Most affiliate programs that I’ve ever come across are all free to join. And why would they want to charge you for promoting their products? That would be very much like shooting themselves in the foot.

Affiliate programs are a symbiotic relationship between the advertiser and the manufacturer or distributor. One needs the other and by working together, everyone succeeds.

The manufacturer (or maker of the product) wins because they get extra marketing done for them because an affiliate doesn’t get paid until a sale is completed.

If the person running the affiliate program is the distributor, they win too because they don’t have to pay anyone until a sale is completed.

The affiliate also wins because they get a product to sell without having to manufacture anything or get the distributors rights to distribute the product.

Everyone benefits from this symbiotic relationship.

Having said that there are some manufacturers out there who are so protective of their product they are loath to let ‘just anybody’ sell it. They have either not seen the advantages, are too close to their own product or have had a bad experience with affiliate marketers. Which is a shame really because some of them have a really good product that a lot of people would like to sell for them, but can’t get the right to do so.

Another advantage from the producer’s point of view, affiliate marketers can spread the word about a good product far and wide; often well beyond the area in which the product is manufactured or locally marketed.

This extended reach can increase the product sales volume considerably.

When this is done properly the product often enjoys brand recognition that the manufacturer hasn’t had to pay to achieve. But unfortunately it can also work in reverse too. Hence a possible bad experience some manufacturers may have had with affiliate marketers.

If as an affiliate marketer you are ever asked to pay to join an affiliate group you really need to look at what they are offering. It is unusual and the benefits (in my experience) have been all one-sided ~ theirs. So obviously I’ve run a mile and found better products, better service and much easier to deal with programs that have been free to join affiliate programs.