The Light Side of Affiliate Marketing: a Cautionary Tale With Awin and ShareASale
In the ever-evolving world of affiliate marketing, there are numerous platforms that promise lucrative opportunities for marketers to earn passive income. However, not all platforms uphold their commitments, and the recent acquisition of ShareASale by Awin has raised serious concerns among affiliate marketers. In this blog post, we will explore the troubling experiences shared by marketers who have encountered issues with Awin, especially following the transition from ShareASale, and provide insights on how to navigate this volatile landscape.
A Brief History of ShareASale and Awin
Founded in 2000, ShareASale quickly became a significant player in the affiliate marketing world, providing a platform for affiliates to connect with merchants and earn commissions on sales generated through their marketing efforts. For many marketers, ShareASale was synonymous with reliability, efficiency, and excellent customer support.
However, in 2017, ShareASale was acquired by Awin, a global affiliate marketing network. While such acquisitions often promise enhanced resources and opportunities, the reality has been far from favorable for many marketers. As a part-time affiliate marketer with nearly two decades of experience, my experience with ShareASale was largely positive, but the shift to Awin has been anything but smooth.
The Account Suspension Nightmare
UPDATE 3-5-25:
Shareasale has sent another email message below. Shareasale customer service support is now wanting a rating. I never waste time answering surveys, giving out ratings, etcetera.From: ShareASale shareasale@shareasale.com
To: Aaron Berg xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Request #xxxxxxx: How would you rate the support you received?
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 18:01:48 +0000
Reply-To: ShareASale shareasale@shareasale.com
X-Mailer:
Hello Aaron Berg,
We'd love to hear what you think of our customer service. Please take a moment to answer one simple question by clicking either link below:
How would you rate the support you received?
You can copy the following URL into your browser to rate:
Here's a reminder of what this request was about:
----------------------------------------------
UPDATE 3-5-25:
Shareasale has sent another email message below. This Awin company is obviously corrupt and incompetent. Now their support claims that my account suspension caused my account to become inadvertently flagged and closed in error.
This is a complete contradiction to their previous email message. This Awin corporation is so poorly managed that they literally have no clue what is going on with a support ticket. One day your account is suspended, the next day it is reinstated.
From: "George Zamir (ShareASale)" shareasale@shareasale.com
To: Aaron Berg xxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ShareASale] Re: Cannot Login
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 16:04:37 +0000
Reply-To: ShareASale shareasale@shareasale.com
X-Mailer:
Your request (Ticket xxxxxxx) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.
----------------------------------------------
George Zamir, Mar 5, 2025, 10:04 AM CST
Hi there,
Thanks for getting in touch! As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the quality and compliance of our network, we reviewed all active affiliate accounts on the network and during this process, your account was inadvertently flagged and closed in error.
Rest assured we have taken immediate action to reinstate your account, and you should now have full access to ShareASale again. Please log in to confirm everything is in order. Should you encounter any issues, let us know right away.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. Your partnership is highly valued, and we deeply appreciate your understanding.
If you have any questions or require further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
George Zamir
ShareASale Compliance Department
ShareASale, Owned by Awin
UPDATE 3-03-25:
Shareasale support has sent another email message below. Finally, for the first time these horrible corporate hooligans told me what caused my Shareasale account suspension. They claimed that your account currently does not meet some of the verification requirements.
From: ShareASale no-reply@shareasale.com
To: xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Follow-Up on Your ShareASale Account Suspension
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 20:37:49 +0000
Reply-To: ShareASale no-reply@shareasale.com
X-Mailer:
View this email in your browser ()
Dear valued customer,
We are reaching out regarding the recent suspension of your ShareASale affiliate account. After a thorough review, we've found your account currently does not meet some of the verification requirements outlined in our Publisher Terms (https://www.awin.com/us/publisher-terms).
To avoid the permanent closure of your ShareASale account, we kindly ask that you contact us at ShareASale@ShareASale.com (mailto:ShareASale@ShareASale.com) by March 31, 2025, to discuss the matter further. While reaching out allows us to work together toward a resolution, please be aware we cannot guarantee the outcome at this stage. If we don't hear from you by the deadline, we will close your account and revoke your access to ShareASale services. Please note that, as a result, your contract will be terminated on April 2, 2025.
