I joined the 000webhost affiliate program, because I figured that $5.00 per active signup is a pretty good deal. Of course, the signups have to remain active for 30 days, and I understand that. Also, you need to have 20 active referrals at any one time to receive the commissions, which amounts to $100.00 -- and I am fine with that also, because I have the ability to be able to make that many referrals.
The offer did seem a little good to be true, but I figured that the catch is that 95% of people are not able to attract 100 active referrals. Personally, I sent thousands of visitors to their website and generated hundreds of signups, before I reached the 20 active referrals threshold.
So, I thought to myself, "great - $100 coming my way!".. Er.. No!
Once I reached the payment threshold of 20 active referrals, the 000webhost system is set up to put up a new message saying:
"Announcement: we have started to use 60 days signup verification procedure (we used 30 days signup verification system before). That is because we received lots of fraudulent signups especially from Vietnam and China and we need more time to check everything. So if you have referred user today, it will be credited in 2 months. We need these 2 months to protect us from fraudulent signups. We are sorry if we made any inconveniences for you and let us to know if you have any questions."
Note: This only shows up "AFTER" you have reached "time for them to pay". I don't doubt that 000webhost has to deal with a lot of fraud, but it seems to be a rather "convenient" excuse to "delay" paying affiliate commissions. It is also very underhanded to delay presenting this message, until it's time to cough up commissions.
So, being an idiot, I just *sigh* and get back to promoting. Having already sent thousands of visitors, I began to wonder whether it was worth my effort. I began to feel that this affiliate program is a never ending abyss of sending more and more referrals, and every time the payment threshold arrives, a new excuse is delivered as to why they can't be paid.
So, I send thousands more visitors and come to the point where I have "20 active referrals - that have been active for 60 days". If you know anything about hosting, that's quite an accomplishment. To have 60 free members, retain their membership, without missing any traffic - for "60 days" requires STREAMS of traffic. Traffic that 95% of people simply aren't able to deliver.
So, I rubbed my hands together and say: "NOW I get my commissions"!.. Er.. No..
Once you finally reach the appropriate amount of referrals, that have been active for 60 days, they simply don't pay you. That's what I found! After a month of waiting for my payment, I sent a message, informing 000webhost that I had reached the 20 referrals, and that I am waiting for payment. I got no response.
So, a week or so later, I sent another email. I got no response. I sat here in confusion for over a month before I finally went to Google and typed:
"000webhost Scam, and I got tens of thousands of pages on Google, full of people complaining about the 000webhost affiliate program.
I slapped myself in the forehead and shouted: "WHAT AN IDIOT!".. and I proceeded to the 000webhost discussion forums, to make a post about my commissions and that I had not been paid, and I wanted to know why I had not been paid. The thread was deleted, because.. (you guessed it).. the affiliate program is not allowed to be discussed on their forums!
So, I have created a 000webhost affiliate scam forum, where everyone that has been scammed can tell the world all about it. I am also SEO'ing certain pages online to pull people into this forum, so that there's one place, that's ranked well for "000webhost scam" -- so that people can find it and their story in one spot!
Please register on the forums, and explain to everyone about your 000webhost scam experience!
