SheVibe Affiliate Program

January 11th, 2014

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed an affiliate program. I’ve been meaning to talk about this one for a while. It is the most recent addition to my affiliate programs.

You can sign up here. Before this, SheVibe had a program that was sort of manually run. You could get commissions, but there was no nice dashboard. I believe you have to be approved to the new setup, but that took a short while for me. The folks at SheVibe were excited for their new program, methinks.

Once you’re approved and logged in, you’ll see some information. Right now, I see an alert about having to sending my W-9. This is standard but I haven’t because I haven’t made any sales. There’s an address, but it would be nice to submit it electronically, which you can do with places like ShareASale. It also doesn’t look like your account will show you whether you submitted a W9 previously, which is always convenient.

The dashboard lists “Account Manage” information, but SheVibe hasn’t entered this information in the most useful way. They simply list the customer support email address and company name as the contact. A dedicated email address an actual name would be far more useful, especially to affiliate newbs.

I like seeing the statistics right away, and this is pretty standard. One thing that seems amiss is there is no “Banners” or “Get links” option in the navigation. I expected to find this under “Resources” in the nav, but this wasn’t the case. That has some other stuff.. that I’ll touch on later.

Banners and Links

To access banners and links, you actually have to click the offers link that only appears on the index. This is confusing to me. It would be even more so to someone who’s new at all this. On that page, you see your commissions amount. 15% is respectable; although, some retailers certainly offer higher payouts. You’ll also see your affiliate link here. I’d really like to see my affiliate link on the index. Most affiliate programs allow this for ease.

Your link is SheVibe.com/ followed by a number. Mine is “#oid=1008_1” for example. You can append this number to any page on the SheVibe store — not community — and your links will work. Nowhere on the page is this explained. Again, not user friendly. All this information really should be directly on the main page. Fortunately, the setup of the manually links was similar and you can simply search and replace those links as Epiphora explains here.

Under “Other Promotion Materials,” there’s a menu with banners. These are all the standard banners you’re used to. They’re split up individually and you can see the banner size, but they all display on one page and you can’t simply view them in groups by size. I’d like to see this feature.

There are no banners for specific promotions or products. If you want to link to these, you can grab the banners from SheVibe’s index or forum, but you’ll have to manually create those links. I find that I link to stores much more frequently when they update their creatives (links and banners) with promotions and products. Yes, you can link to any page on SheVibe. Yes, it only requires some copying and pasting. No, the affiliate program doesn’t encourage you to do so.

You can create campaigns by adjusting your URL by adding an underscore and then a short tag after it. For example, if I wanted to indicate that I am linking from Tumblr, I might use the link http://shevibe.com#oid=1008_1_Tumblr. This data will show up on this page with clicks showing immediately.

But let’s assume you get your links set up the way you like. In the resources section, there’s a tool to track your links. There’s also the link guard feature..

Affiliate Link Guard

The link guard is an interesting feature. Essentially, you can send your visitors to a link on your site that redirects to SheVibe’s main page. You cannot direct them to any other page, but this could be useful if you frequently link to the home page, which I do in giveaway posts and the like. There are three options to creating this page:

  • HTML
  • PHP
  • Javascript

If you’re using WordPress, HTML will suffice. Copy your affiliate link into the form (the default option is your number but not the correct link). Choose “HTML ” and click “Submit.”

Open “file.hmtml” with your code/text editor. Notepad works fine. Copy the code and paste it into a new page. I’m simply calling mine “Shevibe” with post slug “shevibe.” After publishing this page, OfSexandLove.com/Shevibe redirects to my affiliate code. The HTML method isn’t instantaneous, so you’ll see my page load briefly before the redirect. However, this can be beneficial for SEO purposes. You could also create any HTML pages or edit any theme files to paste in the HTML, too.

You may be able to accomplish something similar with PHP, but WordPress is currently stripping the code out of my page despite the fact that I have Exec-PHP installed.

For most users, however, this isn’t going to be an important option.