Please note that until the review is complete, your account will remain inaccessible and any pending commission payments will remain paused.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Best regards,
The ShareASale Team
These clowns threatened me by stipulating that they will close my account by March 31st, 2025 if I do not respond. However, I had already appealed their original decision, therefore no reason for a response. These commie fascist nazi corporations are control freaks.
UPDATE 2-25-25:
Shareasale support sent an email message below. What is perplexing is that they suggest contacting their support to appeal their ridiculous account suspension. I had already responded to their first email and appealed.
From: ShareASale no-reply@shareasale.com
To: xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Update on Your ShareASale Account Status
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2025 18:53:37 +0000
Reply-To: ShareASale no-reply@shareasale.com
X-Mailer:
View this email in your browser ()
Dear valued customer,
As part of a recent quality review of all active ShareASale affiliate accounts, we identified certain accounts that did not comply with our Publisher Terms (https://www.awin.com/us/publisher-terms) . Unfortunately, your account was among those affected and has been temporarily suspended.
During this time, you will not have access to ShareASale, and commission payments will be paused. We are completing a second review of these suspensions and will update you as soon as we have more information on the next steps.
If you believe your account was suspended in error, please contact us at ShareASale@ShareASale.com (mailto:ShareASale@ShareASale.com).
We appreciate your patience and understanding as we complete this process.
Best regards,
The ShareASale Team
Upon attempting to log into my ShareASale account, I was met with a disheartening message: Your account has been suspended either for violation of the terms of service or due to your removal of all contact information. Confused and frustrated, I quickly reached out to Awin's support team, hoping for clarity. However, their response was vague, stating that I had violated their terms of service without specifying how or why.
Your request (Ticket xxxxxxx) has been updated. To add additional comments, reply to this email.
----------------------------------------------Hannah, Feb 20, 2025, 10:38 AM CST
Hi there,
Your account was suspended for a violation of our Terms of Agreement.
You can find our full Terms of Agreement here:
https://www.awin.com/us/publisher-terms
If after reading and reviewing our Terms of Agreement, you still feel that you have not violated it, please put together a detailed description on how you were promoting your ShareASale merchants. We will then review your account status with this additional information. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
There are a few common violations, most notably:
1. Utilizing PPV Advertising, also known as Adware. ShareASale is an Adware free network and PPV Advertising is not allowed.
2. Practices such as typo-squatting, bidding on PPC terms that are disallowed via Merchant agreements.
3. Using incentives to generate leads. This could include using sites such as "Pay To Read" or other incentive sites.Best,
Hannah,
Client Services Assistant
ShareASale, Owned by Awin
Here is the original email sent to Awin Shareasale quoted verbatim:
To whom it may concern,
I am not able to login to this affiliates login page:
https://account.shareasale.com/a-login.cfm?onhold=1
I receive this message:
Login Alert
Your account has been suspended either for violation of the Terms of
Service, or due to your removal of all contact information in your
account - and will not return.The username is xxxxxx and email address associated with this account
is xxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.Hopefully, this is a false positive with the Shareasale to Awin
conversion. If not I will record a Youtube video documenting this on a
Youtube channel with nearly 5 million views. There are quite a few
people complaining about these account suspensions on this Reddit
thread:https://www.reddit.com/r/PartneredYoutube/comments/1iozzd6/shareasale_affiliate_program_suspended/
Thanks,
Aaron
This lack of communication is not an isolated incident. Many marketers have echoed similar experiences on forums and social media platforms, expressing their shock at the abrupt suspension of their accounts, especially when they were close to reaching payout thresholds. The overarching sentiment is clear: Awin's handling of these situations has been disheartening and has left many wondering if they are intentionally targeting smaller affiliates with low balances.
