Important Rules - Read Before Posting - No Network Ads

[Linda Buquet]

This area is a FREE PUBLIC SERVICE to the affiliate community.
Before you take advantage of our FREE ADVERTISING for your affiliate program...
Please read below and be sure you follow the rules before posting.

RULE CHANGE 8/12/07 NO NETWORK ADS (see #5 for details)

1) Merchants/Affiliate Managers/OPMs - Only 1 Thread Allowed per Company
Any program updates or news needs to be added to your existing thread.
(If you're an OPM managing multiple programs, all program news need to
go in your single company thread.)

2) One Program Update Every 30 Days (Rule change 8/3/07)
Only 1 new post per 30 days allowed for any new promos, updates, news, contests, etc. You may answer questions or acknowledge comments if they come up, but promotional comments, news and updates are limited to a max of 1 per 30 days. POSTING LIMIT RULE EXPLAINED BELOW.

3) The only people that can make posts in this section are the merchant, marketing employee or affiliate manager.

4) No affiliate links, no tracking links and no 2nd tier recruiting is allowed.

5) NO AFFILIATE NETWORK OR CPA NETWORK ADS - The bad guys ruined it for everyone, sorry!
As a service to our valued members we have removed network ads and no longer allow them PERIOD. We have had networks do free ads here that had problems paying affiliates, that had tracking problems, that were accused of using and spreading adware and spyware and networks that have complaints with the BBB and various fraud agencies.

I don't want to be responsible for introducing 5 star members to networks that don't have high integrity and I can't play detective to find out who's honest and fair and who's not. We also had networks that kept bombarding us with continuous offer updates.

6) No pre-launch announcements. Only live, tested affiliate programs are allowed. No coming soon or beta announcements. You must also have "real" products and services to offer and they must be ready to sell and ship today. (Our members are not guinea pigs and I don't want their time wasted with products or affiliate programs that are not ready for market.)

7) No JVs (Joint Ventures) - this section is for bonafide affiliate programs only.

8) PROHIBITED: No Gambling, Online pharmacies or anything that deals with medical prescriptions, Adult-oriented, Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), Get-Rich-Quick, business opportunities or dishonest affiliate programs allowed.

Affiliate programs that promote downloads such as exe files, pay per install programs, screen savers, toolbars, etc. are not allowed due to adware and spyware concerns.

Anything illegal or that even has any legal controversy surrounding is not allowed.

Since this section is a free service, we have the right to delete any affiliate program announcement we feel is not in the best interest of our members for any reason..

9) YOUR POST MUST INCLUDE a LINK TO AN AFFILIATE INFO LANDING PAGE THAT is ON YOUR SITE. (Not just a link to the network page)

YOUR AFFILIATE LANDING PAGE ON YOUR SITE, MUST HAVE A LINK TO A BONAFIDE AFFILIATE APPLICATION WHICH CAN BE ON YOUR SITE if it's an in-house program OR on a network.
MAIL ME TO JOIN is NOT ALLOWED.

You need a bonafide affiliate landing page on your site that includes commission amounts and other standard affiliate program info. You also need a sign up form on your site or a link to the network sign up application.

WHY? We need to be able to check the offer if there's a question. We also need to be able to see it's a bonafide affiliate program, that is properly set up and ready to accept affiliates. Affiliates want to see all the details on your site, look at your FAQ and TOS before joining. Most importantly most affiliates would never email you to join or give personal info on a non-standard form or non-secure page.

If your program is not ready for prime-time and does not have the industry standard information set up, then it is not ready for posting on the 5 Star forum.

=================================
30 DAY POSTING LIMIT - NEW RULE (added 8/3/07)
I've tried my best to be lenient but there are some people (mainly networks) taking advantage of the free advertising here, so they ruined it for everyone!

From now on only 1 program update every 30 days.

If BY CHANCE you really have important news like your program is down or links need to be changed or something critical that needs to be communicated sooner than a month, please PM me details and ask for approval.

==================================

Affiliate program promotions are a free service offered by the 5 Star forums.
We reserve the right to refuse this free advertising service for any reason we see fit. If you post here your program better be ready for market, thoroughly tested, pay on time and use ethical marketing practices!

Affiliates - be sure to do your own due diligence before joining any affiliate program. Just because a program is listed here does not mean we have evaluated their marketing practices. We do not endorse or approve any programs listed in this section.

==================================
Thanks for understanding and we look forward to your affiliate program announcements.