Is Commission Junction a Scam Or Best Affiliate Network?

Is Commission Junction a Scam Or Best Affiliate Network?

Name: Commission Junction

Website: www.cj.com

Owner: Waleed Al-Afraqchi

Price: Free to join

Overall Rating: 85 Out of 100

Verdict: Legitimate

If you are looking for an honest review about Commission Junction, then you are at the right place.

We will appreciate you reading through the review before actually joining it. Because this review will give you all necessary details you need to know before joining it.

Been an affiliate for some years, I have witnessed a lot of growth in affiliate marketing industry.

Ever since then I’ve had my taste of good and bad on affiliate marketing, the bad side of it was when the affiliate company I was working for disappeared.

Please read our Commission Junction review to make a perfect decision.

 

What Is Commission Junction All About?


The company is an online advertising company managed by ValueClick and within the affiliate marketing industry.

It is one of the oldest and most widely used affiliate network available on the Internet today.

Currently, it is one of the largest affiliate networks in America and operating globally.

In addition, out of the top 500 retailers using third-party affiliate marketing software, about sixty-five percent is controlled by Commission Junction.

Based on this research, I hope this post will be able to show you how Commission Junction operates and what will you likely experience as a merchant or an affiliate working with them.

 

Affiliate (Publisher)


Registration is free to get started with Commission Junction. However, before you sign up you should have an optimized your website, get in some traffic, some knowledge about the stats of traffic, and your details of the target audience.

See The Screenshot Of Publisher Requirement Below.

After your application has approved, they will be assigned you with an affiliate marketing manager to help you conduct successful marketing campaign and advise you when things go wrong.

Note: Your affiliate marketing manager is just for your live campaigns to help you, not to train you on in the affiliate marketing business.

They offer three referral programs that can help you make money which include:

  • Pay Per Lead– Email Marketing/Lead Generation.This is related to acquiring prospects name or email address to create a list of customers. Most networks will pay you an average $ 1 – $5 per lead, but Commission Junction offers you an average $15 and sometimes above per sign up.
  • Pay Per Call– Telemarketing/Lead Generation. This is a way of using a smartphone to generate leads. It can be as simple as adding a mobile number field to sign up form using 2D barcodes.
  • Pay Per Sale– Commission fee on a per sale. This is the most popular and this can be considered the core to the success of Commission Junction.

 

Merchant (Advertiser)


For the merchant, you need to meet some requirements to be in their networks.

First, you have to pay the upfront fee just to get into the network. Merchants can be paying as much as $ 5000 USD just for an initiation fee.

For merchant approval, an existing $50,000 monthly gross sales revenues are part of the requirement.

See The Screenshot Of Merchant Below.

Typically, most networks charge average 7% in processing fee, but with Commission Junction, the merchant can be paying as high as 30% for a transaction fee. This is a very high cost for vendors.

 

What I Like About Commission Junction


  • Numerous Offers to Pick from– Apart from having a lot of merchants, Commission junction also provides you with a lot of offers. Apart from the normal Pay-Per-Lead, you can have a Pay-Per-Sale deal, or Pay-Per-Call offers the type of offers.
  • Established Merchants and Transparent Mode of operation – A lot of merchants on commission junction are more established which brings about the transparent mode of operation. Commission Junction has a particular green bar and 7days/3 month EPC (Earning per 1,000 Clicks) which gives you the idea of how you are performing within the Commission Junction network. This is really helpful because we are more encouraged who really cares about the performance of their affiliates.
  • A Lot of Affiliate Banners– Most of the merchant has a lot of banners and various marketing material hosted by Commission Junction. Most of the banners have the same thing displayed on them.
  • Personal Products Links–Products can be linked directly, but it does not apply to all of the merchants. You make more affiliate sells when your products are linked directly. This enables us to know the products that are doing well.
  • Centralized Forms of Payments– Commission Junction pay the commission themselves, not the merchants. This signifies that your earning are predictable and safe.

 

What I Don’t Like About Commission


  • Process involved in Advertisement – Unlike other sites where you are free to promote various affiliate packages you desire, in Commission Junction, you have to apply to the individual merchant for confirmation.
  • Temporary Advertiser Deactivation – Because of various bidding between merchant and Commission Junction, you may frequently get deactivation notifications. You get mad at them sometimes when you know that one of your advertisers was deactivated. This means you no longer get a commission from such advertisers.
  • An outdated form of Conversion Tracking – Commission Junction way of tracks are out of date. Although they make available API for third-party tracking and reporting integration, it will do affiliate a lot good if more details are provided to them.
  • Link Encryption and Protection – Commission Junction offers the option to completely hide your link which cause affiliate identity to be hidden and which make hijacking easier.
  • Limited Payment Option– Through my research, I discovered that this company does not have one method of payment, and I prefer PayPal for programs like this because I can request a refund.
  • They close Accounts– Commission Junction has closed many inactive accounts.

Should You Join Commission Junction?


If you are completely new with how affiliate marketing operates, then Commission Junction would be a perfect example of how most affiliate marketing companies in the industries operate.

Registering as a publisher is totally free and automatic without much disapproval.

As we have discussed above that Commission Junction has been around for some years and has been a good source of earning.

They also have their own share of downsides.

 

Final Thought: Is Commission Junction A Scam?


Commission Junction takes down accounts and some of their affiliate claims they steal commissions.

But I don’t think Commission Junction has any bad intentions toward their various affiliates.

The low or no response to their customer care service has been reported to frustrate some affiliates in the past.

I think it will be a good move if Commission Junction could hire people that will help them clear various.

An alternative

There’s is a whole other world of affiliate marketing program out there so don’t limit yourself to only Commission Junction.

There’s also a dedicated Internet Marketing Training Program to teach you how to succeed in the Internet marketing industry.

If you serious about to learn about affiliate marketing, I recommend you to check out My #1 Recommendation below!

You will be able to learn how to start you own online business for FREE. No credit card required.

I hope you enjoyed this post. I welcome and appreciate any questions, feedback, opinions or comments you may have to offer.

Please leave them in the comment box below!

Thanks for reading.

All the best!

-Maun

 


 

4 thoughts on “Is Commission Junction a Scam Or Best Affiliate Network?”

  1. Thanks for sharing this excellent review of Commission Junction. They are a great source for affiliate offers. I like them for the variety of offers available, as well as the ease of navigation through their website.

    Reply
    • Hi Kathy Keith, thanks for leaving a comment here. Definitely, Commission Junction is one of the most popular affiliate network out there. They have the most reliable merchant and a variety offer within their network
      The only is that they assigned you with an affiliate manager, but the affiliate manager is not for teaching you affiliate business.

      Reply

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