MaxBounty Review
Did you know that MaxBounty has been around ever since 2004? It’s one of the oldest affiliate networks out there, so if you are looking for a new one, you should definitely consider it.
In today’s article, we’re looking at everything you should know about this affiliate platform, from what MaxBounty offers you can promote to all the information you ought to be aware of in terms of MaxBounty payout.
MaxBounty Review
First of all, what we’d like to note about this network is that it is a bit different than what you’d be used to if you already use ShareASale or any other MaxBounty alternative.
Most of the categories that you will come across here are in several specific niches, such as health, dating, education, automotive, as well as holiday and insurance. There is a plethora of digital products that you can promote through MaxBounty, too, and there are several big brands working with this company.
A few good examples would be American Express, Apple, Microsoft, and McAfee.
MaxBounty Sign-Up
This is perhaps one of the first hassles involved in the entire process, and one that not too many affiliates appreciate. There are pre-application, application, and post-application processes, so it can take quite a bit of time for you to eventually start promoting MaxBounty affiliate products.
In the pre-application stage, you will be asked for a photo ID and a Skype account. The second will be utilized to verify your identity. If you have a website, make sure that you specify it in the form.
Based on the info that we have come across, it seems that noting your site or blog effectively increases your chances of being approved quicker and easier.
The application process per se involves a number of other personal details that you will have to provide to the platform. You have your address, your basic info, and your contact info, and there are also several security questions that you have to answer.
On top of that, you should note whether you have any previous experience in affiliate marketing, how you’ve heard about this affiliate network, and how exactly you intend to promote some of the offers available on MaxBounty.
Once this stage is over, you will get a call from an affiliate manager. There’s also the option of you requesting the call, which is reassuring.
MaxBounty main features
There are several reasons why MaxBounty is one of the most popular affiliate networks right now.
For example, there is no shortage of affiliate offers since the platform has over 2,000 campaigns at the time we are writing this. On top of that, the CPA model is quite appreciated by most affiliates since it basically helps them to make a bit more money whenever they bring more users to their websites.
As you can expect from MaxBounty and all of its competitors, it also has tracking software in place, which makes the task of telling how many people are clicking on your affiliate links and how many are completing a purchase a breeze.
Another aspect worth adding is that unlike other platforms, MaxBounty pays its affiliates on a weekly basis, so if you ever need a bit of cash fast, you can rely on it in this sense.
Finally, the fact that they have good customer support and you will also work with affiliate managers makes the entire experience pretty satisfactory. To top things off, you can get performance bonuses based on your activity.
We would also like to note that MaxBounty works with several sponsors and brands across the world, so it can be considered a global network. This automatically sets it aside from other platforms that are largely focused on audiences based in the United States, the United Kingdom, or other such countries.
How much money can you make with MaxBounty?
We can’t give you a fixed estimate when it comes to your future MaxBounty earnings or even a general MaxBounty affiliate commission and the reason for that is every brand is different.
The revenue effectively depends on each offer, both in terms of complexity and in terms of the action that the people who click on links perform. Some affiliates report earning about $400 a week or more, but this could be significantly less for beginning bloggers, for example.
How does MaxBounty pay its affiliates?
The best thing about this platform is that the payout information is very straightforward and there are also many payment methods you can rely on. From what we have gathered, it seems that MaxBounty is among the few networks that pay its affiliates through all of the following means:
- Paypal
- Payoneer
- Cheque
- Bitcoin
- Wire transfers
- ACH
To be able to get your money, whether every week or on a different schedule, you need to make at least $100 in commissions. That can be a bit of a drawback for some people, especially those who are currently not living in most Western countries.
Additionally, while MaxBounty can pay you on a weekly basis, when you start out, you will be paid on the 15th of every month and then be switched to a different schedule depending on your performance.
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Pros and cons of becoming a MaxBounty affiliate
When it comes to the advantages of using MaxBounty as a way of increasing your side income, what we’d like to note is that the CPA model works great for most affiliates. There are cases in which you can actually make 80% of the value of the sales you refer to the publishers, which is undoubtedly worth writing home about.
Another pro would be the fact that if you run into any kind of issue, you actually have someone you can talk to. Both the customer service and the fact that there are affiliate managers assigned to most offers recommend MaxBounty.
We wouldn’t want to go into this again, but the payout options and schedules are another benefit, as is the fact that the platform doesn’t have any strict rules when it comes to the location of the affiliates that it allows. You could be based in Thailand and promote products from the US without any issue at all, although you would have to choose the appropriate payment method in that case.
There is also a MaxBounty training program available (going by the name of MaxBounty University) that can both teach you the basics of CPA marketing and how you can make the most of the network. It all sounds pretty neat, right?
