MASSIVE Rev Share fees... WTF?

[KasinoKing]

I don't know how I managed not to notice this before, but I've just seen Intertops are charging me a "Rev Share Admin Fee"...

e.g. For October this fee was $120 and I ended up getting only $48.
{Casino nett win was $600, so I should have earned $120, not $48}

On checking, I see this fee has been made before... every month! (When I earned anything).
There is no mention at all of this in their T&Cs; Anyone know what it's for?

KK

[Engineer]

Anyone know what it's for?

It's a way for them to shave and keep more for themselves, that's all.

Personally, I would drop them and promote someone else such as Mainstreet, C-Planet, Affactive, or Affiliate Edge. With Mainstreet, you can can earn a flat 40% immediately. If a player deposits and loses $600, you will receive $240. Right now you're only getting 8% with Intertops, which is completely ridiculous. What a ripoff. Even if they were paying you the 20% they advertise -- that's still too low, IMO.

[WCD Admin]

What a joke InterTops.... ok, won't be going down that road either. Thanks for bringing this to attention. I have plans KK, only to be taking flat media buys. I think it'd be wise if more affiliates go this route.

There is a flip side to this - when folks take this route, the affiliate will be worth less and less because the only affiliates left will be those who make small change, and therefore the programs will run over them like never before as they become worth less and less.

[grem]

I thought intertops were good.

It is like a service fee charged for making them money.

[Guard Dog]

These type of fees are horrible and disturbing. We saw this trend not so long ago with the 'admin fee' and I am very sad to see Intertops (a reputable program) taking such a stiff fee for, as grem so eloquently put it, 'making them money'.

Roman - can you speak to this? Intertops is notified upon post here, so should be watching the thread.

[GamTrak]

Oh Lord, please say it aint so.

I'm using the old system and do not see an admin fee field, but that's not to say it's not there and I'm just missing it.

I'm sure the wonderful Roman will let us know what is going on and I'm hopeful that this is not the norm.

[GFPC]

This is why Aussie Dave said that shaving is ramped! I have felt that at least for the last year to 18 months. These fees are everywhere. All the top brands are doing them and its getting out of control.

I gotta agree with WCD on this one!! Its time forget about rev share anymore with these Shaves and CPA is just as bad when everyone is considered to be part of a syndicate.

Whats left?

[dendrite]

This has been going on for as long as I've been an affiliate - I stopped sending them traffic over a year ago for this exact reason. The 8-10% commission I was getting was not worth the time and effort I was putting in, despite the fact they do a pretty good job at retaining players

I mentioned it on one of the GPWA threads discussing RTGs, but I think people missed it, as I didn't get a response...

[KasinoKing]

A quick update:
I e-mailed them yesterday and got a confusing response which didn't really explain what is going on. I've asked them to clarify.

In the meantime, I've just checked all my monthly stats for the last 12 months, and every single month they paid me exactly 16%, not the 20% promised in their terms.
The only exception was last month which was only 8%.
The e-mail admitted this was a mistake, and they are looking into why it happened.

Unless they come up with a really good reason for underpaying, I will be officially asking Guard Dog to move Intertops from Recommended to Rogue for breaching their own T&Cs.

KK

[Intertops]

Hi All,

Let me do some clarifications:

• Intertops has launched the “old” affiliate program in 1998 and has not changed the terms of calculation since I am with the company (and will not, as it is no development is done on it)
• Intertops has launched the new affiliate program in February 2007 and
  
  • Has never changed the T&C (except minor adoptions, see a log of the changes on affiliate guard dog; see current version here: Terms and Conditions of the Intertops Affiliate Program)
  • Has never changed the calculation basis – and will not.
  
  
• We had an upgrade to the software in the middle of October that has caused some hiccups in the payments for October. Payments went out on November 4, but unfortunately not all were correct, we are currently going through all statistics, reconcile them and contact all affected Affiliates individually – KK is one of them.

Please let me know, if you need any further information. You may contact me at affiliate@intertops.com or here in the forum.

Best regards,
Roman