Will affiliates like this?

Affiliates,

I am currently finalizing my e-commerce shop (selling Chinese tea) and will also launch an affiliate prg.
As I am new to all this I have a few question for seasoned affiliates;

I will offer (4) free tea samples to users who sign up to my weekly newsletter. My initial thought was to have affiliates promote my shop and especially the "Free Samples" offer. My research show that 4 free tea samples is in high demand and costumers love it, paired with that we have very cheap shipping from China, which means costumers will only pay around $3 for shipping. No other shop offer this.

And now finally my question

Will affiliates promote the free samples offer and in return that costumer will be theirs, affiliates will then receive 10-15% commission on that costumers future purchase(s)

I guess you can say my offer converts on valid email submit, however, there is no immediate payout. I am simply afraid to be scammed if I offer money just for the email registration.

Am I being totally naive?

Not being naive, but unless you can get big affiliates that already have tea traffic, your offer won't interest anyone not already in the niche. What software are you using? What are you doing to recruit affiliates?

Thank you for your reply...

We use Volusions software (also for affiliate prg)
So far nothing is being done to recruit affiliates as we haven't launched our shop yet.

I think you are wrong in regards to who will be interested in Chinese Tea's. Its getting trendy to drink Tea. Its estimated that half the American population drink Tea every day. I guess that would mean that 50% of US visitors on a given site would be interested.

We currently have 8 resellers in the US, their sales numbers back up the estimate - and they are "hobby" sellers.

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm not doubting at all people like tea, however, I'm doubting you're going to get good affiliates to sell tea at minimal commission rates.

eljefe3 said:

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm not doubting at all people like tea, however, I'm doubting you're going to get good affiliates to sell tea at minimal commission rates.

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My initial thought was to offer (lifetime) commission of 15%
Is that too low?

I am here considering the nature of the product, which is a consumable, which hopefully will bring in recurring commission for the affiliate.

I forgot to mention...
I can make it with 5 tiers, so affiliates can also earn money by recruiting other affiliates, and so on.

Chinese tea is really popular these days. I'm pretty sure the keywords niche is pretty competitive too with lots of traffic involved.

GlobalSolutions said:

Chinese tea is really popular these days. I'm pretty sure the keywords niche is pretty competitive too with lots of traffic involved.

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Not too competitive... Keep in mind that there are 1000s and 1000s of KWs to target.
I might end up hiring a "marketing Manager" instead.