A Backend sale is usually referred to as a "Bump" or, as some may know it, a "One Time Offer" (OTO), or even being able to grab more sales down the stretch…

In the Original Question, he may be referring to an Affiliate sending traffic to a Sales page, getting a sale – yet not getting additional commissions later down the road.

I can understand some frustration from this, but as Jonathan stated: LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE AND CAPTURE YOUR OWN LISTS!

Look at the bright side: NO customer service, no problems dealing with the customer AT ALL… unless you really want to, through your list(s)?

Capture leads: Use aweber or getresponse to provide opt-in forms on your Website and you can capture the leads, then turn around and make a few sales on the "front end" and, later down the stretch, get more "backend" sales.

I think his question is a little flawed. Because if I'm not mistaken some of the biggest affiliate marketers ABSOLUTELY sell on the back end.

An example:

"The Rich Jerk" — He first started out selling a low cost, low end "make money online" product (at the time 50 or 100 bucks… now it's like 4.95 for the same product…) Anyhow, he's built a HUGE list, that he sends affiliate offers to quite regularly (esp. huge product launches aka Frank Kern's not Mass Control, etc.). Effectively making affiliate marketing his back end. Sales.

And as far as I understand it. The BIGGEST AFFILIATES are those that have huge lists that they market to regularly.

The way to build a good list: to market to is to create a low cost front end alternative product. (You can even use Elance to do this cheaply.) Or you can even get an exclusive license to a product to sell for 100% of the profits as well.

Sorry for the long comment. But basically, my view is. In the long and short of it. Affiliate marketing CAN BE a great BACK END.

The life of affiliate marketer is great, but then again if you want to build your own brand, your own name, then it will take a lot and you will have to deal with a lot of things before you get it to the "point" where it runs on your own and you don't have to do anything.