I have not really felt that Commission Junction, aka CJ, was very good. I think that they were the first to really understand that affiliate marketing was something that any brand and business could buy into. However, at some point, they threw in the towel. I remember when I first really got into affiliate marketing to try and see what sites like CJ had to offer and I was pretty impressed. But, soon that changed. I was poking around one day to see if there were some tips I could pick up from the online documentation that CJ provided. They had something called CJU, an acronym for Commission Junction University. Unfortunately, there was not a damn thing in there. I laughed, but I have to say that it changed my perception of the company 100%. What I had envisioned as some big deal company was now not much different than a lot of other sites that I had loose financial relationships with.

Fast forward a few years to this afternoon when I received an email from Jay O’Brien of Apollo Interactive. I assume that Apollo handles or handled University of Phoenix’s CJ stuff because Jay was nice enough to send an email detailing about 20 URLs that were displaying old links to UofP offers…or what used to be. I know there was a big hooplah a few months ago about CJ, but I did not really pay attention much as I was busy with other junk. Funny thing is, the email was so bad, that I could not figure out if the links were bad because the offers had expired, because UofP and Apollo Interactive have decided to end our relationship or if UofP is no longer going to be running offers via CJ…or something else. But, to be totally honest, I don’t really give a crap. If it is not important enough to Apollo, CJ and/or UofP to put together a clear and concise email, then I say F ‘em. There are too many other companies that are willing to put in a little effort and pay out better.

And, one more thing that has been a bit annoying. A couple of months ago, CJ must have decided that it would be a good idea to open up an email front and allow companies to email prospective affiliates that are signed up with CJ. Now, I know I can probably get in the CJ dashboard and figure out how to put an end to this, but how about you turn it off by default CJ? Bah, when eBay jumps ship I am totally out. Eat a bag.