1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing Review: Worth It?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. This review is based on public information from SPI’s own pages and independent sources. I have not taken this course.

Pat Flynn is one of the best-known names in online business. When someone tells you “just learn affiliate marketing from Pat,” it sounds like the safe, sensible choice. And in many ways it is. But a course can be honest, well-made, and still be the wrong first step for you.

I’m a pharmacist with a full-time job, and I build my online income in the evenings. That makes me look at any course with one question: does it solve my actual problem? So in this 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing review, I’ll go through what you get, what it costs (the pricing is confusing right now), and who it really suits.

The quick verdict: 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing is a legitimate course from a real, long-running creator. It is not a scam. But it teaches you how to promote products, and many beginners first need to learn how to get people to see those promotions.

What Is 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing?

1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing is a self-paced video course by Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (SPI). According to SPI’s own course page, it teaches three things:

The foundation: the rules of affiliate marketing, including the ethical side
Step 1: choosing your products, including what to do when a product has no affiliate program
Steps 2 and 3: active and passive ways to promote them

SPI’s page doesn’t list lesson counts or video lengths, and reviewers disagree on the course size so I won’t put a number on it.

One thing worth knowing: SPI’s course page now lists it as “Superfans System Level 1”, part of what SPI calls its Superfans System. The page was last updated in May 2026. If you search for the old name only, you may land on outdated information.

Who Is Pat Flynn?

Pat Flynn started Smart Passive Income in 2008 and has been publicly teaching online business ever since. That counts for a lot in this industry.

He is a real, identifiable person with a long track record, which already puts him ahead of many “gurus” I have reviewed. His claim of having earned over $3.5 million in affiliate revenue is self-reported, so treat it as his own figure.

How Do You Get Access, and What Does It Cost?

This is where it gets confusing, so read carefully.

Two price tags on a desk, one handwritten $99 a month and one $49 a month, beside a calculator and a half-finished cup of tea in soft morning window light, suggesting two conflicting prices for the same thing.

You cannot buy the course on its own.

It is part of the SPI Community membership. But SPI’s own pages do not agree with each other on price:

The course page lists two options: $99 a month or $990 a year (about $82 a month). It also advertises a 50% discount with the code SPI50, with no expiry shown. It does not mention a refund policy.
The SPI Community membership page shows a different set of tiers: a free Explore tier, a Start tier at $49 a month ($41 on annual billing), and an Accelerate tier with no price shown. It lists a one-time, 30-day full refund for a first-time membership.
That page does not mention the 1-2-3 course, so I could not confirm which tier includes it.

I can’t tell you which page is right, and some older reviews quote a 7-day refund that no longer seems to apply.

Before you pay anything, check the live price, which tier includes the course, and the refund terms on SPI’s checkout. Don’t rely on any review, including mine, for those three things.

Other costs to expect: affiliate marketing needs an email platform and, usually, somewhere to publish content. Neither is included.

What You Get Inside the Membership

Depending on the tier, SPI lists:

A community forum
Monthly beginner workshops, live and replays
Hot Seats with Pat Flynn
A premium course library
Cohort-based accelerators, masterminds, and twice-monthly office hours with Pat (top tier)

If you like learning with a community and live access, that is real value. If you only want the affiliate course, you are paying for a lot you may not use.

Pros

A real, named creator. Pat Flynn has a long public track record, not an anonymous sales page.
Ethical approach. The course starts with the rules of affiliate marketing, not income hype.
No high-income promises on the sales page. That is refreshing in this niche.
A community and live access if you want to learn with people.
A refund policy on the membership page (30 days, one-time, at the time of checking).

Cons

It teaches promotion, not traffic. SPI’s own outline covers rules, choosing products, and promoting them. It does not list a module on getting visitors from scratch, such as SEO or social media growth.
Membership only. There is no one-time purchase, so access depends on you staying subscribed.
Confusing pricing. SPI’s own pages show different prices and different refund terms.
Cost. The headline price is $990 a year on the course page, which is a lot for a beginner with no income yet.
Not much recent learner evidence. I couldn’t find many dated, verifiable student results for this specific course.
You’ll need extra tools, such as an email platform.

Who Is 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing Good For?

People who already have an audience: a blog, a YouTube channel, an email list, or a social following
People who want a trusted, ethical framework for promoting products
People who enjoy community, workshops and live feedback
Anyone who can comfortably afford a recurring subscription

Who Should Look Elsewhere?

A lone speaker standing on a stage addressing a completely empty auditorium of red velvet seats under a single warm spotlight, conveying a great strategy with nobody to see it.

Complete beginners with no traffic. You can learn the best promotion strategy in the world, but with nobody to show it to, nothing happens.
Anyone on a tight budget. A recurring dollar subscription adds up.
People who want a step-by-step path from zero. This course starts with promotion, not with building an audience.

What It Means for South Africans

A South African rand banknotes and coins fanned out next to a bank card and a small notepad with a falling arrow drawn on it, on a wooden table in warm afternoon sunlight.

If you are in South Africa, think about the cost in rands.

A monthly or annual dollar subscription costs more than the headline number once exchange rates and card fees are added.

Check how SPI handles refunds for international card payments before you sign up, and decide whether you would still be comfortable paying if the exchange rate moved against you.

My Honest Verdict

1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing is a decent, honest course.

If I already had a blog with steady visitors or a YouTube channel with a real audience, I’d happily recommend it as a way to learn to monetise properly.

But that was not my situation when I started.

I had a full-time job, a small budget, and no audience. My real problem wasn’t how to promote a product. It was how to get anyone to see it.

A pharmacist in a white coat at a kitchen table in the evening, a laptop glowing beside a stack of pharmacy textbooks and a lamp casting amber light, a small notebook of social media post ideas open in front of them.

That is why I follow Aaron Chen.

His Invincible Marketer system is built around free traffic from social media, designed for people with a day job and not much time. It starts with the thing most courses skip: getting attention without paying for ads.

What I Personally Recommend Instead

Aaron has put together a free masterclass that walks through the entire strategy. He is my mentor, and the reason I’m building what I’m building today.

If you want to earn affiliate commissions without paying for ads or already having an audience, go and listen to what he has to say before you decide on anything else.

Watch Aaron’s Free Masterclass Here →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing legit? Yes. It is a real course from Pat Flynn, a long-running public creator. I found no signs of deceptive tactics. The main concerns are the recurring cost and confusing pricing, not honesty.

How much does 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing cost? It is part of the SPI Community membership. SPI’s course page lists $99 a month or $990 a year; another SPI page lists a Start tier at $49 a month. Check the live checkout page.

Is there a refund? SPI’s membership page lists a one-time 30-day refund for first-time members. Confirm this at checkout, because older reviews mention different terms.

Can beginners take it? Beginners can, but it focuses on promoting products, so it helps most if you already have somewhere to promote them, such as a blog or channel.

Does it teach SEO or traffic? SPI’s outline doesn’t list a traffic or SEO module. It covers rules, choosing products and promotion.

What is the best alternative for beginners with no audience? Aaron Chen’s Invincible Marketer, which focuses on getting free traffic from scratch. His free masterclass is the place to start.

Is it still called 1-2-3 Affiliate Marketing? SPI’s course page now shows it as “Superfans System Level 1”, though the course is still described as 1•2•3 Affiliate Marketing.

Final Thoughts

Pat Flynn’s course is honest, well-regarded, and ethical.

It just solves a different problem from the one many beginners have. Learn how to get traffic first, then learn how to promote. If you do it the other way round, you may end up with a good strategy and nobody to show it to.

Start with the free masterclass, which costs nothing, and decide from there: