ShareASale Review: Trusted Affiliate Marketplace for New Marketers


Welcome to My ShareASale Review

Affiliate marketing is one of the best yet affordable ways to start a small business online. You do not need to invest any money on products to start this business.

What you need is to find a trusted affiliate marketplace, sign-up as an affiliate and select the products that you want to promote, then finally earn a commission once a sale is made.

It’s just that simple.

There are 3 important components in an affiliate marketplace: The Marketplace (platform), The Merchant (product owner) and The Publisher (affiliate).

The Merchants list their products on the Marketplace, so the Publishers or more commonly known as affiliates can select which products they want to promote in order to earn a commission.

When the Publisher managed to sell any product, the Merchant will pay a commission to them.

Of course, the Marketplace earns by charging a listing fee on the Merchant as it provides an automated platform to facilitate these business processes.

Affiliate marketing is a very powerful collaborative model for businesses as it works to the best benefit of all parties. The more the three parties collaborate, the more money they can earn together.

QUICK NAVIGATION
What is ShareASale?
Inside ShareASale
Who is ShareASale for?
The Truth About ShareASale?
Things I Like About ShareASale
Is ShareASale A Trusted Affiliate Marketplace for New Marketers?
How I Start a Small Business Online

One of the most reputable affiliate marketplaces is called ShareASale.

Before I continue, I would like to let you know upfront that I am also an affiliate marketer recruiting affiliates for ShareASale, on top of promoting other affiliate products from this marketplace.

This business has allowed me to quit my c-level job and work at home earning a full-time income.

If you’re keen to learn the exact method of how I start this business, then I suggest you grab a copy of my free guide and follow the step-by-step action.

Despite, I earn $1 for getting each affiliate sign-up, you can rest assured that I’ll still be giving you an honest, reliable and impartial review from the perspective of a Publisher so you could make an informed decision whether this affiliate marketplace is what you need.

Inside this review, not only will you learn all the awesome features available to Publishers, but you’ll also discover some of the shortcomings of ShareASale which only an active user will know.

Now, here’s how an affiliate marketer collaborates with ShareASale to earn money online.


SHAREASALE REVIEW SUMMARY

Product Name:  ShareASale

Founder/Owner: Brain Littleton

Product Type: Affiliate Marketplace

Price:  Free

Best For: Affiliate marketers

Summary: ShareASale is one of the best affiliate marketplaces that offers more than 3,900 affiliate programs covering almost every niche. It was established for more than 19 years and in 2017, was acquired by global affiliate network Awin to provide further international opportunities to domestic advertisers and publishers.

Rating: 8/10

Recommendation: Yes


What is ShareASale?

ShareASale is one of the best affiliate marketplaces, offering more than 3,900 affiliate programs that cover almost every niche for marketers to pick from.

Other than Amazon Associates, it’s one of the affiliate marketplaces where you can easily get your affiliate application approved so you could start promoting any of its merchant’s products.

Founded by Brian Littleton in 2000, ShareASale was acquired by global affiliate network Awin in 2017 to provide further international opportunities to domestic advertisers and publishers.

Despite anyone can register with ShareASale and start an affiliate business, however, due to the complexity of running this business, many people didn’t manage to earn a full-time income.

Unless you followed a step-by-step guide to affiliate marketing, otherwise, you might get frustrated and ended up quitting, before even making any money.

Compared to other affiliate marketplaces, ShareASale claims to offer a more diverse range of products and comes with excellent customer support.

Let’s take a deeper look and find out whether this affiliate marketplace truly lives up to its reputation.


Inside ShareASale

Just like other affiliate networks such as CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Linkshare, ClickBank, and Impact Radius, ShareASale provides an automated platform for marketers to easily get all the tools and resources they need to promote merchant’s products.

Products you can promote from ShareASale range from different categories such as automotive, music, clothing and fashion, blogging, garden and tips, and many more.

Some tools and resources offered to affiliate marketers include real-time tracking, stores connect, custom link creation, knowledge-base, training, and many more.

