LinkShare Affiliate Program
I am no longer recommending LinkShare.
I used their program for 18 months. They have some of the big name merchants, a nice site and good tools. However they do NOT have a good payment track record.
With the volatile business climate Merchants come and go, this is
expected. Some affiliate programs like Commission Junction
(my favorite),
clixGalore
and
ClickXchange
charge merchants up front and require a positive payment pool account
balance. Thus assuring good odds of payment. I
have always been paid, even by bankrupt companies from Commission
Junction, ClixGalore and ClickXchange.
With LinkShare merchant that have closed have NOT paid their
commission and because most LinkShare merchants pay quarterly you
lose 3 - 5 months of commissions.
There was even a very well known company that is still in operation
that ran a 3 month affiliate program. At the end of the three months
they informed me the program was renewed for a additional 3 months.
Two weeks later the program was deactivated saying a mistake was made
and there would be no commission for the renewal period. At the end
of the quarter I inquired about my check and was told by the merchant
that LinkShare reported "irregularities" and would not be
sending a check. They would not elaborate and said to talk to
LinkShare, of course LinkShare says it is a Merchant issue. 
Of course no one cares that I have:
-
Server logs that prove the traffic,
- That no other link "irregularitires" have
ever been questioned in the 18 months,
- That no notice or questions were sent during or
after the program,
- That in 5 years of operation no other affiliate program has questioned any of my links.