I’m thinking of creating a website to promote products using affiliate links. I’ve done some research on affiliate programs, specifically Rakuten, Temu, and Amazon. I’ll write a few words about each so you understand why I’m asking here. :) Rakuten: Super cool, a wide variety of products and brands, easy to use and add products to your site. The big issue? They shut down accounts left and right, with money still in them, which you never see again. And most often without explanation, there are people who didn’t even break the terms. I had an account with them, started working on the site and adding products, and they closed my account with no explanation. Good thing I hadn’t started promoting anything yet. After looking into it, I found out what I just said, it’s a horror story. I’m amazed they’re still in business; they should be getting sued every day. So that’s a no, I don’t want to spend six months to earn $2,000 and then never see it. Temu: In short, they offer good commission payouts, but the problem is with the model they chose. A referral only qualifies if the person never had the Temu app installed, installs it through your link, and places an order within 30 days. In other words, if they visit your site and browse from their browser, tough luck. Same if they go through your link and buy the product but already have the app installed. Basically, the chances of making money with their affiliate program drop to near zero because a lot of people already have the app. So again, pass, waste of time. Amazon Associates: You’d think that because of the Amazon brand, this would be solid and profitable. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite Amazon’s growing profits over the last 15 years, affiliate commissions have been steadily dropping since 2012. From what I’ve read, you basically earn coffee money with how poorly they pay. Add to that the fact that an order must be placed within 24 hours after someone clicks your link, otherwise it doesn’t count so you can cross this one off too. So, as you can see, I’m pretty disappointed, and it seems like it’s not really worth building a site, listing products, and investing in ads and promotion if there aren’t good affiliate programs out there. Do you have any recommendations that are at least somewhat decent? By that, I mean: Cookies that last at least 14 days — not everyone buys immediately after clicking your link No need to pay huge commissions, but not peanuts like Amazon either Don’t randomly close your account with money in it for no reason Basically, just some decency and respect for the time you put into promoting their products, nothing more.