Payment and Reports

SheVibe’s program has a low payout threshold of $25. Awesome! There’s no information about a cool off period; however. I’m not sure when payments occur. Or even how. There’s no options for payments and I didn’t enter a PayPal email, so I assume they cut a physical check.

This is ALL the information I get because I use custom links

This is ALL the information I get because I use custom links

The reports link breaks down traffic view link, banner program and time period. Stats update every week, so there’s definitely some lag with data. All my clicks appear but since I tend to use promotion banners and custom links, there’s no information for tracking my campaign success. As a whole, this is less useful than it could be.

And I guess that really sums up how I feel about this affiliate software. It works but it’s bare bones. It’s not user friendly to me, and it’s definitely not going to be for other users. A couple explanations within the dashboard would certainly go a long way, and I’ve love to see SheVibe be more encouraging with creatives.

If you want to check out the affiliate program for yourself, I encourage you to sign up.

8 Comments

Categories: Reviews

The Best Alternatives to EdenFantasys Affiliate Program

June 7th, 2013

While this isn’t my job, I make a few dollars here and there, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I’ve found. If you want to be a reviewer, blogger or affiliate shop owner and don’t know where to stop, then this post is for you!

My most profitable affiliate programs are SexToy.com, Babeland and Good Vibes — in that order. I also use Adam and Eve and PinkCherry (Canadian).

  1. Babeland offers 20% commissions, a full product feed, text and banner links and the website has a limited but high-quality product selection. You must sign up at PepperJam and join the Babeland advertiser campaign. If your site isn’t approved, you can contact Samantha, the affiliate team leader.
  2. SexToy.com has been my most successful affiliate endeavor, and this is likely due to the fact that the prices are drop-dead cheap and you get to have your own store. Mine’s located on a subdomain on my domain, which is pretty awesome. You can customize to your heart’s content, offer coupons to entice visitors — right now, you can save $25 off $100 to celebrate my birthday! — and commissions up to 25% are available based on performance. There’s no referral sign up, but this link will get you started.
  3. GoodVibes has rebooted their affiliate program a time or two but despite minimal effort, sales always trickle in for me. GoodVibes is also one of the few affiliate programs that still offers sex toys for review to bloggers like myself. Like Babeland, GoodVibes has a smaller selection than EF or, say, Amazon, but I enjoy their own branded items, and they have frequent sales. Sign up here.

Adam and Eve and Pinkcherry’s affiliate programs actually use the same software, which makes it easy to see your stats at a glance. The stores could potentially provide incentives, but neither utilizes this option to the full potential. It’s not as easy to create links (by just adding on a code), but the system will save every incoming link that you create.

Adam and Eve has the benefit of having many more products with a full product feed to link to any of them and better search options. There’s more links and banners to choose from, too. I’m currently earning 30% on sales there, which is the highest amount on this list. You’ll also earn 5% for referrals. There’s only a $25 payout, too. The only reason my earnings aren’t higher is because I prefer to link to a lot of specific products that A&E doesn’t necessarily carry.

Still, Pinkcherry is located in Canada, which means  your customers might prefer a store that offers more reasonable shipping fees if they’re from the great white north. PinkCherry’s affiliate program has a $100 payout minimum.

Finally, I’d like to mention Amazon here. If you already have an associates accountwith them, it’s easy to add another tracking ID like I did. There’s about 14,000 sex toys on the site, which makes linking convenient. Not ever toy you’ll want to showcase is on it, however. Still, you’ve got options for your aStore and widgets, which are handy. I use Amazon far less frequently because there’s so many restrictions, but it is an option. Just don’t rely on it alone.

I have earned hundreds of dollars through a combination of programs and, often, the one I use has more to do with which stores carry products I’m linking to at the best price because I know that’s what my readers want. Find a program or three that works for you, and get to know it well.

Now, plenty of my fellow bloggers have had success with other programs, and I encourage them to leave comments if they’d like to leave a link, but these affiliate programs have worked well for me without all the stress induced by EdenFantasys.

