**Disclaimer:** This review reflects **my personal experience and opinion** as an affiliate user. Your results may differ, and I encourage anyone considering AWIN to do their own due diligence and testing before making decisions.
**Bottom Line Up Front:**
After years away from affiliate marketing, I came back expecting to pick up where I left off with ShareASale. What I found instead was AWIN’s thin catalog, poor user experience, and shaky payment reliability — a far cry from the high-trust network I once relied on.
My Journey Back Into Affiliate Marketing
I’ve been around the affiliate world for a while. Back in the day, I was a **long-time ShareASale affiliate**, selling high-end products — including mountain bikes worth **thousands of dollars** — without a hitch. ShareASale wasn’t just a platform; it was a dependable partner. Payments were reliable, vendors were trustworthy, and I could confidently scale campaigns knowing the network had my back.
Then life changed. In 2019, family illness pulled me out of the game. Affiliate marketing took a back seat for several years, and now, in 2025, I’m essentially **starting over from scratch**.
Coming back, I discovered that ShareASale had been sold to AWIN. On paper, AWIN looked like a bigger, stronger global platform. I signed up hoping for continuity — and maybe even an upgrade. Instead, I got a reality check.
👉 That’s when I decided to turn this comeback into something bigger: a **series of affiliate network reviews.** Not the kind of “top 10” fluff lists you see everywhere, but real reports based on **my firsthand testing** of the catalogs, tools, and payout systems.
If you’re also researching where to put your time and trust, follow along — because this review of AWIN/ShareASale is only the beginning.
What I Found in the U.S. Catalog *(My Experience)*
* **Thin U.S. catalog** → only \~183 vendors showed when I applied the U.S. filter.
* **Category filtering didn’t make sense** → when I switched between categories (health products, furniture, flowers, etc.), the vendor list often didn’t change. In one case, *flowers* displayed things like batteries and unrelated products.
* **Green filter inconsistency** → when I filtered only for “green” (payment-reliable) vendors with the U.S. filter on, I still saw listings from other countries.
In my opinion, this gave the impression that the catalog was being **padded to keep numbers high** rather than showing only the true active, U.S.-ready vendors. It felt suspicious and made narrowing down products very difficult.
Payment Reliability Concerns *(My Take)*
AWIN uses a **green/yellow/red icon system** to show whether vendors are paying affiliates reliably:
* **Green = safe.**
* **Yellow/Red = risk.**
Here’s what I experienced: **most vendors were not green.**
Hovering over the payment status revealed: *“until they pay AWIN, you will not be paid.”*
That’s not the kind of reassurance affiliates want. It means an affiliate could drive sales and still not get paid if the vendor delays payment.
I can’t say why vendors weren’t green — maybe they were slow payers, maybe they left the system but weren’t removed. What I can say is: it did not inspire trust **for me**.
The 4-Hour Test Drive *(Personal Review)*
I gave AWIN a fair shot. I spent over **4 hours** digging through their catalog:
* Filtering only for green (safe payment) vendors.
* Clicking through page after page because there were no hover previews or product descriptions.
* Wading through a clunky navigation system that slowed everything down.
Ironically, AWIN has the tech for hover popups (they use it for payment status), but **not for product descriptions**. That simple UX gap turned a discovery process into a time sink. Even after hours of effort, I couldn’t get through all the green vendors.
For a company of AWIN’s size, this felt like poor design. The tools to make discovery easier exist, but they aren’t applied where affiliates actually need them.
Account Cancellation (My Outcome)
After all this, AWIN canceled my account. The message I received was:
*“We found that your account does not fully meet the standards required to participate in the Awin network. For security reasons, we are not able to share further details of our review process.”*
To me, this felt like a **lame catch-all excuse.** “For security reasons” doesn’t explain anything — it avoids giving details while leaving affiliates in the dark. It doesn’t help new or returning affiliates understand what they need to improve, and it certainly doesn’t cultivate trust in the network.
For context, I was a long-time ShareASale affiliate who sold high-ticket products worth thousands without issue, so this cancellation was surprising. Whether this was due to stricter policies after the ShareASale migration or just part of AWIN’s internal processes, the end result was the same: **a lack of transparency that leaves affiliates feeling shut out.**
The Verdict *(Opinion Only)*
Based on my own experience:
* **Thin U.S. catalog** → \~183 vendors, with filtering inconsistencies and padded impressions.
* **Poor UX** → broken category filters, no hover descriptions, time-wasting navigation.
* **Payment concerns** → most vendors not green, affiliates not paid until vendors clear invoices.
* **Legacy lost** → ShareASale’s reliability is gone; AWIN’s platform feels hollow.
* **Account canceled without clear reason** → vague “security reasons” explanation provided no actionable feedback.
👉 In my opinion, AWIN/ShareASale is **not worth the investment of time** for U.S. affiliates right now. That doesn’t mean it won’t work for others .**
Final Word
Coming back to affiliate marketing after years away, I wanted AWIN to be the bridge back to the success I once had with ShareASale — selling high-ticket products with confidence.
Instead, my personal test left me with disappointment. AWIN looks big on paper, but in practice, it felt thin, unreliable, and inefficient. And having my account canceled with nothing but a vague “security reasons” excuse only confirmed my doubts.
This is only **my experience and my perspective.** I strongly encourage you to check the network out for yourself before making any decisions.
This is the first stop on my comeback journey, and I’ll continue to share **real experiences reviewing affiliate networks** so you don’t waste time where I did.
👉 If you want to know which networks still deliver in 2025, check back — because this review of AWIN/ShareASale is just the beginning.