How To Earn Money With ShareASale

In order to start earning money with ShareASale, you must first register as their affiliate.

An awesome thing about ShareASale is the minimal barrier to entry. This marketplace is not really concern about the traffic you have whereby even a complete beginner gets equal chances to be accepted as an affiliate.

Anyone can sign up for free whereby you’ll be notified of your application status within 3 working days.

For me, my application was approved in less than 24 hours. That's awesome, right?


Once you’re accepted as their affiliate, the first thing you’ll need to do is to set up your account, particularly how you want to get paid.

Few methods to get paid include via direct deposit, mailed check, wire deposit or Payoneer. Unlike JVZoo and Wealthy Affiliate, there’s no option to receive payment via PayPal as of now.

Therefore, should you decided to monetize with ShareASale, then it would be advisable to set up a Payoneer account.


ShareASale promptly pays affiliates on 20th of each month once reached $50 payment threshold.

After complete account setup and select payment method, then it’s time to find the products you want to promote.

ShareASale does not automatically approve any product that you want to promote. For each product, you’ll need to apply directly with individual merchant via Merchant Dashboard inside ShareASale before you’re eligible to earn a commission from them.

Should you have any queries about each application status, you are eligible to contact the said merchant for further inquiries.

Below is a complete guide to starting with ShareASale affiliate program so you can start earning money online.


Promotional Material & Affiliate Links

There are many ways you can promote affiliate products on your website, social networks or anywhere on the web.

ShareASale offers you text links (standard and custom links), banner ads, gift cards, and videos so you could earn a commission when someone clicks on your promotional materials and buys.


If you find standard links not good enough, then you have the option to create your own custom affiliate links from most of the page of your selected merchant website, yet still, be entitled to the same affiliate commission when someone buys.

The video below shows you how to create custom links. All links can be shortened to be shared on social networks too.


On top of that, you can setup affiliate tracking that lets you test the effectiveness of multiple ads and marketing channels, thereafter, determine which combinations perform better so you could optimize your affiliate campaign.

Finally, here’s the good news for affiliate marketers with multiple websites. You won’t need to apply for the same merchant products for every website that you own.

All you need to do is to apply once and all your websites will be active for that program. This means you don’t need to sign up multiple times for every merchant program you apply for.


Real-Time Tracking & Reports

ShareASale offers various reporting metrics such as traffics, unique hits, net sales, net commission, number of sales, conversion rate including earnings per click.

Inside these reports, you can view the performance of each merchant’s products and make a comparison to determine how you want to implement your next affiliate marketing strategy.

One notable report that I think is highly valuable is the Invalid Links Report. From this report, you’ll know which links that’s clicked on your website or social media pages that are no longer active nor functioning.

Normally, when there’s an invalid link, it’s either the merchant is no longer providing that link or you’ve accidentally inserted the wrong link.

So, if you find any invalid links, you’ll be able to make the adjustment and rectify this error so you could be spared from the loss of affiliate commission, and worst case from search engines’ penalties.

ShareASale’s tracking is all in real-time, so you’ll be able to see clicks and sales as they happen. You can also see the steps that each user takes to get to your affiliate link, to later make a purchase

Knowledge-Base, Training & Support

If you are new to affiliate marketing, I bet you might be confused when first log into ShareASale affiliate dashboard. Its dashboard that's full of unfamiliar terms might be overwhelming for a complete beginner.

The good news is this marketplace offers some kind of training and knowledge-base resources to help anyone get familiar with the dashboard including helpful content about affiliate marketing and industry trends.

You can access all the training and knowledge-base materials via ShareASale Blog or YouTube channel.  

ShareASale offers support through email and will normally respond within 3 days. For phone support, it’s only available from Monday to Thursday, from 9am to 5.30pm and Friday, from 2pm to 5.30pm.


Who is ShareASale for?

ShareASale is perfect for new affiliate marketers who want to quickly get approved by any reputable affiliate marketplaces so they could start promoting products on their websites.

It’s also suitable for people who prefer to promote products from a single marketplace.

Since ShareASale provides a wide range of products for marketers to choose from, therefore you might not require to find more products from other marketplaces.

