Carrie, have you ever asked a sponsor for any of the things on your list? I sure haven't. As far as I can see, it's the competition between sponsors over affiliates that gets them that way. Nobody told them to babysit affiliates. If it's bad business, then don't do it. Instead, I see sponsors that do these things, at least some of them, then come crying that affiliates are greedy and lazy. Nobody forced them to offer these things in the first place.

It's just like with payouts. Why do some programs get up to crazy payments like $125 per sign up or offer 80% of revenue? because they feel they have to go out of their way to compete over affiliates, and that's because like our friend LB said somewhere else, this is becoming a top-heavy industry with too many programs relying on the affiliate model and competing over a limited pool of affiliates.

My point about the name calling still stands though. If you think most affiliates are lazy and greedy, then why are you trying to pull in those very affiliates by saying on your program that you have $44 PSU, tons of free content and promo tools. These are just the things to call in those noobs and "freeloaders" among affiliates. Just focus on hi-converting sites and friendly support, and make sure that the sites you have truly do convert and retain and are among the best in their niche. As a "good" affiliate, it's all I need to know. Give me stats about conversions (real ones too, not fake), tell me why your sites are the best, explain that you have exclusive content or how you cover your niche exceptionally well - those are the things to pull me into a program and actually promote it. I would be perfectly happy with sponsors that only pay 40% (I have those, I even promote a sponsor on only 35% on revshare), as long as the site actually converts and retains, and I trust the program not to shave in any way or form.

Note, that all of the above should be done prior to getting the affiliate to sign up and send you traffic, IMHO. Once you have someone promoting you and sending you traffic, I think you should honor your agreement with them and keep up the partnership.