The JVZoo Marketplace is an affiliate network where affiliates can find products to promote and where sellers can post their products for affiliates. While JVZoo mostly focuses on digital products (such as software, digital services, online courses, etc.), there are over 200 niches within that category.
With affiliate marketing, the first step of choosing a product can determine your success or failure. You need to take into consideration the commission rate, demand, competition, product quality, refund rate, and long term sustainability. JVZoo has some of the highest affiliate commission rates you’ll find, although these are low-mid ticket items. Read along to learn how you could make over $50K a year on JVZoo.
Local lead generation is a business model where, like affiliate marketing, you drive leads to your clients. The difference is, with local lead generation, you receive predictable passive income as monthly rent. It works by creating and ranking your website on Google using free tactics such as SEO, then renting it out to local businesses. It’s a low risk and low maintenance business model that is easily scaled.
How Much Do Affiliate Marketers Make?
Affiliate marketing is currently estimated to be an $8.2 billion industry. Many businesses and manufacturers look for affiliate marketing to sell their products and services. How much you earn as an affiliate marketer depends on a lot of factors, such as niche, price, commission rate, and affiliate marketing method.
According to research by Glassdoor, the average salary of all affiliate marketers of any level of experience or niche is $56,738 a year. In research by Shopify, they found the highest average commission rate was $70.99, while the low average was just over $6 per commission.
Pros and Cons of JVZoo
Pros
Absolutely free. Quick sign up and approval process.
Attaining the “Premium Affiliate” status allows you to receive instant commissions. The payout threshold is lower than most affiliate marketplaces.
JVZoo Academy is an affordable way to get affiliate marketing training.
Cons
Many questionable products on their database. Promoting these products may affect you negatively, especially if you are using your own brand or personal account.
There are still some “dead” products that are kept on the database.
No physical products.
JVZoo was founded in 2011 in Oviedo, Florida. They have since grown to facilitate over 800,000 affiliates. With over 18 million products sold, JVZoo has been featured in the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America list in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
Who Are the Founders of JVZoo?
Laura Casselman
Laura Casselman has been the current CEO of JVZoo since 2016. She previously worked in sales and marketing management for various companies before becoming JVZoo’s COO in 2014. Laura is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2020, she co-founded VidaStreet, a lead generation agency that provides B2C marketing services.
Bryan Zimmerman
Bryan Zimmerman is a co-founder of JVZoo and was its CEO for the first 5 years before becoming its COO after 2016. A former professional golfer, he started marketing products and services online in 2008. Bryan is a graduate of Christopher Newport University in Virginia. He also authored the best-selling book "This is What Success Looks Like."
In 2011, Bryan created BBC Systems Inc., a tech company that provides software solutions and integrations for small and mid-sized businesses. BBC Systems would be the parent company of JVZoo.
Chad Casselman
Formerly an IT director, department manager, and software consultant, Chad Casselman is a co-founder and the current CIO of JVZoo. Chad has an MBA from Webster University in Missouri, a Master of Computer Science from North Carolina State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Coastal Carolina University.
How Do You Become a JVZoo Affiliate?
It is quick and easy to sign up for the JVZoo affiliate network. Just create an account with your email address and you should get the approval email within minutes. Next step will be to set up your preferred payment method.
Most JVZoo affiliates choose PayPal because the commissions are instant (with “Premium Affiliate” status). Premium Affiliate can be attained by hitting a certain sales target of a specified affiliate program while maintaining a low refund rate.
How Does the JVZoo Affiliate Program Work?
Both sellers and affiliates have to first sign up and create their JVZoo profile. A seller can post their product and put details such as their requirements for their affiliate. An affiliate simply needs to click “request approval” to apply.
What Products Can You Promote as an Affiliate?
JVZoo is exclusively for digital products. This ranges from e-learning courses to computer software and mobile phone apps. The categories range from business and finance to writing and speaking. You won’t be promoting big known brands like Microsoft or Apple. With JVZoo, you’ll be selecting from unfamiliar products.