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The Truth About ShareASale

After doing extensive research on ShareASale, here is some truth about this affiliate marketplace which might alarm some of you.

Truth #1: Cumbersome for Those Staying Outside of The U.S. and Canada

If your website is from anywhere outside of the U.S. and Canada, it’ll be very cumbersome for you to access your commission.

This is because ShareASale has yet to introduce PayPal as a payment option.

When they don’t allow PayPal, it can take weeks for international affiliates to have the payment inside their bank account.

Truth # 2: High Payment Threshold

Unless you’re able to generate up to $50 affiliate commission, otherwise you won’t be able to cash out your earnings.

This can be daunting to new marketers as most won’t be able to make this much when first starting the business

Truth #3: Outdated Merchant and Affiliate Resources

Despite there are many free resources, guides, and webinars for both merchants and affiliates, however, these materials are hardly updated.

For instance, when I try to find the latest ShareASale product catalog, I only found the latest released in winter of 2016. There’re no current updates at all.


This is the same when I try to access its ebooks, video and general resources.

The good news is, they still have a handful of updated post for affiliates, despite it’s only published once every few months.

Truth # 4: Complaints from Affiliates

ShareASale is not as good as it seems to be. Despite it’s easy to get approved as affiliates, many affiliates complained that they don’t get a notification when merchant program shuts down.

In the end, affiliate websites get penalized by search engines due to broken links, ultimately making affiliates lose money.   

To add things worse, support is less than stellar. There are many angry affiliates who complain of racial discrimination, accounts get shut down without notice and more seriously, not getting paid!


Things I Like About ShareASale

I like the fact that ShareASale is a reputable company that allows marketers to easily get approved as affiliates.

This means new marketers are given equal opportunities to earn an affiliate commission, thus having the same equal treatment as those experienced marketers.

Furthermore, affiliates with multiple websites will not have to go through the hassle to apply merchant approval for each of their websites. It can be conveniently done with just one single approval.

Despite there are some complaints about this affiliate marketplace, it’s undeniable that it offers the most varieties of products compared to its competitors.

That’s why I believe ShareASale still a good choice for many marketers.


Is ShareASale A Trusted Affiliate Marketplace for New Marketers?

With years of establishment and affiliation with Awin, a global affiliate network, ShareASale is one legit and trusted affiliate marketplace for all marketers.

I highly recommend new marketers to join as an affiliate of ShareASale to quickly start their business.


How I Start A Small Business Online

I started to promote affiliate products by creating a niche website that offers an honest, reliable and unbiased review on online business opportunities and marketing tools.

This includes providing tips and useful resources to help people start a small business online. I believe you too are searching for online business opportunities and that’s why you ended on my site.

If you want to make a full-time income by promoting affiliate products, then I suggest you get a copy of my free guide and follow through the process.

Inside this guide, you’ll learn the step-by-step action I took to help me quit my c-level job and still earn a decent income at home.


I hope by now you already understand how ShareASale works. If you find this article value, please share on your Facebook and Twitter so more people can make an informed decision.



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17 thoughts on “ShareASale Review: Trusted Affiliate Marketplace for New Marketers”

  1. Wow! This is rather an interesting review on shareAsale and I must say, I am left a little but disappointed with some information I gathered about them through this review. Especially the affiliates complaints and the fact that some of the promotions are outdated, that’s not cool at all. I was planning on joining them as an affiliate, however with this that I have read on about them, I am seriously weighing my options besides, why do they need a payment threshold when I have worked for my earned commission. Well! I guess I got it wrongly with them. Thanks for giving this much information though

  2. Hi Florence,

    This is the most thorough review of ShareASale I’ve read so far. At least now I know that this platform is easy to get approved. Btw, have you had much success with Shareasale? I saw that you are staying outside of U.S. and Canada. How does it affect your payment? 

