Affiliate Rant!

Sneaky and stealthy, the Google we all love. It seems Google has determined that their financial exposure was to great under the old terms of the Adsense Affiliate Program so they changed the terms but failed to let anyone know. Under the old terms there was no time limit on the amount of time a new publisher could take to reach $100 in earnings. Once a referred publisher reached $100, the referring affiliate collected his $100 referral commission. The new terms impose a 90 day time limit for the referred publisher to reach the $100 goal.

To put this into context, it probably took me three or four months to book my first $100 in the Adsense program. Somehow I don’t think that the average new publisher is going to meet this new goal. Amid the screams of outrage echoing across the forums and blogs concerning the change, there is some great commentary. The bottom line - Google needs to increase the window to something larger like six months or a year.

A thread over at DigitalPoint points out that Google AdSense has quietly added a new term to all AdSense referrals generated by a publisher. They have now instituted a 90-day time limit on that referral, meaning a referred publisher must earn the $100 within the first 90 days, before the referring publisher is eligible to earn that $100 for a completed AdSense referral.

…

When a publisher that signed up for AdSense through your referral earns their initial $100.00 and is eligible for payout, we’ll credit your account with $100.00. *
(Click thumbnail for full size).

(Quoted: AdSense silently adds a 90-day time limit on AdSense referrals - JenSense.com Via Jensense.)

This is a great example of why it is very important to always read the terms and conditions of each affiliate program you join. Of course, if the T&Cs are changed under cover of night you probably don’t have much of a chance. Bad business practice and all that.