11 Comments

Categories: Articles, internet

Public Service Announcement: Banner Sizes

August 7th, 2010

Today’s public service announcement is brought to you by Of Sex and Love and sponsored by the letter “Y” as in “You’re doing it wrong.”

For starters. Affiliate program managers, sit down. Let’s have a talk. Affiliate programs are great. I help you make money, I make money. Simple concept. In fact, it’s one that I personally love. You know what I don’t love? When I log into an affiliate account to get some banners and none of the banners are standard size.

Maybe you’re not familiar with the fact that there are, indeed, standard sizes. (I say, maybe you ought to step down from your position as an affiliate program manager). Now, I recognize that standards do vary but even if you stick to the oldest possible list of standard banner sizes–like the ones on this page–you’re not going to go wrong. I personally am a fan of 468×60 and the skyscrapers. I recognize that a lot of smaller banners have become popular, too. In fact, I use a couple 120×60 buttons as you can see exemplified on this page. Now, if you’re feeling extremely varied at the moment, you could even use some of the unique-yet-still-mostly-standard sizes from this page.

Isn’t it amazing how many standard sizes there are? Isn’t it awesome that these standards exist so that the highest number of people/websites can use your banners? Isn’t it ridiculous if you cannot, somehow, manage to use any of those standard sizes?

I mean, my site uses no less than 4 standard banner sizes. And if I cannot find a single banner on your site that fits in one of my allotted banner spaces, I’m not going to bother.

Let me reiterate: I’d rather lose potential money and risk our working relationship that put up banners of mismatched sizes.

Pretty strong argument, I know. That’s how I roll. I recognize that I am in the minority. A lot of my peers will use banners of any old size. It makes me sad. They shouldn’t have to. You should do your job.

Making the internet look like shit–you’re doing it right.

I mean, maximizing your publicity and revenue–you’re doing it wrong.

But you’re not the only one doing it wrong. It has recently come to my attention that it is summer in some parts of the world. I got the memo one day when I walked outside and died. Since then, I have done my best to stay in side and whisper sweet nothings to my air conditioner, you know, so it doesn’t get angry and walk out on me. This is all just a long-winded way to say summer is hot!

I learned this last summer, also, when I requested to view a massage candle and it arrived as massage soup. Awesome! I contacted the review program personnel and didn’t have to review it; the store actually said they would be taking that product off the market during the summer months. A smart decision, thought I. But it’s summer again and people are getting all sorts of melty surprised in the mail and that’s kind of lame. I’m not sure that any location is really much better when it comes to heat and melting products. After all, it gets pretty hot in those delivery trucks. I mean, I got my pinwheel the other day and damned near burned myself on it.

This “You’re doing it wrong” award goes to everyone: consumers, retailers and manufacturers. As consumers, we should be smarter about this sort of thing. Retailers (including review program personnel) should, as well. I don’t expect anyone to remove all their melty stock for half the year but maybe you could just toss up a warning on the site that the stuff doesn’t travel well? And manufacturers. Oh, manufacturers. You could probably save us all the hassle if you just securely sealed your melty products. In fact, some manufacturers do!

When I got my JimmyJane Afterglow candle, it was sealed. Although it had been packaged on its side and had melted off to the side, it stayed in the container. Sure, I had to dig out the wick to burn it but I didn’t lose half the product. But if you’re tossing an open candle holder into a shipping container or pressing wax into a cardboard box and shipping it across the country, you’re asking for trouble. Come to think of it, you’re probably losing money, too.

Forethought–we’re all doing it wrong.

6 Comments

Categories: Everything Else

PinkCherry Affiliate Program

April 14th, 2010

PinkCherry’s affiliate program is quite capable because it uses a powerful piece of affiliate software. In fact, PinkCherry is not the only store to decide on that software; it’s also in use by Adam & Eve. There is a slight difference between those uses. The folks at PinkCherry haven’t spent quite as much time customizing the layout of their affiliate program which, in the end, means very little. It’s still extremely usable. Adam & Eve have simply have a leg up when it comes to branding; although, this makes the site a little less safe for work, if you follow.