    1. Other than ShareASale, I also promote products from a few affiliate networks which include Wealthy Affiliate, Impact Radius and JVZoo. All of these platforms are credible, trusted and highly reputable, contributing towards my income. In fact, it’s not really about which credible marketplace you register with, it’s more about how you are going to promote each affiliate product that matters most. If you’re new to affiliate marketing, you might want to consider to get a copy of my free guide to start a small business online and find out how I started mine. 

  3. Thanks for the honest review on share a sale, I have been a little skeptical about joining this platform because I wasn’t so sure if they were legit, you have cleared my doubt with the possibility of success of joining this system,  the only thing that is left out is the payment method, including other options would make it perfect.

    1. Well, the payment method is indeed a hassle for me as well because I live outside of U.S. and Canada. However, it doesn’t really post much of a concern as checks are ok too. 

  4. Wow, shareasale sounds pretty cool to me. I just started affiliate marketing and I was thinking of a very good business that I could jump on to. To start doing shareasale wouldn’t be a big deal for me honestly and I like that they have good commissions. There are more pros than cons with them. I would definitely give shareasale a trial. Thank you for being able to share this on your website because this is a good avenue to make money online. Thanks!

    1. You are most welcome John. I started my first affiliate program with ShareASale too as it’s really easy to get approved. 

  5. For a program to stand the test of time as ShareASale has done, I believe they must be one highly trusted affiliate network. I like the fact that affiliate application can get quick approval. At least a hassle is reduced.  I will definitely give ShareASale a try once I found a good training program to kick-start my affiliate dream. Btw, do you happen to have any good program to introduce so I could learn how to start a small online business?  

    1. Yes, as mentioned in my article, you can try to follow the program that I joined. It’s called Wealthy Affiliate which has not only helped me start this business but also earn a profit from affiliate commission. You might want to check out my Wealthy Affiliate Review to find out whether this program is what you need. 

  6. Everything you need to know about ShareASale in one concise and insightful review. I am in the process of setting up a new website, so I’m currently looking around for any of the opportunities afforded by companies offering affilate status. It’s not always easy to find out the real facts behind some of them.

    The one thing I like about SharASale is that the joining process seems to be relatively easy, that is not the case for some of the other companies out there. I have found some companies expremely difficult to set up with, especially being outside of the US. Also they put restrictions on marketing materials. Making it even more infuriating is that there are time limits in place that mean your accounts are closed due to lack of sales. That’s hard for new businesses.

    You raise a good point about the payment system. Having an easily accessible global money exchange account like Paypal would help matters. There is a huge marketplace worldwide and it would be good to be able to use the same money receiving account for all of our commisions, rather than having a number of different ones to keep track of.

    I have not tried ShareASale as yet but after reading your review I am more inclined to give it a go.

  7. I happen to be looking for an affiliate marketplace and landed on your page. There appears to be a lot of good things about ShareASale as I read those reviews before yours. Yet after reading your review I am quite skeptical that this should be the one I start with. There was no problem with $50 being the minimum threshold to get paid. Since I live in the US, there is no problem with getting paid in time. 

    However, when I checked out ShareASale YouTube training site, I was horrified to find they had only 237 subscribers. Heck, even I have almost 13,000 subs. If that is indicative of how its members think about the quality of their training, that got me worried.

    Hopefully ShareASale will improve their knowledge-base soon. Thanks for the great review. 

    1. I believe ShareASale should be able to make some improvement soon since it is already bought over by Awin. Hopefully soon.  

  8. Hi, Florence, thanks for writing this review. I have been considering to join ShareASale, wanting to know more about it. It’s inspiring to read your experience with ShareASale. The section sharing about shortcomings of ShareASale has indeed been a great help in making my decision.

    Question: Is there a way to do product research before joining the program, in order to be sure, there ‘ll be a product relevant to my niche?

  9. Hi Florence, 

    I believe I saw some of your reviews earlier, a week or so ago and was really impressed with the unbiased way you wrote every content. 

    This afternoon, I was once again landed on your blog. After reading through and following your internet path of those 4 years, I am even more impressed by your continual effort to finally able to quit your job and earn full-time income at home. 

    You’ve definitely inspired me and I would love to follow as well. 

    Sandy 🙂

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