What Affiliate Programs Does JVZoo Offer?
Most of the offers you’ll find on JVZoo are pay-per-sale. Some of the products, especially software, are subscription-based. The majority of mobile app products are pay-per-install. Many of the affiliate programs, especially the verified best-selling ones, require some experience from the affiliate marketer, such as a minimum number of sales and a low refund rate.
How to Select the Best Products on JVZoo?
Finding the best affiliate product is the first important step that can mean the success of failure for your business. Before selecting a product on JVZoo or any other affiliate marketplace, always do diligent research on it. A couple of the websites where you can do more product research before making your decision are MunchEye and JVNotifyPro.
You can filter your search through dozens of categories.
If you're looking for a quick start, you can jump straight into their current best-selling products list.
You can also sort the columns on the product search page. This way you can select a good product by finding a balance between high sale numbers and low refund rates.
If you’re considering a brand new product, it’ll pay to wait a month or so for other affiliates’ reviews detailing their experiences. This will give you a real idea about whether a product is actually worth it. You can also purchase these products yourself to test out their quality.
WARNING!
Never trust reviews that were written on the same day the product was released. When a product has just been released, you’ll probably just find marketing information scattered around the web. This promotional content is usually filled with hype and buzzwords, instead of facts.
Keep in mind that products on the bestsellers list aren’t necessarily high quality. There’s a lot of faulty and substandard products on JVZoo so, be careful. Some ecommerce products make ridiculous claims, often boasting about features that are completely implausible, and sometimes impossible altogether. Make sure you do your research.
Do You Need a Website for JVZoo?
You do not need your own website to apply for JVZoo affiliate programs. Once your application has been approved by the seller, you will receive an affiliate link, which leads to their sales page. All you need to do is to promote this link using various means.
It would certainly help to have a website such as a blog or YouTube channel that focuses on your chosen niche. Writing a blog, for example, is a great way to promote your affiliate products and convince the visitors to make the purchase.
See the Affiliate Marketing FAQ section for ways to promote your link for free.
How Do You Make Money on JVZoo?
Commission rates range from 50% up to 75% of the purchase price, with commissions for items over $35 being generally higher. Subscription-based products also give recurring commission when the customer is billed.
The most common conversion types on JVZoo are pay-per-sale and pay-per-install. There is usually a withholding period determined by the seller in which your commission will be withheld in order to account for refunds. Achieving the “premium affiliate” status will allow you to get paid by JVZoo for your commissions almost instantly.
If you are a beginner who wants to learn the ins and outs of effective affiliate marketing, JVZoo has their own training program: JVZoo Academy.
JVZoo Academy
For $67 monthly, you get access to JVZoo Academy masterclass and page builder. In addition to the main training course, you will also receive the following:
- JVZoo Academy Page Builder - an automated page creation software.
Lifetime premium hosting for all your Academy web pages. - 20+ “Strategy” interviews with JVZoo’s TOP EARNING marketers
- Monthly Q&A webinars
- Access to private forum and Facebook group
- 24/7 priority JVZoo support
How Do Affiliates Get Paid on JVZoo?
Depending on the conversion type of the affiliate program, you will accumulate your affiliate commission on your JVZoo profile. Once you hit the set payment threshold, the money will then be forwarded to your preferred payment option. The lowest minimum payment threshold is $50. You can edit this threshold to a higher amount.
What Are the Ways and When Do You Get Paid as a JVZoo Affiliate?
There are currently 3 payment channels under JVZoo pay that you can select from as an affiliate.
- Trolley - Receive payments directly to your bank account or PayPal account.
- Payoneer - Choose the payment method that best suits you: Payoneer Prepaid Mastercard or direct bank transfers.
- Wise - Receive payments directly to your checking or savings account with real exchange rates and no hidden fees.
You can also select a manual payout method using 2 different channels. JVZoo will not be involved and will not be responsible for any issues if you decide to use these channels.
