Everyday, A lot of people are learning that the best way to make money at home online is to start with some of the best affiliate programs on the web. They go in with big hopes of making it big online just like many who have done it and are still doing it.

What's easier then joining a free affiliate program, throwing some links on your site, promote the site, and start to make money online at home. Again, many are making tremendous amounts of money for doing just that.

Every successful internet marketer knows that many work at home programs that people pay money for are flat out scams. They are no good. But what many new and older marketers don't know is that some of the many internet affiliate programs that are out there don't pay their affiliates for their owns sales.

Are you shocked? You probably never heard of this before. Is this something new to you? This has happened to many, including myself.

This is very true. You go and sign up to a brand new and free to join affiliate program. It looks and feels good to you. You feel excited because it tells you that the conversion rate is 1 sale in every 20 unique visitors. So you say to yourself "What the heck, this program looks good. I am going to give it a lot of exposure on my site". So you do just that.

Sales start to come in on a daily basis. Now, many affiliate programs pay their affiliates twice a month. When the pay period comes, you expect to get your money either through online payment or through a check. Everything seems to be OK. But one day you start to think about why you have not gotten your affiliate commission payment from that particular affiliate program.

So you email the affiliate manager and ask them why they are not paying you your commissions. Days go by, and the affiliate manager doesn't reply back to you so you email again. And again, no response. If you are waiting for a check or an online affiliate payment then you go into your account and see if you got all of your info right . Every thing seems to be OK.

Now, if you are reading this article, you are probably thinking that this has happened to only 1 or 2 affiliates for that particular web affiliate program. But what if I told you that many people who promoted this particular program also had the same problem.

This is what I like to call "An online affiliate program scam". You can promote the program and make sales, but chances are that you will not get paid. This is linked to your regular web work at home scams. Schemers sell people a work at home program, they take their money, give them nothing in return, and run away.

Believe it or not, there are a small number of these free affiliate programs out there.

The best way to find out if an affiliate program is good or not is by going to the many good online forums out there and see if the program that you are looking into right now is any good.

Not every bad affiliate program will come offline and be stopped. They will keep going even though they have not paid 1 single affiliate. Find a good forum where top affiliates go and see what they are talking about and what internet affiliate programs they are promoting and are getting paid on. You will find good affiliate programs to promote who will actually pay you for your sales.