What do they do with your money?

[Kurt]

This is common across virtually all major affiliate networks (except Amazon Merch) and that is their minimum payout level. Adsense has a $100 minimal payout. How much money is in all the accounts that didn't reach $100? I'll bet there's lots of people that have $1-$99.99 on their Adsense accounts. What does Google do with this money that isn't theirs?

Fairly recently JVZoo changed their payout so they only pay out after someone has $50 in their account. This is hardest on new affiliates who may only get a couple of sales and if they do, they won't even get paid for them.

$16.50 in commissions may seem small to many of us, but for someone struggling it may pay their hosting for a few more months or let them buy and flip a domain name...or buy a few gallons of gas. Plus it's a sound business move. Cashflow is a big issue for people starting out and getting as much money into the hands of these people as fast as possible is optimal (one reasonable risk precautions are considered). They've shown they can at least make a sale, which puts them into the top 10% of all affiliates.

I don't think there's really any reason not to pay everything you owe every 3 months in today's electronic age. If there needs to be a small service fee, so be it.

And if you're not paying people this money can you at least tell us what you're doing with it all?

[10x]

With JVZoo I assume you'd get the money back if you canceled your account. With Clickbank, the dormant account fee completely wipes out those smaller (and even bigger) amounts unless you keep making more sales.