- PayPal - Makes it easy for others to pay your affiliate commission.
- Home address - For sellers who pay affiliates by check.
Usually there is a 14-day to 1 month holding period depending on the seller. With “premium affiliate status”, you get paid instantly. You can cash out only after your income has passed the threshold.
JVZoo As An Affiliate Platform in 2024
Reasons Why JVZoo Is A Good Affiliate Platform
Reasons Why JVZoo Might Not Be A Good Affiliate Platform
What's not mentioned in the video: About 65% of affiliate marketers generate traffic primarily through SEO. Although affiliate marketing promises to be a beginner-friendly business, new affiliates should at least learn the basics of SEO and digital marketing to survive this highly competitive market.
Any Better Alternatives to JVZoo?
If you're looking for something else other than a digital product, you’ll have to find other affiliate marketplaces. There are dozens of good affiliate platforms where you can find products to promote for free. Shopify, who has their own affiliate platform, made a list of 29 of the best affiliate marketing programs and websites.
Many users of JVZoo also recommend ClickBank. ClickBank is a popular marketplace among beginner affiliate marketers. They have an expansive list of products with good commission rates and various conversion methods.
Is Affiliate Marketing a Risk?
As with all business models, there are risks involved with affiliate marketing. Effective marketing usually means you have to run paid advertising. Paying for ads creates high risks. Alternative free methods minimize the risks but could likely be ineffective.
Unless you already have an established brand where you can effectively market the product, you risk losing time and effort. If you advertise the product using your own personal social accounts, you risk your reputation should the product prove unreliable.
Can You Be Sued for Affiliate Marketing?
While you can absolve yourself from fault if the product proves to be less than legitimate, you are required by law to disclose that you are an affiliate. You must follow the guidelines set by the FTC or risk getting into legal trouble.
Where Does The Claim That JVZoo Is a Scam Come From?
JVZoo has a massive product database, and tons of new products are released every single day. There’s a lot going on, and unfortunately, JVZoo doesn’t make much of an effort to control it for the most part.
Every day, you'll see fraudulent products pop up. JVZoo doesn’t take any real responsibility to clean up this scammy activity. This means that the responsibility to assess products falls on you. Be really careful about which products you choose and be wary of products that are too good to be true.
Some of the biggest offenders are actually the “top sellers”. JVZoo is simply picking the products that make the most money, rather than the highest quality products. So always remember to do your product research. Vendors might also pull the plug on their products with absolutely no warning. Once they’re gone, it’s impossible to contact them or get any support.
Ironically, most of the negative review of JVZoo come from customers receiving faulty products who blame the platform for it. A good deal of negative feedback is from customers asking for refund because of the bad product.
The positive reviews cite the good JVZoo customer support.
The Final Verdict on JVZoo
While there are bad products listed on JVZoo’s Marketplace, there are also some great hidden gems. You just really need to know where and how to look.
The problem is that sometimes even the worst products disguise themselves perfectly as profitable ones. This is a problem with affiliate marketing as a whole. Once you’ve figured out how to differentiate between the good and bad products, there’s serious money-making potential on this site.
Almost every single product on JVZoo features information which is seriously hyped up. It’s rare to find a product on this site that doesn’t make unrealistic claims. The problem is that these products often make tons of money on hype alone. JVZoo is in a tough position where they can’t really say no to all this revenue coming through their site.
It’s a fast-paced network and it can feel a little unethical and scammy at times, but that’s exactly what this industry is all about at its core. All affiliate networks are plagued by vendors selling bad products. The path to success in affiliate marketing with JVZoo is to invest a substantial amount of time into researching products, writing blog articles, and/or filming YouTube reviews.
If you are someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to spend on doing all these things, affiliate marketing might not be for you. Check out another business model called local lead generation as a passive income option.
Local lead generation is more stable income source because you have full control over the business. Ranked digital assets generate predictable monthly income and businesses stay with you long-term. It's also less saturated since you're targeting a localized market in a specific niche. You're not just selling random stuff here, you're offering essential services that regular people need, like plumbing, landscaping, and tree care.
