Another sponsor dumping affiliates?

[lassiter]

It appears that Topbucks cancelled my affiliate account after several years. No idea why, as they won't respond to emails or icq, but I guess non-productivity might be a reason. I haven't made a sale from 'em in over a year. Still, they're one of those long-timers where I have so many obscure links all over the place that pulling 'em will be like laser hair removal - one link at a time...

Between sponsors going under, some staying "alive" but ending member-side or affiliate updates, and some outright cancelling affiliate accounts (the bandwidth on those FHGs must really be a major cost) - it's not been a good year so far. Anyone else having to redo a lot of old-time sponsor links?

[kenny]

Topbucks is a solid company. They have been around forever and I don't think they're in the business of alienating affilates. There is probably a sound reason or prehaps a misunderstanding.


You shouldn't have a problem contacting them via ICQ. Anyway I'm sure they'll find this thread.

[plateman]

I know they are raising there min payouts way up, 200.00 min for epass and 100 for checks

i take that as they want full time promoters and higher traffic webmasters

[Ramster]

Originally Posted by plateman

I know they are raising there min payouts way up, 200.00 min for epass and 100 for checks

i take that as they want full time promoters and higher traffic webmasters

It's horrible when sponsors do that. I got a check Monday for $230.81 (still have the stub) that says:
Invoice 15-Aug-06 $104.86
Invoice 15-Sep-07 $125.95

I assume the min payout must be $200 since they've owed me $100 for 2 years. Nowhere in the stats/admin areea is there a min payout area to adjust it.

Now you're also probably wondering why the fuck did it take them this long to send me the check? I moved in July 07 and had to send them my new address 3 different times. AND they asked me to update the address again about a month ago when I emailed them to say I ALREADY DID!!

[TopBucks Lilit]

Originally Posted by Ramster

It's horrible when sponsors do that. I got a check Monday for $230.81 (still have the stub) that says:
Invoice 15-Aug-06 $104.86
Invoice 15-Sep-07 $125.95

I assume the min payout must be $200 since they've owed me $100 for 2 years. Nowhere in the stats/admin areea is there a min payout area to adjust it.

Now you're also probably wondering why the fuck did it take them this long to send me the check? I moved in July 07 and had to send them my new address 3 different times. AND they asked me to update the address again about a month ago when I emailed them to say I ALREADY DID!!

Hi Ramster!

If you login in your webmaster admin you'll find a tab Edit Info on the top of the page. If you click this tab you'll see your minimum payment amount directly editable in Payment Information section. Or as a second option you can contact one of our representatives to have them edit your account information.

We have never had a late payment and if we owed you anything the only possible reason for that would be that you didn't reach your minimum payout on account.

Regarding updating your address - sometimes systems get screwed up and the changes won't go through, sometimes due to post office failures we get webmaster checks bounced back even if they were sent to a correct address. I don't know what exactly was the reason for asking for your address 3 times, but I'm more than sure the only goal of that was making sure that you'll receive your payment.

[Ramster]

Originally Posted by TopBucks Lilit

Hi Ramster!

If you login in your webmaster admin you'll find a tab Edit Info on the top of the page. If you click this tab you'll see your minimum payment amount directly editable in Payment Information section. Or as a second option you can contact one of our representatives to have them edit your account information.

We have never had a late payment and if we owed you anything the only possible reason for that would be that you didn't reach your minimum payout on account.

Regarding updating your address - sometimes systems get screwed up and the changes won't go through, sometimes due to post office failures we get webmaster checks bounced back even if they were sent to a correct address. I don't know what exactly was the reason for asking for your address 3 times, but I'm more than sure the only goal of that was making sure that you'll receive your payment.

Thanks for the info but it wasn't you guys I was talking about, different sponsor.

But now that I look my account does not work, I cannot log in. I did a forget password to see if I was in the system and it sent me the info but it does not work. Account 8430. Not that it's a big deal, I sent 532 hits last month but still 532 hits doesn't seem "inactive" to me.

[Allfetish]

Originally Posted by plateman

I know they are raising there min payouts way up, 200.00 min for epass and 100 for checks

i take that as they want full time promoters and higher traffic webmasters

This is why I no longer sign up for sponsors with minimums above $50 who are not ccbill/verotel.

Also I don't know about others but I consider an account which gets sent 1 click a month active. Even one click could be a sale. And if a company deactivates my account for any reason other than fraud on my part, i make note of them, and the owners, then I make sure to never promote anything they run or even touch again, ever.

Will topbucks be redirecting hits sent from "inactive" accounts which will not get credit for any sales made back to the former affiliates site or the referring page from which the click was sent?

[SheepGuy]

Originally Posted by Allfetish

This is why I no longer sign up for sponsors with minimums above $50 who are not ccbill/verotel.

Also I don't know about others but I consider an account which gets sent 1 click a month active. Even one click could be a sale. And if a company deactivates my account for any reason other than fraud on my part, i make note of them, and the owners, then I make sure to never promote anything they run or even touch again, ever.

Will topbucks be redirecting hits sent from "inactive" accounts which will not get credit for any sales made back to the former affiliates site or the referring page from which the click was sent?

And a damn good question. I'd like to hear that the answer is no, but in the name of efficiency and all of that paperwork the megasites have to do, I doubt Ill hear what I'd like to hear.

[Useless]

Originally Posted by sleeper

Topbucks is a solid company. They have been around forever and I don't think they're in the business of alienating affilates. There is probably a sound reason or prehaps a misunderstanding.

If Lassiter was a newbie webmaster, your response would be appropriate. But he's not. And as plateman stated, TopBucks is definitely making changes.

[Maj. Stress]

Looks like my account got closed too. Not that I really care. I have some links up that I will pull if and when I find them. I quit activley promoting them a few years ago.

