‘Nother CJ commission, but so what?

by Sapphire (September 6, 2005)

Got a nice little CJ commission this weekend to go with all my other CJ commissions… which I’m not getting paid for. Yes, I’m going to keep kvetching about this until that shiny check makes it to my grubby little paws.

I reached the payout minimum for the first time at the end of July, which meant I should have been paid on August 20. As you know, if you work with CJ or read my earlier whine sessions, CJ decided to go insane for a few weeks around that time instead of paying people. Apparently, totally redesigning your system and having numerous critical errors resulting in the system being impossible for both merchants and affiliates to get into for weeks on end is smart business, especially when combined with a complete failure to let people know in clear terms just what’s going on.

Other people have actually seen money deducted from their balance. I can only imagine how upsetting that is. What’s really ticking me off, however, is that all of my commissions from July forward are being held in special categories so that they’re not really in my balance, even though they are. So CJ, by its own terms, doesn’t really owe me anything… even though it does.

I know everyone says they pay. I know they’ve been paying. That’s nice. I admit freely I’m only concerned about now, and about my check. Are they going to start routinely holding commissions without explanation for indefinite lengths of time? Because if that’s the case, they can manipulate your balance and keep some of it back - and earning interest for them - anytime they want. I’m pretty laid back about payout delays and stuff like that, normally. But the fact that this is a brilliant way to not pay people without exactly breaking their terms - that’s raising little red flags for me.

Another reason I’m not being patient is that nothing has been communicated to me. They do state in their FAQ that they can withhold your payments if it’s your first time getting a check - but they say nothing about simply withholding individual commissions so you never qualify for payment. This means that whenever they finally decide to credit my commissions to me, that’s when my waiting period starts as far as they’re concerned. And who knows how long they’ll want to hold it then, just for it being my first check? I’m a lot more patient when someone lets me know what’s happening, why it’s happening, and when I can expect it to be back to normal.

So, you’ll just have to pardon me while I remain skeptical and a tad pissy about the whole affair. I’ve emailed them - I’ll let you know if they respond.

Posted in Affiliate Marketing
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