Konga Affiliate Program is a Fraud: My Bitter Experience

by Francis Nwokike

It is with great regret that I write this post on the fraud committed by Konga on its affiliate partners. I joined the Konga Affiliate Program few months after launching The Total Entrepreneurs and over the years have driven traffic to Konga eCommerce site and also written few articles about the Konga Affiliate program as well as signed up 80 sub-affiliates as at the time I write this post. (Picture evidence below)

My Experience with Konga Affiliate Program

Over the years, I have successfully referred buyers to Konga site through their affiliate link on my site. What baffled me was that after seeing many clicks from my sites backend and subsequently getting credited by the affiliate software, I don’t get paid.

Through word of mouth: On a fateful day at the office, a colleague wanted to go buy some kitchen wares; I marketed Konga to him, explaining how he can make an order through my site and receive it at any location of his choice the next day and at an affordable rate as there was a bundle selling on Konga at a discount. Using his PC, I logged in to my blog, used my link to make the purchase for him but to my greatest dismay, this purchase did not reflect. At first, I did not panic, hoping the commission will reflect later but no, it never did. I ignored it.

On another two occasions, it was I that made purchase from Konga using my affiliate link, and the same issue occurred but this time around I wrote Konga explaining my ordeal through the email provided on their platform, the admin at first refuted my claims until I was able to prove beyond all reasonable doubt, including emailing my voucher from Konga before they could pay me the paltry commission. (Just one commission out of the two purchases was actually paid).

My final conviction prompting this write-up was a recent obvious show from the Konga Affiliate team proving they are fraud. A customer used my site to purchase two sets of band (musical equipment) sets worth about N418,000. I received a commission of N12,540 as pending. Before this time (around July) I also referred a customer and my commission of N1650 was sent as pending but declined later.

I contacted the Konga Affiliate Team about this issue.

Below are my conversation with them.

Me: Hello Konga Affiliate admin, I notice with dismay the fact that my commissions have been on pending for a long time. I thrive so hard and even spend money sometimes to promote my affiliate link recently but it is rather unfortunate that after all my effort and after I have gotten some few leads, my commission is yet to be released to me. The duration of which confirmation of payment and return of package has passed and I am wondering why my commission is still pending. I am therefore writing to request that my pending commission of #14,190 be released to me. Thank you.

Konga: Hello, Thank you for contacting. Kindly be informed that commissions have been reviewed accordingly, your June commission has been updated as declined as the last click of the order was attributed to another advertising source. More so, your July commissions would be reviewed at the end of the month of August. Thank you. Regards

Me: That is absolutely not true. This is a case of fraud and I will be ready to take this up with your company for bridging a business deal. This is exactly what your company did the last time I personally referred a customer to purchase microwave from my link. My commission was not remitted until I wrote to your company with evidence and after verification, my commission was paid. This time, you want to do the same thing. Is this really what Konga stands for? How can you tell me after referring customers that you declined my commission as the last click of the order was attributed to another advertising source, yet your trusted software already did its job, which source, are you telling me you choose whom you pay commissions? You will pay me my commission or I will tell anyone that care to hear the fraud that you are committing with your partners, I will give the worst review with this evidence. I wonder the type of admin you are, are you telling me your affiliate software is not doing its work well? Please kindly pay me my commissions, I am begging you now. I can’t waste my resources and time to promote your business and you tell me my commissions are declined. If you feel I am not worthy to be your affiliate, pay me and ask me to go and I will gladly do it but as at now, I desire my wages. Thank you

Konga: It is of paramount importance that all our affiliates are fairly treated and that properly verified commissions are paid as at when due. Thus, we do not take your complaints lightly at all. We understand that the Last Click model can be rather confusing for some affiliates hence our concerted efforts to explain how it works as often as possible. For further insights on this, Last click attribution is a tracking model, where commissions are given to the last source, link or banner a user clicks on before making a final purchase. This means when anyone clicks on affiliate A’s Link, visit the site and leaves the site then the same person clicks on affiliate B’s Link, visit the site and makes a purchase, then the commission will be given to affiliate B. This also doesn’t work only for affiliates, this includes other marketing channels, So when an affiliate link is clicked, and then the person that clicks on the affiliate link later clicks on other internal marketing channel links, then the new link will override the affiliate link and no commission will be paid out to the affiliate with the first link. Nonetheless, please make reference to this for the review period (Link to the review period has since been removed by Konga). Should you at any point in time observe that a commission was not recorded on your dashboard, feel free to reach out for checks with the order reference number as I would be delighted to help you through it. Thank you. Regards

Me: I stand to tell you this is a clear evidence of fraud. The said commission was generated by me. Kindly refer to the last payment that was made to me and verify what really happened. This is almost the same issue I have with your company anytime I get leads. I cannot refer a customer to you and you tell me that I was not the last person that referred the customer, how can this be verified? Who is doing the verification process? What is the essence and work of your software? Are you using an outdated software that does not track properly or do you think you are talking to a nomad? I stand to tell you that you are fraudulent and I will publish a tarnishing report on your presumed reputable affiliate team if you do not credit my commission. I practically beg friends and family to use my link any time they want to make a purchase and they do and most of the times I do not see my commission, on one occasion I wrote, this was looked into and resolved and my commission paid to me. Few affiliates have complained similar treatment but I did not see this as real until now and this made me to be checking my dashboard anytime I personally refer people to use my link apart from the fact that your banner is in my site yet you keep on robbing me. I cannot take this, I need my commission and you will pay me my commission.

At this point, N1650 (being revenue generated for June) was declined.

I accepted this decline and was patiently waiting for my bigger revenue (N12, 540) before I can conclude and take any action. But ofcourse, it was not a different story. August passed and my revenue was neither approved nor declined but continued to be on pending as usual.

I also contacted the Konga Affiliate Team again on 20th September, 2016.

Me: Good evening admin, I write again as a follow up to my pending generated revenue. You told me that my pending revenues (for JULY) will be paid by the end of August. It is now September 20th and revenue generated since July is still pending. Please kindly check, confirm and approve my earnings. Best wishes.

Konga: Hello, Thank you for contacting. Kindly be informed that your commissions have all been reviewed. The orders still stated as pending ought to have been declined. Nonetheless, this has been updated, please note that this is due to the delivery status or the last click attribution of the orders. Thank you. Regards.

And that was it, Konga wiped the whole revenue generated. If the guys at the affiliate backend send revenues generated by other affiliates to their stooge (friends or family), I can’t say and if Konga owners are aware of this anomaly and not doing anything about it, then it’s unfortunate.

Another blogger that saw the Konga Affiliate banner on my site asked me if these guys really pay you and I said not yet, he advised “Stop wasting your time with them, they are rogues. I had a bad experience with them”. Now I know.