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Unlike PPC programs like Google Adsense, where converting a visitor to a sale depends on the landing page, product features and prices and is the responsibility of the merchant, in affiliate programs, the affiliate spends his/her time and money getting visitors to the merchants website. Even then, many merchants will avoid paying commissions to their affiliates.

Some of the reasons why commissions are not paid to affiliates despite making sales:
1. For expensive products, the visitor may not make a purchase the first time he/she visits the merchants website. After several visits and comparisons with other similiar products, a purchase decision may be made. Most sales are tracked by the cookie and if the buyer deletes the cookie before making the purchase, the affiliate is not credited the sale, though he/she has sent the visitor to the merchants website.
2. Sometimes, the tracking cookie expires after 30 days, but the visitor sent by the affiliate makes a purchase at a later date, so the affiliate is not credited for the sale.
3. Since no one tracks or monitors the dishonest merchants, some merchants do not credit their affiliates for sales by giving a variety of reasons. Most affiliate marketers learn to avoid such merchants after a few bad experiences.