his sites on a freehost. The freehost then took the code associated with his MANcheck enter button and altered it so it created a 404 error type situation, and then the free host was offering the surfer their stuff. The webmaster couldn't see this problem because I guess there was some kind of a filter preventing traffic from within his country or from his IP address from seeing this.

Essentially, they were stealing almost all of his traffic. I had to point out to him that it states in the free hosts TOS that they have the right to alter your pages at any time and they don't have to send the traffic where you want it to go. The only thing they HAVE to do is provide him with 50 mb of web space, and even that's up for altering at any time they see fit.

So, while this isn't related to sponsors per se, this does show that if you don't read a TOS, you could be in for an interesting ride and you could be losing a lot of traffic and money.

Cheers,
Michael

[Gary-Alan]

I do these days since I did a stupid thing about 5 years ago.

I did think, at the time, all TOS were made the same, and I only worked with companies that I knew the owners so if something did go wrong I could call. I should have known better.

I had one sponsor that converted on a small amount of niche traffic and I was sending. I just missed the $100 threshiold for payouts the first couple of periods and let the account accumulate.

When I did hit the threshold in the third or fourth period, I recieved a check for a smaller amount than expected. When I inquired, I was pointed to the TOS. It basically said if I didn't make the minimum payout in one given period that all funds would not accumulate and would not be paid.

As much as I wanted to scream and yell, I couldn't... well I didn't but I could have LOL I had no choice but to smack myself in the head and move on. It was right there in the TOS.

It can be boring and it can be time consuming, but I think reading the TOS (especially for a company you don't know) is extremely important.

Gary-Alan

[basschick]

yes, i do. there are a few programs out there that don't allow text linking, only approved banners. that is a good thing to know!

also some programs don't pay for checks or for non u.s. countries. one program won't pay you at all if your conversions aren't what they expect.

reading the terms makes it more likely you won't break them and that the program is right for you.

[rick]

Some take the chargeback fees plus your profit from your check, too. I know of someone that happened to recently

[Fister]

Yes, I read them all. As well as wanting to know how the sponsor pays out, I also want to see what restrictions they have on marketing tools and methods.