[Linda Buquet]

Hi Edwin,

I think the dilemma you are facing is due to all the fraud affiliates that make it hard for everyone.

Realize that fake affiliates sign up pretending to be me for instance. They list my site, my home address and everything. There's a Chinese affiliate fraud ring that a year ago joinined over 50 programs on most of the main networks pretending to be me. Then they made sales with bogus credit cards, changed the pay-to address and collected the checks. I was accused several times of fraud. These fraudsters do fake apps pretending to be Shawn Collins or the Wall Street Journal or littlejoesmomandpopshop.com.

Some networks get 100 fraud applications a DAY!

So that's partly why you have to jump through hoops and thats why they need to see a site, to try at least to match up and verify your identity.
I think possibly the directions are also a little confusing so that someone that's either just signing up on a whim or someone from a 3rd world country - it wont be an easy slam dunk to sign up.

I think the 1st app and seeing a site is just to get approved by Shareasale. Then after you are into the network you need to join each separate merchant then in the comments for each you merchant you can explain you have a new soccer domain or whatever you plan to do. Many of the SAS merchant are on auto-approve too and don't even review your site. (Bad practice.)

So I suggest you get a little site up. Part of the reason they want to see at least one site is to be sure it's not filled with porn or spyware.

You need to write some content anyway for your popshops site. You can't just throw up a feed - you need some unique spiderfood. So get some content up, then after you get the datafeeds you can break up the content to put on the appropriate category pages or whatever.

So using the soccer example put up 3 pages or so of articles about soccer. With links to some resources about soccer and maybe some public domain pics from flickr.

I'm not sure if this would fly, but if were me, I'd even be tempted to put a paragraph at top of homepage saying this is a rough draft beginning of a site you plan to build out with SAS merchants after you are approved. (don't put site under construction, SE don't like that.)

If after doing all that you still get declined then see if you can get through to a real person at SAS or post over in the SAS forum at a best web.

Hope this helps and best of luck!
Let us know how you do.