[Mr Spock]

Strange , my account still seems active and I don't actively send them traffic anymore

[plateman]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

If Lassiter was a newbie webmaster, your response would be appropriate. But he's not. And as plateman stated, TopBucks is definitely making changes.

they been for a time been making changes IMO

[kenny]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

If Lassiter was a newbie webmaster, your response would be appropriate. But he's not. And as plateman stated, TopBucks is definitely making changes.

I don't know Lassiter and I did not mean to sound inappropriate..

I based my answer upon what I do know.

1) I've been with Topbucks since 2001.

2) I have two accounts with one not being very active.

3) I have never encountered a situation in all these years where Topbucks didn't go out of their way for affilates.


Yes, I have noticed the minimum payout increases and I do not believe that is a signal of serious change in the direction of deleting of affilates.


I could be wrong. I could wake up tomorrow and have an account(s) closed.

With that said, I hope you guys get your issues resolved.

[lassiter]

Originally Posted by sleeper

I don't know Lassiter and I did not mean to sound inappropriate.

No offense taken.

But...

They have been around forever and I don't think they're in the business of alienating affilates.

Not until now, anyway.

You shouldn't have a problem contacting them via ICQ.

You're right, I shouldn't. And yet, I do.

[Greenguy]

Originally Posted by lassiter

...You're right, I shouldn't. And yet, I do.

Nayda/Lilit's ICQ is 400-525-519

She replied a minute after I sent her the message about this thread, so I assume we'll here from her shortly.

[Cleo]

Strange, my login doesn't work but the password retrieval sends me my login info.

I don't think I have any current links to them anyplace anyway so it really doesn't matter.

[dunc]

Originally Posted by Cleo

Strange, my login doesn't work but the password retrieval sends me my login info.

Same here... wierd, ah well |smurf|

[tickler]

Works for me and I haven't really pushed them for years.

Actually had a little email chat with the rep lately about why I wasn't sending much traffic anymore. Gave her 4 reasons, and she couldn't give me any good answers.

Nothing in their forum about dropping affiliates.
Shit, $100 in pre-checked X-sales below the submit button.

[lassiter]

Originally Posted by tickler

Nothing in their forum about dropping affiliates.

Anyone dropped wouldn't be able to get into the forum to mention it.

Shit, $100 in pre-checked X-sales below the submit button.

Well, that might partially explain the drop in sales.

[TopBucks Lilit]

Hello Guys!

We performed database clean up and inactive accounts with e-mails bouncing back were deactivated. There was a problem with our system sorting out active and inactive accounts and many active accounts got flagged as inactive. This was the only possible way to actually filter out which accouts are in use and permanently move them to the active group assuming that the webmasters whose accounts were deactivated would contact us and ask to reactivate the accounts.

We apologize for any inconveniences it might cause.

Feell free to hit me or other TopBucks reps up to have your accounts reactivated.

Thanks,

[lassiter]

Originally Posted by TopBucks Lilit

This was the only possible way to actually filter out which accouts are in use and permanently move them to the active group assuming that the webmasters whose accounts were deactivated would contact us and ask to reactivate the accounts.

Very clever, I guess. At any rate, I emailed my "Account Representative," Nadya, on Monday, and followed up to "support at topbucks.com" and an ICQ to 168289515 (still showing active as "TopBucks Support") on Tuesday, but my account remains unaccessible as of this writing.

This, IMO, is silly, unprofessional and unnecessary game-playing. My email address with you remains valid and does not bounce (else I would not have received the automated email informing me of my user number and password, which of course had already been inactivated in spite of still being in the auto-reply database).

Thanks for coming on here at least, and letting us know which of us is not wanted/needed as an affiliate. Good luck.

[TopBucks Lilit]

Originally Posted by lassiter

Very clever, I guess. At any rate, I emailed my "Account Representative," Nadya, on Monday, and followed up to "support at topbucks.com" and an ICQ to 168289515 (still showing active as "TopBucks Support") on Tuesday, but my account remains unaccessible as of this writing.

This, IMO, is silly, unprofessional and unnecessary game-playing. My email address with you remains valid and does not bounce (else I would not have received the automated email informing me of my user number and password, which of course had already been inactivated in spite of still being in the auto-reply database).

Thanks for coming on here at least, and letting us know which of us is not wanted/needed as an affiliate. Good luck.

Lassiter, I am Nadya, and I'm your account manager.
I don't have any unresponded e-mails from Monday. I've just checked our ticket system and there were no tickets regarding the issue on Tuesday, August 26 which means your e-mails simply don't get through our spam filters and we need to white list them.

We are not letting you know that we don't need you, as you see we're open and willing to fix this.

[TopBucks Lilit]

Originally Posted by lassiter

Very clever, I guess. At any rate, I emailed my "Account Representative," Nadya, on Monday, and followed up to "support at topbucks.com" and an ICQ to 168289515 (still showing active as "TopBucks Support") on Tuesday, but my account remains unaccessible as of this writing.

This, IMO, is silly, unprofessional and unnecessary game-playing. My email address with you remains valid and does not bounce (else I would not have received the automated email informing me of my user number and password, which of course had already been inactivated in spite of still being in the auto-reply database).

Thanks for coming on here at least, and letting us know which of us is not wanted/needed as an affiliate. Good luck.

Lassiter, I'm hitting you up on ICQ now.

[Greenguy]

I just sent Nadya an ICQ about this thread, so I'm sure she can come over & explain things for us.

[TopBucks Lilit]

Now my comment on the raised minimum payouts:

The reason for raising minimum payouts was increasing amount of fraud in our program. We need to secure ourselves and the raised minimum payouts will allow us more time to identify fraudulent accounts.