Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Affiliate Junkion, scam or truth. A real test - day one.

<<<<< EDIT: my latest blog on Affiliate Junktion is here - You can find more up to date information on Affiliate Junktion here.>>>>>>

There are allot of Affiliate programs these days, and most good bloggers are affiliate savvy as are readers. I decide to take the plunge and check out one thats surfaced recently.

The site is Affiliate Junktion. Affiliate Junktion reads too good to be true. It guarantees to make you $150 a day, free to join and free website. We all know that affiliate plans can never 'guarantee' anything. In an effort to find out if Affiliate Junktion is a fraud, I did a bit of research:

I found (from forums/blogs) that after you join with Affiliate Junktion, sure you might get a free website (more on that later), but you have to host it with the service provider in their scheme. For that you have to pay for a years hosting, anything from US$5 to $10 a month (depending on time of year specials - currently only $4.95). Thats US$60-$100. So much for free (although the do promise to re-reimburse you $75 to cover that)

Looking at the site it appears to be New Zealand based. A quick whois check show Affiliate Junktion is hosted by bluehost.com in the US but (care of their domain privacy). OK so its hosted in the US that doesn't tell us anything. I had a look at the affiliate program at bluehost.com and they pay out $65.00 per signup to affiliates. That looks like where Affiliate Junktion is making their money.

So I thought lets see what happen when I sign up and registered my details. I immediately received an instruction email showing that I would have to sign up at ipower.com. Something smelt rather fishy. Why host with bluehost.com and direct people to ipower.com to sign up? So I check out their site, seams legit and a quick look at their affiliate program might hold a clue as to how Affiliate Junktion makes money. ipower.com pays out US$100 per sign up, enough to cover the promised $75 reimbursement and $2 sign up fee Affiliate Junktion pays its members (as I understand it).

About the guarantee to make $150 a day, we'll I check out Affiliate Junktions terms and conditions and it has a waiver that basically says that Affiliate Junktion is not liable for the validity or truth in the content of its site. That way Affiliate Junktion can guarantee and promise all they like it doesn't mean anything. You should know that.

I decided to carry on with the sign up. Hey I could use a years hosting even if the Affiliate Junktion turned out to be a scheme.

Therein I think lies the secret. Affiliate Junktion gets you to sign up for web hosting. This is how it avoids being a pyramid scheme, because at the bottom level there is someone getting a product, and one that most people who are likely to come across Affiliate Junktion (those searching for affiliate schemes) can use.

There are other schemes like that. They are called multi-level marketing. Basically a pyramid scheme which make sure the bottom level never 'breaks down' leaving people with nothing to show for thier money, by providing a product or service. They then encourage their members to duplicate the process and find more members. They even have a name for it, it's called "the cycle of duplication".

Whatever the outcome, I've paid my money to Affiliate Junktion so time will tell if they suckered me. If it is real, ones things for sure, Affiliate Junktion is set to make a bundle and at some stage there will be allot of people saying "I've got my hosting, now what?"

The last thing I did today ways to send my sign up proof to Affiliate Junktion. They are supposed to respond and upload the 'magical' website which will make me $150 per day to my host account. In any case I'll post tomorrow with more... if your thinking about joining Affiliate Junktion, maybe hold off a few days, we'll soon see if Affiliate Junktion is truth or fraud.

32 comments:

robbie said...

Hi. Thank you for an informative blog. I too signed up for this and so far have received 2 mails with the words "greetings" and "do not reply to this mail" Well I am now 5 days on and still no welcome and please go to your new site. I have in fact sent a mail to complain and I got an identical mail to the one I received when I signed up. I will let you know if and when I hear anything.

Anonymous said...

Hi, sure they pay but the payout is in NZ dollars.

http://sg.geocities.com/xinderette/NZ.JPG

Sadly to say, I signed up too, paid bomb for advertising in Yahoo UK as instructed. Thought this was a good site. Well, an expensive lesson learnt, not to pay for any of these schemes again.

Anonymous said...

Hi I signed up some time ago now and it seems to be going quite well. They do pay their affiliates as they say they do and have heard of others receiving payment as well. Check out this forum, lots of good info http://affiliatejunktionreview.wordpress.com/
I phoned the CEO of affiliate junktion, since it seemed impossible to contact them by email, turns out they just upgraded their support center and you can contact them through there:
http://www.affiliatejunktion.com/supportcenter/client/index.php

Hope it helps guys! Let me know how you are going with the program.

Anonymous said...

Great Blog - we need more people doing the same. I thought it was too good to be true. (still reading your experiences though) By the way you are #4 when googling affiliate.junktion AND scam.

I am currently with Global Domains and you have given me an idea - to blog my results which were not half bad. I live in Argentina and domain names are free (a government service) though complicated to sign up for. Hosting costs 15 dollars minimum. I got GDI and all they promise is true. It's 10 p/mo. I had made that back the first month. There are some catches for bonus money but the service is excellent.
I am a web designer but I wanted to check out the "web builder" so I built this sight in an hour. gdisites.com - Simple to use? Yes. But I could do better at home and using FTP to upload it (which is supported by GDI) You can expect my site to change as I do some java wand work later. Word to the wise...
If you want to 'join' anything, Google the name and the word 'scam' or 'nightmare' to find blogs like tekno's here. Robert@gdisites.com

Anonymous said...

