Commission Junction Review
Overall Ranking: 0/100
Price: free to join
Website: www.cj.com
Table of Contents
Introduction: What is Commission Junction?
Commission Junction is now known as CJ Affiliate.
Commission Junction is an affiliate network that brings together advertisers and online marketers. Commission Junction is not only one of the largest online affiliate marketing websites, it is also one of the most well known and respected making them a leader in their field. They offer superior features and excellent reporting.
So let’s take a closer look at Commission Junction and see if this is true, their website certainly looks nice and professional. A good first impression for sure.
Who is Commission Junction for?
Commission Junction is for affiliate marketers that already some experience and already have a quality website. You need to apply to be a publisher with Commission Junction and they won’t accept just anyone.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A lot of the advertisers on Commission Junction are well known and trusted brands making it easier to make sales
- A large selection of advertisers to join
- Advertisers can also contact you to promote their products instead of you contacting them only
- No cost to join
- Superior features making it easier to manage your affiliate companies, links and products
- User friendly website
Cons
- Not easy to get accepted by Commission Junction
- When you have been accepted by Commission Junction you still have to apply to every advertiser too and you might be rejected
- Every advertiser has their own set of rules and regulations which you will need to check
- They have a cashout threshold of $50 for bank deposit and $100 for check payments
- You are required to have at least one sale every 6 months, otherwise your account will be “dormant” and they will start deducting a fee from your account
- No Paypal payment option
- They have a reputation for just closing inactive affiliate accounts
- Lots of complaints from publishers and advertisers
Training
They offer video tutorials on how to get started and use the Commission Junction features and reporting. They also have Q & A pages you can go through to find out how to do things.
Support
They have a toll free contact number you can call to get assistance. You can also get assistance from within your Commission Junction account, just click on the Help link and you will have one on one personalized assistance for your account.
Price
Free to Join
Is Commission Junction a Scam?
This really is a tough call. I have spent a lot of time researching Commission Junction and I can honestly say that there is such a mixed bunch of reviews online about them.
From what I understand there are a lot of sales disappearing and there appears to be a lot of unhappiness with Commission Junction in general.
Why don’t you judge for yourself, do some research and decide if this is a scam or not. I am not ready to put the scam label here yet.
Here is a screenshot from SEOBook
My Verdict for Commission Junction
I’ll be honest here this review started off really well, I was having high hopes for them and I was about to sign up with them myself. The first few pages of Google gives some glowing reviews, saying for example they have the best up to date real time reporting… and then I dig a little deeper and find complaints that publishers are waiting for their reports to update?
I find a glowing review saying they are reliable payers and you don’t have to worry about a thing, then I find a complaint saying a publisher has waited 4 – 6 months for a payment?
Glowing reports claim that the advertisers on Commission Junction are well known, reputable companies… and complaints saying Commission Junction advertisers are a bunch of scammers.
So if you read my article on why I like giving a big Fat Zero you’ll understand my rating for Commission Junction.
So what is the truth behind what is going on with Commission Junction? Well I don’t really care because there is just too much smoke for there not to be a fire somewhere. I mean really what’s going on here?
I am not signing up for this like I intended to, I am not prepared to put any effort into something that has too many complaints and so much unhappiness surrounding it. I don’t care if I can make money with them, I don’t want to try.
You feel free to take a chance with this if you like, but don’t complain to me if you come short with this one.
Are you tired of scams or working online for pennies? Check out my #1 Recommendation!
Commission Junction Review
Overall Ranking: 0/100
Price: free to join
Website: www.cj.com
Thanks for sharing this honest review on Commission Junction. You’ve given me reason’s to stay away from them if I come across them.
I never heard of CJ before. We all can fall easily into the trap when the company’s website looks shiny and professional and has many affiliates marketers.
Many of us would think how can it be a scam if there’s so many people joined? I am glad you dug deeper and found the smoke and mirrors!
Hi Dinh, yes that is what got me, how nice and professional it looked and all the good reviews. It always pays to spend a little more time researching opportunities!
Wow, I’ve got to say that’s something of a surprise I’ve never had an account with them but they’re such a big name that I thought they’d be a bit more reputable than that. What about click bank or any of the affiliate sites, which would you recommend.