Here is the appeal email sent to Awin Shareasale support:
To whom it may concern,
Your Awin support team is a bunch of liars. I had an account with
Shareasale for over ten years and never had any problems. As soon as
Awin merged then all of a sudden problems have occurred.I will be recording a video documenting what is occurring with your
obvious commie fascist nazi corporation at Awin on my
Youtube.com/anetcomputers youtube channel. I will be warning people to
NOT sign up for Awin. I did NOT violate your terms of service.Also, you never told me in your response email what exact terms I
actually violated. I am not the only affiliate that has NOT
violated your terms of service. My most recent advertising campaign was
for astronomy equipment.It is a simple text based advertisement. Tell me what exact terms of
service I violated? I think Awin is intentionally suspending accounts
of affiliates that they do not like, perhaps low balance ones.You are also stealing people's commissions by not paying them when
their accounts are suspended. Luckily, I only had a $29.09 balance. Awin
needs to get sued in a class action lawsuit if they are committing any
illegal acts such as theft of commissions.I do not care if you do not reverse this decision. You had better not
try keeping any of my data and using it for illegal acts. You better not
violate any laws regarding what data you keep and use from suspended
accounts.Finally, I encourage you to read over this entire Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PartneredYoutube/comments/1iozzd6/shareasale_affiliate_program_suspended/
Shareasale, while a smaller affiliate network, was an excellent network
to work with. Awin is nothing but mobster rule and obviously out of
control. I want nothing to do with the Awin affiliate network even once
I found out about the fact other affiliates were being suspended wrongly.Thanks,
Aaron
The Pattern of Suspensions
As I delved deeper into the situation, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread where numerous users shared their accounts of being suspended right before they were due for payout. This led to speculation that Awin might be systematically targeting accounts with low balances or minimal activity. If true, this raises serious ethical concerns about the practices of a company that is supposed to support its affiliates.
Awin's vague responses and refusal to provide specific reasons for account suspensions have fueled speculation that they are leveraging these suspensions as a means to withhold commission payments. Essentially, by suspending accounts, they avoid paying out the earnings owed to affiliates, which, if true, could border on illegal practices.
The Importance of Communication
One of the most troubling aspects of this situation has been Awin's lack of effective communication. As a marketer, you expect timely and clear responses when issues arise. Instead, many have been met with generic replies directing them to read over lengthy terms of service documents without any real assistance in resolving their issues.
For instance, when I reached out to ShareASale's support team, I was met with the same lack of clarity. They informed me that my account had been flagged for violating terms of service, but they provided no specifics. This approach is not only frustrating but also disheartening, especially for those who have invested time and energy into building their affiliate businesses.
A Systematic Issue?
A pattern seems to emerge when examining the experiences of various marketers. Many have reported that their accounts were suspended without any prior warning, leading to a complete loss of access to their earnings. The sudden suspension of accounts that were previously in good standing raises questions about the integrity of Awin's practices.
Moreover, the transition from ShareASale to Awin seems to have introduced complications for many users. The once-efficient and user-friendly interface of ShareASale has seemingly been replaced with a system that many find confusing and not responsive. This shift has left many wondering if Awin is equipped to manage the influx of accounts it has inherited.
Moving Forward: Protecting Yourself as an Affiliate Marketer
As an affiliate marketer, navigating the complexities of various networks can be challenging. However, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your earnings:
1. Research Before You Join
Before signing up for any affiliate program, conduct thorough research. Investigate the experiences of other marketers, particularly regarding payment practices, support responsiveness, and overall reputation. Websites like Trustpilot and forums such as Reddit can provide valuable insights into the experiences of others.
2. Diversify Your Income Streams
You may not want to put all your eggs in one basket. You can consider working with multiple affiliate programs to ensure that if one network fails, you still have other sources of income. This approach minimizes risk and enhances your earning potential.
3. Maintain Clear Communication with Networks
Establish a clear line of communication with your affiliate networks. Ensure that you are aware of any changes in policies or procedures that may affect your account. If issues arise, document your communications with the network to provide evidence if needed.
4. Create a Centralized Hub for Affiliate Links
Instead of linking directly to affiliate programs on multiple pages, consider creating a centralized hub on your website. This way, if you encounter issues with a specific network, you can update your uniform resource locator web page links in one place, reducing the workload and potential confusion.
5. Stay Informed About Changes in the Industry
The affiliate marketing landscape is constantly changing. You will want to stay informed about trends, updates, and potential pitfalls. Engaging with industry blogs, forums, and social media groups can provide valuable insights into the current state of affiliate marketing.
Conclusion: a Cautionary Tale
The acquisition of ShareASale by Awin has certainly raised eyebrows among affiliate marketers. While many hoped for improvements and enhanced support, the reality has been a series of account suspensions, vague responses, and a general sense of chaos.
As marketers, we must remain vigilant and proactive in protecting our businesses. By diversifying income streams, conducting thorough research, and maintaining clear communication with affiliate networks, we can navigate this volatile landscape more effectively. The experiences shared here serve as a cautionary tale for those considering partnerships with Awin or other similar networks. Remember, your success as an affiliate marketer depends not only on the products you promote but also on the integrity of the networks you choose to work with.
You can stay informed, stay connected, and prioritize your business's well-being in this ever-changing field.