I just got an email today that confirmed some suspicions I had after receiving emails from a few affiliates and merchants who were reporting login issues. After 2 years of making a go at running one of the first Christian focused affiliate/CPA networks in the industry, John and Jack decided to call it quits (at least temporarily) last week.

The email from John indicated that all affiliates owed $10 or more in commissions would have a check coming their way by May 31st 2008 to close out the books. He also indicated that the hope at USN would be to resume operations if enough well converting Faith and Family friendly offers were identified.

I’m sad to see this happen within 1 month of Manna Marketing also going under. John and Jack are great guys, were excellent to work for (even though things didn’t work out) and were inspirations to me in my faith walk.

Christian merchants will now need to look to the secular platforms for their affiliate programs or to self hosted software applications. My recommendations for affiliate networks of choice are Shareasale for the budget conscious merchant, or AvantLink for the really serious Christian retail merchant who is looking for advanced datafeed handling and merchandising features.

I know there is a pretty serious concentration of Christian affiliates at Shareasale that are working with IBS Direct and Faithwear as well as SinglesofFaith, and I would love to see a good core of Christian affiliates at AvantLink as well.

Any existing USN affiliates or merchants with questions should contact John Porricolo at jjp [ at ] unitedsharingnetwork.com

I am also looking into another promising affiliate/ecommerce system targeted at the faith-based market, but I have some tire kicking to do before I recommend it.

Good luck and Godspeed to John and Jack in whatever venture they decide to attack next.

The question today comes from our sister site at ChristianAffiliateNews.com from Al:

Are there specific networks of Christian affiliates that you would recommend?

The answer is yes, with one fewer option recently. In the past year, 2 Christian focused networks were launched. Manna Marketing was launched by my business partners Joel and Karen Garcia, and sadly was closed up last month. The other network is actually a former employer of mine. The United Sharing Network is a “Faith and Family” focused network with traditional cost per sale and CPA offers that are either Christian or family friendly secular offers. Check them out.

If you’d like to sign up for the USN, you can do so here.

John Porricolo and Jack Cain, the two guys behind the USN are definitely Men of Faith and deserve the support of believers in the affiliate industry.

God Bless,

Wade