Hey Dan, yes I was very surprised myself. I have not yet registered with a lot of affiliate sites except for Clickbank. They seem good, the only problem I have found is that you must really investigate the product you would like to promote. Clickbank has loads of scams you can promote, which makes me very wary. However I did find some really good products too.
After reading through your review I completely concur with your verdict of this program! It sounds like another crappy scam that is a complete waste of time for anyone who is interested in a genuine business opportunity! Thank you for exposing this piece of work and helping people save their time! 🙂
Hi Johnathan, it is a pleasure. I am glad you enjoyed the review.
hi Lynne
I started off reading your review wondering why you had given it a zero but having read the whole thing, I get it. I had heard of CJ and had thought about joining a few months back. But it seems like they are pretty selective and you need to apply for every advertiser, which can be a pain. And if you do not have sales they deduct money from your account? Talk about pressure! Like no thanks. And having to wait so long to be paid would be a deterrent for me. There might be some value in CJ but not for me.
Hi Emily, my sentiments exactly. I have no time for platforms that will waste my time and bill me instead of make me money.
Is commission junction really necessary to procure affiliates to sell their products? .
The process of procuring affiliates on CJ seems pretty labor intensive to me. I just don’t see the advantages to using CJ to market affiliates. Besides can all the complainers of CJ be wrong? Am I missing something?
Hey Chuck, that is exactly what I thought. I had only heard great things about Commission Junction and they looked nice when I had a look around, but digging just a little bit turned up a lot of things that I wasn’t keen on. Like you say labor intensive and just too many complaints!
I love your closing statement and I agree with you completely.
I have zero experience with CJ but I do know there seems to be same real dark energy around them and like you that is good enough for me to stay away.
You did not join them right?
Thanks for the review!
Shawn>>
Hi Shawn, that’s right I didn’t join so my opinion is largely based on what I have come across. It is not the way I like to do my reviews though, I like to get in there and see for myself. The problem is I am not prepared to go there, so just sharing that experience with everyone.
Lynne,
I have been using Commission Junction for 7+ years and can tell you I have made over 100,000 from them. They are not a scam; in fact they are a great place to find merchants where you can sign up to multiple affiliate programs. I look at them as a “starter” place to sign up with. For instance, you can sign up with company XYZ and once you start making money with them move to their in-house affiliate system. They have to pay CJ a percentage just for being in their marketplace. I have done this a number of times.
Payments are 1 month behind though, not 4 to 6? It’s just like ShareASale.
Garen
Hi Garen
Thank you for sharing your personal experience, it really does make a big impact on me now because I respect your opinion. I will most definitely have to dig a little deeper and wait for some more feedback from my readers. Perhaps I need to try out Commission Junction after all!
It’s a good starting point, but if they kick you out of a program it’s usually because you haven’t made a sale in 6-8 months or so :). They are ok, just wish they paid more sometimes though :). They disperse payments to my businesses bank account. No transaction fees like Paypal or anything though 🙂
Thanks Garen, I’ll definitely put Commission Junction on my list of companies to sign up with and try out! Thanks for the tip on the time to make sales. If you are kicked out does that mean you can re-apply or does that mean you are permanently disqualified?
Hi Lynne, I agree with you about CJ, but perhaps for slightly different reasons based on my own experience. You do have to get approved by each merchant, but you have to with share a sale as well. What I found when I tried CJ was how many merchants would reject you immediately, I mean seconds. There’s no way man, or machine had the time to make a fair assessment. The most irritating thing about it is how slow their website is. I tried it first a few years ago, then a few months ago, and nothing changed. It takes at least a minute to get onto their site, each and every time. I can’t believe anyone has patience for that. Reading what your research uncovered only reassures me I made the right decision.
Hi Hindy
Thank you for your feedback, being rejected so fast and so often was not something I was aware of so thank you for letting us know about that! So far I am getting very mixed feedback about Commission Junction on my website and that is exactly what my research showed too. Some people like it and say it works and others say it is terrible! So one thing is for sure there is no consistency.