What Costs Are Associated with Affiliate Marketing?

 

Have you been scammed into paying money for something only to discover it’s a scheme or worse?  I know it happens and I'm sorry that you fell prey to the unethical people out there only out to make a quick buck with no thought to anyone else.  What's more, I'm sorry that those people left you with a bad taste in your mouth for affiliate marketing.  You may asking, “Does it cost anything to become an affiliate marketer?”

Well, depending on how you choose to promote products you may incur costs to do so.  However, toget started and actually become an affiliate marketer does not cost anything.

There are no start-up fees or any other fees required to become an affiliate marketer.   You will never have to pay the affiliate program owner or anyone else to participate in an affiliate program.  You are providing a service for them by promoting their products and they compensate you by paying a commission to you for each sale.

All you need to do to get started is simply find products you’d like to promote and sign up for their affiliate program by filling out a short form. The information you provide will vary by affiliate program but here are the main ones that almost every program asks for.

  •  First Name
  • Last Name
  • Email Address
  • Login Information including login name and password (if they aren’t automatically generated)
  • You paypal email address (so they can send your commissions)
  • Your Mailing Address (especially important if you are receiving your commission payments via check)

Some programs may also ask for your telephone number and/or your Tax ID or Social Security number. Don’t be scared to give them this information. If you live in the United States and make over $600 in any given year in commissions, the affiliate program owner is required by the IRS to send you a Form 1099 for tax reporting purposes and will need your Tax ID or Social Security number for this reason only.

I personally have found that if a company needs to send you a Form 1099 and you don’t provide your Tax ID or Social Security number at sign up; they will ask you individually when the time comes. They can alternatively ask you to fill out a form W-9, which is an IRS form and is completely legal. That being said it is up to you whether you feel comfortable giving them your information at sign up or waiting until the IRS requires it.

While we’re on the subject of taxes, affiliate income is taxable income so be sure you are reporting it to the IRS, even if it is less than $600. I'm not a tax expert so that's all the tax info I'm going to share but you can visit www.irs.org and research information regarding self employment income for more information.

Earlier,  I mentioned the fact there can be costs associated with affiliate marketing depending on how you choose to promote a product. While the details of these types of promotions are also out of the scope of this report here are just a few items that may incur costs should you so choose.

  •  Purchasing a website specifically for promotion of a program
  •  Buying the actual product or service in order to get a better idea of how it works, what the customer service is like, etc. (I typically purchase any item I recommend so that I can have the same experience my readers will.  I want to make sure that I'm actually sharing a good experience along with a good product)
  • Paying for options such as taking out newspaper ads, Google Ads, or other forms of advertising for the product beyond things you may already possess

Again, these are extra costs that you choose whether or not to acquire. They are NOT required to be an affiliate marketer by any means.

Got questions?  Drop them in the comment box below and I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

Click the link for all of the posts in this series about Affiliate Marketing

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