Hi, great to read your experiences with affliate junktion. i too signed up 3 weeks ago and followed the instructions to 'build' my site but it actually is another affliate junktion sale page. am holding off on signing up with the yahoo one as i originally thought having my site up was going to be the start of seeing some of my returns! instead it seems like one has to fork out more and the $75 refund still hasn't appeared after the signup...thanks all.

Anonymous said...

hi gosh

well i signed in only yesterday and guess what nothing i cant even go the the website anymore total ripe off people and company i have learnt my lesson big time ..

www.affiliatejunktion.com

its all liesssssss

Anonymous said...

hi ,to everyone
i think the affiliate junction ends up by only exausting your resources instead of filling i....
thank for all the information and saving me fom this expenses....
take care

Anonymous said...

Hi tekno
thanks for the information about this scam programme. i also singed upfor the scam and actually paid $109 for one year hosting. i was given instruction on what to do to start the the scam programme. in the process I had a promlem and wanted to talk to them via email. so far i have written over 20 email with the same answer telling me that i go to FAQ can you imagine. I real regret havin thrown away my shillings just like that. by the way i am a kenyan in east africa and here the dolla changes ksh70 to one dollar. imagine how much i lost. let us all raise up against this get rich quick scams whose only effort is to eat our money. it is even sickning to see them advertising everywhere shame on them

Anonymous said...

Hi, Im from India, Bangalore and new to all these technical stuff. But some days ago, affiliate junktion caught my attention and I thought I would give it a go.. I just found the time today and thought would do a bit of homework on them before signing up and landed on this blog site. After going through your reviews, Im not sure whether to go for this or not.. any suggestions??

Tekno Boy said...

@swathi

Unless you already an expert in Google Adwords, or are the type of person who is willing to become a master at online advertising, Affiliate Junktion is not for you. The problem with Affiliate Junktion is that it's too hard for most people to get enough (cheap) clicks to make a profit.

I decided I'm going to review the system once again in case I missed something (now that I have learnt more about google adwords). Feel free to come back to this blog in a few days to see what I say about Affiliate Junktion. This is about the most genuine and indepent information you will get on Affiliate Junktion because most people just say good things so that you sign up with their link. Here I try to give the absolute truth.

Anonymous said...

I have signed-up with Affiliate Junktion, had my site created by IPower and forwarded the information to webdesign @ affiliatjunction as instructed, but in vein. They keep on refering me to their support centre which DOES NOT EXIST. It is now already days in which I am trying to make contact, without any success.

Do not expect much.

Shihab Khan said...

Hi Guys,
Thank you for the valuable information. tekno, can you give more information about Affiliate junktion? I was thinking to join but at last I tried to google about their program I found your blog. Well, when I was reading the testimonials, seemed it is real. And really thankfull for the information about google adwords. Did they say that the Advertising in Yahoo and Google is free? Thanks again..plz give me more information..

Tekno Boy said...

@Shihab Khan. No I'm afraid advertising in google or Yahoo is not free. They simply offer a free credit, but you can get that just about anywhere. Basically my experience with Affiliate Junktion was: It cost more to advertise the program than I was able to earn with it. I made a loss.

Try reading this blog of mine:
http://teknoboy.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

Anonymous said...

So .. in short, from reading the above comments, we can safely say that Affiliate Junktion is a BIG SCAM.

Avoid it at any costs.

Anonymous said...

Great site tekno_boy.
I signed up to a programme without doing research and lost $5000 US!
"If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't true!"
Keep up the good work

samsmiles

Tekno Boy said...

Would you believe I might be a big Hypocrite, but it turns out with some advice I started making money with Affiliate Junktion, it might not be a scam after all.

I just have to see if I actually get paid. You can find the latest info here:
http://teknoboy.blogspot.com/2008/04/affiliate-junktion-scam-test-re-loaded.html

Anonymous said...

i am from bangalore signed up with affiliate junktion 15 days back, not heard anything about my website, only ended up paying $95 for my hosting with omnis network which they directed,still expecting something good to happen
ramesh

Unknown said...

I just signed up 4 days ago and still waiting for the activation of my account. I'm directed to reply "Confirmed email" but also get a standard response, nothing else happened.

After reading your comments I went back to Ipower and asked for refund. I hope they will refund my payment through mastercard.

Thanks for the information.

Anonymous said...

Hey Tekno Boy...yes i am assuming that even if you dont get paid the 75 usd you still have a domain name AND hosting for a year so you can create your own site, use clickbank links do product revies, drive traffic to your site and make bundles of money.

Just the affiliatejunktion thing is a scam.

Too bad you cant make lawsuits.

Tekno Boy said...