Be Your Own Affiliate With Local Lead Generation
Affiliate marketing is only a passive source of income if you invest in paid ads, have a running business, a channel with an audience, or a social media presence with a large following. It’s either a high risk method, or a time consuming process.
Local lead generation offers mode advantages with less investment in time and effort when compared to affiliate marketing. It’s all about ranking your websites on Google generating leads for local business owners. Once your website is ranked, leads start flowing in automatically.
Take a look at what the entire lead gen process looks like.
You don’t have to keep investing time with your website once it’s been ranked. It can stay ranked for years before you even need to update it. As leads automatically come in, so does your commission for each lead. You don’t need to run ads or worry about competition.
To scale your business, simply repeat the process. You can do this as many times as you want. These qualities make local lead generation the number 1 passive income model that can create time and financial freedom for you.
Affiliate Marketing FAQ
There are many factors you need to consider when finding a highly profitable affiliate product. Aside from the price of the product and commission rate, you also have to consider the demand and sale rate, whether it’s a recurring sale or subscription-based, the reputation of the product or company, etc.
For example, a best-selling low-priced subscription with a good enough commission rate might fare better than a single purchase of a high-ticket product with a large commission rate that rarely sells. Make sure you do your due diligence when researching an affiliate product to promote.
In marketing, advertising is king. The more you spend on ads, the higher the visibility, which leads to a greater flow of traffic. Paid ads definitely increase your chances of converting leads into sales. That said, you don’t have to run paid ads to promote your link. There are several ways to promote your affiliate product or service at no cost:
- Social media marketing - You can use your own personal account or create a business page or account. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are good places to start. You need some creativity to create persuasive posts if you want to go this route.
- SEO - Using search engines such as Google and YouTube, you can create search optimized content for your blog or YouTube channel to promote your affiliate product or service. This will require you to learn some copywriting or video editing skills. You’ll be spending a lot of time researching and optimizing your content to beat the search engine algorithms.
- LinkedIn - This is an established platform for professionals. If you are promoting a B2B product or service, LinkedIn is a great platform to organically reach out to businesses.
As an affiliate marketer, you don’t need to have your own website. You will receive an affiliate link from the seller, which leads to their sales page. You simply have to promote that link through other means, and the affiliate sale will be credited to you.
Usually, there is a holding period to consider returns and refunds. However, there are affiliate programs where you can get paid daily. JVZoo does have an option where you can get paid every day as long as you hit the threshold. The catch is, you need to prove yourself first as an efficient and trustworthy affiliate on their platform before you are approved for this payout option.
The amount you get paid from your affiliate link depends on a couple of factors: the payment model and the price/commission rate. On the low end, a typical commission rate is 5% of the sale and up to 50% on the high end. As for the payment model, also known as the conversion type, there are several ways to make money.
Here are the 5 most common conversion types:
- Pay per sale - the most common type in ecommerce. You earn a commission for each sale you make.
- Pay per action - you earn a commission every time a specific action is performed. This is a common method used as it is easy to change it to fit different offers, such as a newsletter signup, a click, filling up a contact request form, etc.
- Pay per install - this is typically found with mobile apps and computer software. You earn a commission every time a lead installs the affiliate app or software through your link.
- Pay per lead - a popular type for beginners as you can earn even without making a sale. You get a commission for simply having leads sign up for a mailing or calling list.
- Pay per click - the least common type used by big merchants who are trying to establish brand awareness. You earn a commission every time a lead clicks on your affiliate link. This method also gives the lowest payout.
Great tips! Getting real prospective clients isn’t easy.
Personally, I’m always testing out new techniques to
get leads.
You should take a look at Resellerize.com when you have a chance. It's definitely the best affiliate network for digital products. Affiliates are automatically approved to promote all products, earn 100% commission on every sale and get paid out instantly to their PayPal accounts.