It isn’t a scam but I wouldn’t recommend joining SFI Affiliate. Its both an affiliate program and a MLM (Multi Level Marketing) program who sell over-priced products.
The reality is that SFI is partnered with TripleClicks.com and the main purpose of SFI is to train you to become an effective affiliate and referrer.
While SFI Affiliate is free to join, it’s hard to earn money unless you’re buying products yourself every month or referring others to the program. This gives you EA status.
According to another review, once you purchase a product, you’re awarded Versa Points (VP) so you can upgrade to EA status. The alternative is to refer others to join the program who purchase products, allowing you to upgrade to EA status and earn commission from sales that they make, or their referrals multiple generations down the line.
They claim to provide a signup bonus of $20 just for signing up. However you only get that after making your first internet sale and it’s hard to make sales.
And here’s the reason why.
They claim that each time someone clicks your link (or banner) and buys the product, you earn a handsome 45% CV commission.
However in order for their affiliates to earn 45% commission they charge outrageously high prices to customers who buy their products.
For example I did a search for iphone at TripleClicks.com and their iPhone 5S 16 GB Silver is selling at $495.00. Compare that to Amazon who are selling exactly the same product for only £294.41, around $200 cheaper.
That’s why they can afford to pay 45% commission. Because they charge prices much higher than other online stores.
The problem is that few people would buy their products at this price when they can buy them much cheaper from other online stores.
They also claim that TripleClicks.com sell 90,000 products from around the world. However Amazon sell 480 million products.
The affiliate earnings for Amazon are much lower than TripleClicks and only in the single digits. This is what you would expect for tangible, physical products, rather than downloadable products.
However you’re more likely to make a sale as an Amazon affiliate as the products are more affordable and people trust Amazon. Also with Amazon it’s not necessary to purchase products yourself or refer others to earn decent money.
Another disadvantage of TripleClicks is that their products are often shipped from overseas. For example the example I gave, the iphone 5S is shipped from India whereas Amazon’s products are usually shipped from the same country. Amazon has many warehouses and so the delivery time is significantly reduced.
When signing up for any affiliate, you have to ask yourself this question. Would you buy the products sold from that affiliate? If the answer is no, then you’re better off finding another affiliate.
The success of an affiliate or MLM company is dependent on whether people will actually buy the products. Are they affordable? Can you buy the same product somewhere else much cheaper? How long will the product take to ship. What is their returns policy?
Is there a better alternative to SFI Affiliate
For a much better alternative I would recommend Wealthy Affiliate which is Free to Join. I’m with Wealthy Affiliate myself and I believe it’s the best program out there, hands-down. It actually shows you how to do affiliate marketing the correct way so you can create profit straight from home.
Kyle and Carson are the owners and have years and years helping newbies get started and pointed members in the right direction.
WA is here to stay and is just improving every single month. It does work, but only if you’re willing to put in the work yourself! The reality is that it isn’t easy to earn a living online unless you have the right knowledge.