@diggy -i have to reserve my judgement on weather Affiliate Junktion is a scam or not, because now my account is increasing more than my ad spend.

I never managed to make money with clickbank (not one sale). So maybe Affiliat Juntion might not be a scam after all... will continue to post my results

Anonymous said...

One question tekno-boy. Why does affiliate junktion need to ask for the security number of my visa card? Can't I just give them the number without giving them the security number of my visa card? Thanks!

Unknown said...

affiliate junktion is a big time scam online, initially you will be very happy seeing the conversions, but they will only approve 25% 30% of your total leads, by the time your recieve peanut payments you would have spent 4 times of it thourgh your credit card for advertising. I joined affiliate junktion and now I am literally broke.

Tekno Boy said...

Dear Anonymous, I have never been asked for a credit card number by Affiliate Junktion. Affiliate Junktions information is free.

Don't get scammed. Be aware of phishing experts sending you to a bogus site. The official sites for affiliate junktion are:
Affiliate Junktion

You may also be directed by Affiliate Junktion these legitimate web host providers:
Omnis
iPower

Unknown said...

Hello Friends, this is my story,

On 17th May I signed with Ipower paying $59 and got my webpage from AJ after 10 days, I was excited about making thousands of dollars from home, I uploaded my webpage to the domain which i purchased from IPower and my website started running, as per the AJ instruction i used ppc programs of google, yahoo etc and cost per click was very normal just about 5 to 10 cents for every click and I was getting good sign ups, on average when i spend about $20, my AJ account used to display about NZD70, when I did the conversion i found to be making some profit, I started in the month of may, since AJ had the policy of all accounts need to be active for 45 days i could not get the payment from AJ in May nor in June, and got the next rule that 60 days minimum payment period, I was so excited to see by the mid of august my total was about NZD 1535, I was so thrilled because my total expense was about $610 and still I am on the profit side, this month I got a payment from AJ only for NZD 352, out of NZD 1535 paid only NZD 352, and balance is 0, I will not get paid for the rest because they most of your leads where unsubribed or cancelled and it is impossible for them to check every lead but on percentage wise they calculate, how ridiculous, I do not know what to do, I spent about $59 for Ipower and $610 for advertising, that too my ppc cost was so low, and got paid only NZD 352 which is less than quarter compared to my total expense, five months of effort, my savings everyting is gone, even after earning NZD1535 got paid only NZD 352 this is not fair, so in the in the initial stages you will be very happy, seeing conversions, but you will not be aware of the scam behind it. Only AJ makes money, all the people with dream of making money online through AJ lose all the money
this is my experience,
ramesh

vishal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tekno Boy said...

Vishal,

Don't fret too much, I have so far been paid twice.

The thing to remember is, don't pay more than $0.04 cents per click, build keyword lists of 500+ and don't over spend because it takes two months before the commission arrives.

I am making money with Affiliate Junktion and I two want to increase it as fast as possible, but don't over extend yourself, give it a couple of months to grow.

Good luck

Anonymous said...

HI all,
I have been trying to learn the ins and outs of internet marketing for a few months and still having problems, So I found affiliate junktion just yesturday. I was seconds away from purchasing when I found your blog. THANK YOU! kind of difficult to make a go at this but I am determined. And with honest people like all of you it is very helpful.
Thanks Again!

Anonymous said...

hello,

me akash from nasik india and i have paid affiliate junktion and got taken the hosting and domain from new affiliate junkttion hosting and mine site is ready now i got site also which is : www.onlineearning.biz
i have invested in adword also and getting good response last month i got payment on mine paypal account too so dont think so much ....

Anonymous said...

hi guys
i was just going through this affiliatejunktion site and i must say i was impressed.but one thing iam still confused about is how can they pay 2$ per free signup.is their conversion rate so good or is it pure scam.also tell me is their any realistic chance of making 150$ per day and what is the minimum payout.anyone who has already jumped into this can help me out.

Anonymous said...

hey guy what is this about getting some free yahoo and google advertising credits.how long does this last(duration).and does it bring any new visitors at all.and if so how many and for how many days.can anyone who has recently joined tell on an average how many signup's u get in ur first month without spending a dime other than the joining fee of 97$.

Tekno Boy said...

Regarding the free advertising from Google and Yahoo, its genuine, you get a $50 credit for them because they want you to carry on using the service. If you make sure you use alot of keywords (more than 2,000) and a pay per click of 0.03c then you should get 1666 clicks for $50. How many $1 signups you get will be quite a low %, but you only need 50 from 1666 to break even.

Making $150 a day with Affiliate Junktion will take a bit of time and effort, you will need to build it up.

As always the best info about it all is here

Anonymous said...

I haven't tried the site out myself, but from the looks of it, it's a scam. For the most part any site promising to make you money is a scam. They all pretend to be ppc management platforms that allow you to create sites and generate income, but it's just an elaborate scam designed to encourage you to keep putting money in to get money out, but you don't ever make enough to cover the money you put in. I've read about similar ones before.