I am a private individual with an affiliate link on my youtube channel. My affiliate pays me for clicks if they turn into purchases via Impact.com.
I am not going to call this company a scam because I have already been paid thousands of dollars, and I think there are thousands more to come, however it definitely feels shady to me. I am very suspicious that they don't have the money which is why they keep pushing back payment dates.
I check into my account at Impact.com every day and sometimes spend 30 mins or more trying to check things.
My main complaint is around usablitiy. The user interface is almost impossible to comprehend. It looks like it has been cobbled together by a programmer who keeps getting asked to add features, but he has no idea what those features are or who uses them and he has no clue about making a web page useful and easy to use.
I don't want to know much, just some very simple stuff like:
1) How much have I earned today (with details)
2) How much have I previously earned (with details)
3) Have any payments been made to me. If so, how much, when, and how did you do the calculation?
4) How much are you going to pay me in the future and when? Give details of the calculation.
5) Despite setting up a standing order to pay me automatically when the balance reaches a certain level, the money does not seem to be coming. Why? It looks like you are pushing back the payment dates to maybe monthly? But many months after the commission has been earned and paid to Impact.com
6) Why can't I reconcile amounts you paid to me with the amounts I think I earned?
7) Are Impact.com taking enormous commissions from my earnings? 30%, 50%, 70%? I want to know. It feels like I am getting less than I think was earned. Why can't you suplly information on it. Why don't you reconcile payments with earnings?
I know Impact.com is going to respond and say that all the information I want is on the site. Maybe. But it is impossible to know whjat you are looking at. There are lists all over the place none of which are explained, as to what they are, how they are constructed or how they relate to the amount of money I will receive. I am extremely good with numbers and accounting and can usually make sense of things which are a mess or mis-categorised, but this is absolutly shocking. I assume they must have at least half a dozen people working for Impact. com. and it's a great shame that none of them have the skillset required to make the website presentable.
Another small observation:
If you visit Impact.com you might be invited to to go a review on G2, which I think must be part of Google reviews. There seems to be over 1800 reviews on Google reviews, almost all of them glowing four or five star reviews. Affiliates (who are like me) praise their prompt payments to affiliates. (Waiting months does not feel like prompt to me though).
So here is the mystery. Why does Google Reviews have 1800 reviews almost all 4 or five stars, yet Trust pilot has 187 reviews, almost all 1 or two stars?
Do happy users go to Google Reviews, and unhappy reviewers go to TrustPilot?
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