Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
Welcome to TRBIM: Thank Refer Bingo It’s Monday.
Let’s get right into the reason for that title, shall we?
It Never Fails to Blow My Mind
How shitty an affiliate program can be at times. Especially an affiliate program for a highly respected and popular operation.
Like Betfair.
As a punter, I love Betfair. If you’re smart, it’s a great place to make money. They also beat every other sportsbook hands down when it comes to live betting. I’ve also had great experiences with the customer service there.
As an affiliate, not so much. There’s a few issues with their T&Cs, but my biggest problem with them at the moment is payment.
Or lack of payment, to be more specific.
I had money owed to me from Betfair. I contacted them about it, and apparently the payment details in my affiliate account were missing. I updated that, and was told on December 12th that I had missed that months pay run, and would be paid all money in Januarys pay run.
Except it wasn’t.
I had to e-mail them a couple of times, and I was told on February 6th that “an administrative error was made”, and the money will be sent out 2 days later.
It wasn’t.
I contacted them February 13th, and was told the payments were still to be made. I contacted them on the 20th as I still hadn’t received anything. I was told payments were made that day, and it would take 5 business days to reach my account. Not sure why that would apply considering it’s to Moneybookers, but either way – still nothing. I trust Betfair, and I know that eventually I’ll get my money – but it’s just plain retarded that it takes this long.
I’ve been in the internet marketing business since 1997. I’ve seen it all. Yet it still always surprises me when a big operation can make basic mistakes like this. You never know when things are going to turn tits up for your operation with some bad PR, and you’re going to need affiliates to keep people on your side.
Compare That To…
Ever heard of them? I’m sure most of you haven’t. They’re the affiliate program for Bingo Cafe and Jet Bingo. I’d never heard of them.
Then they sent me an e-mail a couple of weeks ago letting me know that they owed me $5,000.
Read that again. They e-mailed me. An affiliate program e-mailed the affiliate, to say “Hey, we owe you money”.
Seriously, what?
You see, back in 2006 approximately, my team launched about 15 different bingo portals. It was mainly for keyword and affiliate program research. We signed up at a variety of different bingo affiliate programs. Like we’re talking 50 different programs here.
Apparently one of them was Refer Bingo, and apparently I managed to snag a good player or two, who has stuck around for the past 5-6 years, with my revenue there building every month.
It’s hilarious because I didn’t even know my login details for Refer Bingo. And here’s these guys e-mailing me to ask me for my payment details so they can pay me.
Seriously, how often does an affiliate program do that? My traffic there for the past few years is null. If they checked my account they would see I haven’t logged in since like 2006. They could have EASILY kept that money and I would have been none the wiser.
But they didn’t. And as you can imagine – the first thing I’ve did is make it priority to promote the absolute hell out of Refer Bingo.
Thanks Refer Bingo. It’s nice to know there’s still some good guys in this industry. It was a great motivational boost when that money hit my bank account.
Epik Media Goes Epik
My design company of choice is Epik Media, owned by Frank. Many of you know who that is – he’s created the sick Geo-IP Plugin, and has did a TON of work for Gambling Affiliate sites, Gambling Portals etc. The dude can code pretty much anything.
I just wanted to give them a quick plug, and say how amazing they are. They recently redesigned their website and it is SICK – check it out here: https://www.epikmedia.com/.
Absolutely amazing guys, and if you ever need a coder, a designer, or just about anything – Epik Media will handle it for you in a timely fashion, for a great price. The work they do is quite simply phenomenal, and Frank is the best person I’ve ever worked with.
It’s just a sheer coincidence that I wrote the above 3 paragraphs of ass-kissing on the same day I have to talk to Epik Media about a quote for the new Affiliate Bible design. Just a coincidence is all!
FRANK RULES.
That’s All Folks
But I’ll be back tomorrow AND Wednesday with two new articles!
And remember – sign up with Refer Bingo. Support the good guys.
This article was written on February 27, 2012 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
