You get a one-time bounty payment for the customer you referred. You will not get commission on any future purchases that customer makes. You get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant through a banner or text link, regardless of whether or not a sale is made. You get commission on direct sales that you generate, plus you get commission on sales generated by affiliates that you recruit. You get paid a one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant.
Affiliate programs are the wave of the future.
Many companies that sells goods, products or services online are realizing the benefits of affiliate programs. Hence, the number of affiliate programs is increasing at an exponential rate. All a site owner has to do is add a link to an online store and earn money from every click or referral that leads to a sale. How an affiliate program performs for you depends on your site and your traffic. If your site is about the Grateful Dead and you try to make money by joining an affiliate program related to Internet marketing, you probably won't have much success.