denisl - 3:37 pm on Aug 7, 2009 (gmt 0)

"Well, if my website url is buywidgets.com, is it unreasonable to offer widget sales?"

The answer to that question is no - it is not unreasonable.

But, did your site offer widgets for sale, or did it simply have affiliate links to other sites selling widgets.
I think there is a big difference, and Google does not want to send people to a page with no content, only affiliate links to other sites. I also think they make that quite clear in their guidelines and you were bound to have problems.
However, I, like you, would be interested to know if your position would ever improve after you have created a real website

[edited by: tedster at 3:42 pm (utc) on Aug. 7, 2009]
[edit reason] widget-ize [/edit]