Well, as is the case with any other affiliate network out there, there are some drawbacks, too.
The first of the cons deals with the extremely complicated and lengthy approval process, which makes MaxBounty a bit worse when compared to some of its competitors. It both takes a lot of time to finally become a MaxBounty affiliate and there are several steps involved, too.
Read more: AvantLink affiliate network review
Since signing up is such a nuisance and you also have to get on a call with an affiliate manager, you’ll quickly find out that if you don’t have the best traffic or if you are just starting out as a blogger, you might get your application rejected.
There’s also a huge con, and we have to mention this one here because you might go into it without being aware of this disadvantage. You actually have to pay $100 to be approved and make an account with MaxBounty, which you will only get back once you make $100 in commissions.
In other words, if you’re not getting a massive amount of traffic or convincing people to make purchases or perform other actions, it will take a very long time for you to first make $100 on the platform and then get your money back from the signup process.
On top of that, MaxBounty is one of the strictest networks out there right now. There are specific rules that you have to abide by and if you unknowingly go against any of them, you will have your account suspended. All of the earnings you might have made will not be sent out to you.
We’ve seen something similar with Amazon Associates, another network that basically suspends accounts without even giving an explanation for it. But unlike MaxBounty, they always send out a cheque or transfer the commissions to your bank account after they have suspended your account.
To top it all off, there are not as many offers available on the network compared to what you’d find on sites like ShareASale or even ClickBank. This might not be a con per se, but if you do go through the publishers and you find that none of them matches your niche, you’ll have a hard time getting that $100 fee back.
And while there’s good money to be made with MaxBounty, you do have to consider all of these pros and cons before making your final decision.
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How does MaxBounty compare to other affiliate platforms?
MaxBounty vs ShareASale
These two are quite different in that ShareASale is better than MaxBounty in many ways, but the reverse is applicable, too. For one, ShareASale does not have a Paypal payout option, which could be a drawback for some users — and MaxBounty does.
But in every other way, ShareASale is the winner here, since there are a lot of ways of making money and there are over four thousand different publishers available on the platform.
The minimum payment threshold is $50 and while you probably are not going to get your earnings on a weekly basis, ShareASale does seem like the better option here.
MaxBounty vs Peerfly
These two seem to be quite similar from the information that we have acquired about both of them. They both have a fair share of offers, they pay fast, and they also have relatively good customer service in place.
Some affiliates seem to like Peerfly’s user experience a bit more since the interface is clean and easy to work with and there aren’t any technical difficulties even for those who are perhaps less tech-savvy.
MaxBounty vs ClickBank
These two platforms are quite different from one another. Even though you will find that there are fewer offers on MaxBounty, for example, the myriad of those available on ClickBank right now shouldn’t be a major reason for you picking it over other platforms.
The reason we say this is that some (if not many) of the ClickBank offers you will come across are for promoting products that people might not have heard of in their life. Some can be pretty spammy, which automatically makes the task of looking for the right one very time-consuming.
In terms of the money you can make with both, it’s true that they are both winners. Even on ClickBank, you have sellers that offer commissions ranging between 50% and 70%. Plus, getting approved by ClickBank isn’t as much of a hassle.
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MaxBounty vs Amazon Associates
Which one is better out of these two choices? Well, if you were to look at your earnings, you’d probably say MaxBounty. And it is true, you probably have a higher shot of making more money with MaxBounty.
Amazon Associates is also different in that there aren’t different publishers offering unique commissions and cookie lengths – they have fixed commissions based on the product category and the cookie lasts for 24 hours regardless of any other factors.
But because it is such a huge brand and more than 75% of the world right now has at least heard of Amazon before, you might have less of a hard time promoting the products on the platform. We’d say that Amazon Associates is good just for diversifying your income streams, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket and sign up for MaxBounty, too!
MaxBounty vs CJ Affiliate
Formerly known as Commission Junction, CJ Affiliate has been around for quite a bit of time now. The company has more than 3,000 brands on the platform, so it is significantly larger than MaxBounty.
There are different ways to make money, too, since they rely on various types of advertising — from CPC to CPA.
The downside is that they do not pay their affiliates through Paypal (which is something that MaxBounty does do) and if you fail to make any commissions over the course of six months, you’ll get your account suspended.
CJ Affiliate is a pretty good MaxBounty alternative, though, and you should definitely consider it.
So, is MaxBounty worth it?
We’d say that it is. MaxBounty is legit and gives you the ability to generate decent commissions, especially compared to other networks. Despite its somewhat clunky interface, the platform is worth joining, especially if you already have a blog getting a good amount of traffic every month.
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Craig Campbell
I am a Glasgow based SEO expert who has been doing SEO for 22 years.
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