I have been an affiliate with Pinnacle for over 5 years, and in that time I have referred them over 70 players players, generating over 3.3 Million Dollars in turnover for them over this period. I have been very happy with my conversions, and my profits from this quite strict affiliate program. I never had a problem with the ongoing negative carry over, and the 50% payment once every two months structure – it makes sense for them to be careful and is justified by the great book that Pinnacle is. But this latest change to “Hot/Cold commission structure” is just …so frustrating and disappointing.
When I received the email (as posted in the OP), I decided to let it roll and see how it works out. Afterall, my commission is just as prone to being negative as it is positive – maybe a turnover based commission structure would be beneficial? So I let it run for two months.
Basically, on the old system, averaging out all of my monthly earnings from the very beginning (even the small ones when jsut getting started), I was earning over $1100 each month. Under the new Hot/Cold structure, I earnt $206, then $140 for the two months I tested it.
Not Good.
Worse than that, over those two months, my players lost like $12000 USD, which would have given me a VERY NICE couple of months. The new structure basically lost me $3000+. Talk about pissed off.
So I emailed Pinnacle and asked them to swap me back to the old structure. I had been an affiliate for years, so I clearly met the “3 month” requirement. I attach the emails below:
FROM ME
Hi,
My affiliate account was swapped to the Hot/Cold commission plan in December and after a few months of seeing how it goes, I much prefer the old commission plan i was on.
I have been on the normal % losses commission since I joined the Pinnacle Affiliate program several years ago, and have been quite happy with my commissions received the whole time. This Hot/Cold program has in effect cost me a few thousand dollars since it was placed on my account.
Please change my account back to classic 30% revenue share program asap.
THEIR REPLY
Thank you for your email regarding commission structure for your Pinnacle Sports affiliate account. We have recently changed our policy regarding commission structures.
Our new policy states that all new Affiliate Accounts must generate a minimum of 30 active players, diversity in player action and consistent referral activity of no less than 30 new funded players during each 90 day period to be eligible for the net revenue share commission structure.
After 90 days, you are able to opportunity to request an account review via email. At that time, if our records show that your account has met these requirements, we will revert your account back to the 30% structure.
We encourage you to consider utilizing the web tools below to help boost traffic and potential referrals.
https://banners.pinnaclesports.com/artwork/index_banner_farm.php
CLICK HERE FOR XML LIVE ODDS FEED
CLICK HERE FOR SAMPLE CONTENT
We are here to assist you, and our goal is to ensure that your campaigns are successful and you are duly rewarded for your efforts. Please contact us should you need additional assistance.
Kind regards,
Erica
Affiliate Department
MY REPLY
Really? That seems very extreme to me. Would you tell me just how many of your affiliates actually meet these requirements? Because it seems to me like my most profitable affiliate account has just been closed down on me. Over the past two months I should have made over $3000 USD with this program. Instead I made under $400. My affiliate account has generated Millions of dollars of turn over for Pinnacle and a lot of profit. I promote Pinnacle more than any other bookmaker on my site and have been EXTREMELY happy with how it has all run until this point – even with the most draconian rules in affiliate marketing across the entire gambling industry, I have LOVED pinnacles affiliate program. But now this?
My website is a niche website which will never compete with the giant SportsBookReview.com sort of websites. I don’t want to try to. No amount of using the web resources will change that, and it seems unlike that I will ever be able to bring in 30 new players every 90 days no matter what.
Based on this new ‘Policy’ it seems like the best thing I can do is completely reign in my promotion of Pinnacle on my website, because it simply isn’t worth sending the few players there that I can get.
I am VERY upset at this. Please reconsider.
They have not replied to that email, which I sent over a week ago. I take that as a “F*** you”, and assume it means they don’t care about my little site (which may not hurt them, but really hurts my business profitability.
Very Upset indeed.
Shane