Affiliate Program Acceptable Use Policy
Affiliates are expressly prohibited from engaging in the activities below. Failing to abide by this policy will result in termination of the Affiliate's Affiliate Agreement.
1. Email
Affiliates are expressly prohibited from sending spam, defined as unsolicited mass commercial email (UCE) that promotes their Affiliate business. All complaints will be investigated. Affiliates will be required to defend their actions.
Affiliates found to be engaging in spam will be terminated immediately.
A single warning may be issued if...
i) there is no evidence that the email was mass mailed
AND if
ii) the affiliate made no attempt to disguise his/her identity by such means as falsifying their email address,
AND if
iii) the email was uniquely written for the complainant.
All three criteria must be present to receive a "single warning." A second such occurrence, whether from the same complainant or not, will result in termination.
The complainant may be required to provide additional information to assist us with our investigation.
2. Two-Way E-media (Newsgroups, Forums, Unmoderated Mailing Lists, Twitter-Facebook-Other-Social-Media)
Affiliates are expressly prohibited from posting messages that promote their Affiliate business, to unrelated Two-Way E-media and to Two-Way E-media whose charters forbid commercial content. Posting to more than one newsgroup at the same time is expressly forbidden (even if they are related).
Affiliates may post to Two-Way E-media which permit commercial content relating to Internet marketing.
Affiliates may make no more than 6 posts per day per social platform across all of their accounts on the same platform (where commercial content is allowed). But keep it real and add value.
NOTE: The affiliate is required to determine in advance which newsgroups or discussion forums are appropriate for their posts, and the policy regarding commercial posts.
All complaints will be investigated and the Affiliate will be required to defend their actions. Affiliates found to be spamming Two-Way E-media will be terminated immediately. No warnings will be issued. The Complainant may be required to provide additional information to assist us with our investigation.
This document may be updated at any time, and future versions render prior versions obsolete.
What Happens if We Receive a Spam Complaint
If we receive a complaint about unsolicited email from you, there are three possible outcomes...
1) If the complainant erred and in fact the mail turns out to be solicited (ex. complainant had joined an opt-in list but forgot), you have no problem.
2) The "single chance" scenario...
If you did send unsolicited email...
AND
- If you had some kind of repetitive, long-standing personal or business relationship with the complainant.
AND
- If you only sent your email to ONE person or company...
AND
- If you wrote a truly terrific letter, with high-quality, pertinent, individualized and original content...
AND
- If you made no attempt to disguise your "Reply-to" email address...
You get your one and only "single warning."
3) If you send any other kind of unsolicited email that does not fit ALL the criteria for the "single chance" scenario, or if you have used up your single chance, your Affiliate business will be terminated.
Be careful. Do your homework. Even if you accidentally spam, your Affiliate Business will still be terminated. Here are just two examples of how this could happen...
If you receive a list of email addresses that are supposed to be safe, or if you set up an FFA page, you must check for a publicly available privacy policy from the original source of the list...
If there is no such policy, or if the policy does not clearly outline conditions that would lead the list to expect email from third parties like you, then any email from you to that list would be considered spam. In other words, it's up to you to be sure that it's OK to email people.
Your Affiliate business will not be terminated without a proper investigation. We will ask the complainant for full details, and we will then ask you for an explanation.
There will be nothing personal in a decision to terminate. We simply have to protect the integrity of our company and all other affiliates by terminating in the event of spam.
What's the bottom line?...
Conduct yourself in a classy manner. It brings respect... to both you and us. Spam only brings disrespect, loathing, and flames... to both you and us.
