Why Affiliates Distrust Affiliate Programs!

[Kristine]

I definitely agree with you Lloyd. Are you talking about a real auditor, though, like Price Waterhouse? Or talking about an affiliate-level audit like most here are discussing? PWC used to do a lot of these, but once other way less trusted organizations came through to audit - it has become more of a farce (IMO).

I think the problem with an audit is really that a perpetrator would never let you audit them.

Plus you do not need an audit to find out who is cheating you. Seems perhaps the biggest area of manipulation is in the commission calculation, which is very easy to audit. This would make a very interesting thread at AGD.

Audit Plan:
(1) 10 volunteers
(2) 10 random Affiliate programs & related casinos
(3) 10 volunteers drop $20 playing blackjack and intentionally bust
(4) Disclose findings in AGD thread.

Just speaking as the devils advocate, why would an affiliate program risk everything to remap affiliate IDs when they could just screw you on your commission calculation and get away with it because you agreed to their misleading / unquantified commission definition in their T&C when you signed up?

I think it would bring substantial value to affiliates if it was required for programs to pay affiliates on GGR (same equation used to pay gaming suppliers) and not NGR or any other insidious terminology. Anyone agree with me?

 

[Frank]

I think the problem with an audit is really that a perpetrator would never let you audit them.

Plus you do not need an audit to find out who is cheating you. Seems perhaps the biggest area of manipulation is in the commission calculation, which is very easy to audit. This would make a very interesting thread at AGD.

Audit Plan:
(1) 10 volunteers
(2) 10 random Affiliate programs & related casinos
(3) 10 volunteers drop $20 playing blackjack and intentionally bust
(4) Disclose findings in AGD thread.

Just speaking as the devils advocate, why would an affiliate program risk everything to remap affiliate IDs when they could just screw you on your commission calculation and get away with it because you agreed to their misleading / unquantified commission definition in their T&C when you signed up?

I think it would bring substantial value to affiliates if it was required for programs to pay affiliates on GGR (same equation used to pay gaming suppliers) and not NGR or any other insidious terminology. Anyone agree with me?

This is a great idea however it's usually the big players that miraculously cash out and never come back or just stop playing with certain programs even if they were winning..

 

[Guard Dog]

I agree with you, Kristine! The commissions calculations are VERY sketchy everywhere in that they don't typically give you what their calculation is BASED from (i.e., what GGR, NG, .... actually means). It's a bit of a farce, so running that type of audit on a NEW affiliate might help determine the true percentage.

Awhile ago I had a topic about this, I believe I was calling it 'Effective Revshare'. Nobody seemed to care much, though

 

[Darren Colebrook]

The thing is all the data is there an available so it should be used. Affiliate management teams need to be more transparent.