It’s important to note that their program is located on its own domain: PinkCherryAffiliates.com I don’t mind this and the URL is easy to remember as well. Of course, affiliate systems which are built right into the site are always nice to see but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It’s been some time some time since I original signed up but I did take a look at the TOS and saw no mention of age requirements. Folks who are over 18 but under 21 will probably find this reassuring.

For current affiliates, the dashboard is easy to use. The homepage outlines transactions and earnings. The same information seems to be repeated in another location (on the home page) alone with visitors and ratio stats. There’s an interesting little pie chart to illustrate those stats but I don’t usually remember to look at it. Toward the top is a copyable “standard linking code” which points to the PinkCherry home page with your affiliate ID. I appreciate its availability.

From this page, users can easily see pending or paid commissions, the traffic log and payment history. The traffic log is interesting because it shows the IP address of visitors and the referring URL; except, this doesn’t work so well in reality. All of my referring URLs show up as N/A – Possible Bookmark or Email Link. There is also an easy to find link to edit all personal information, including selecting PayPal as your mode of payment.

If you’re curious, there is a $100 payout requirement and you earn 15% per sale. However, this information is only displayed on the front page as far as I can tell. There is a FAQ link under the “account” menu but the page itself is blank which isn’t quite helpful.

This specific software includes “Training materials” which, I’ll be honest, I haven’t spent any time with. There is a page exclusively for training videos but there is only one video provided and.. I can’t even watch it on Firefox. Maybe it’s a good thing that no other videos are provided. There is also a PDF which explains how to make custom tracking URLs. This would be useful, for instance, if I wanted to link to a specific product and include the product name in the URL. Folks who are more hardcore about making money can use this to see which keywords/links are most successful. In addition to this, users can use “Sub IDs” in their URLs if they want to create an affiliate network. I do find the manual to be a bit confusing. It doesn’t actually explain how to “attach” said keywords to your affiliate URL.

The marketing materials include banners and text links. The current banner count is limited to 4 – which only represent 3 sizes – and I hate to say it, but none of the designs jump right out at you. PinkCherry has long needed a logo refresher. The colour pink is also used predominantly. I get it but it’s a bit limiting. A larger variety of banners would be welcome.

There is only one text link provided, which goes to the homepage. The setup is different from the “Standard linking code” but I’m not even sure why. This section is totally underutilized. Affiliates can create these links by themselves but this is an opportunity to make it easier for affiliates to use links and highlight sections of the site.

The “Email Links” section contains similar text links; although, one is formatted in HTML. I’m not even sure why this software thinks users are dumb enough not to understand copy+paste. Users can actually send their affiliate link to users from from “Email Friends & Associates” page, if they want to enter different addresses. This message includes the standard link by default and users can edit the message.

The Keyword Tracking Links page finally explains how to create custom links with your affiliate URL; although these links will only point to the index and there is no generator. I see no reason why this needs a page for itself.

Alternatively, users can create incoming links which direct to unique pages, other than the index. This is done via generator into which users copy the default link (to a product or section) and a unique link is created. The generated link does not give any indication what the destination is, however. Users can add tracking information to these links by appending a keyword. All of the generated links are listed on this page, below the input field, as well as the original links. It’s a bit messy if you frequently use this method; although, links can be removed from the list without breaking the functionality.

It does not seem like you can refer affiliates beneath you (ie, link to the affiliate program itself) but you can set up a “network” via tracking URLs and Sub IDs. Kind of lame, in my opinion.

Ultimately, the methods provided by this software work but they’re not pretty. Plus, the dashboard just isn’t as intuitive as I’d like to see. In addition to this, the lack of customization from PinkCherry isn’t a deal breaker but it doesn’t make the deal quite as sweet as it could be, either. Lastly, I’d love to see a referral program worked into the affiliate program because it is an alluring incentive.

2 Comments

Categories: internet

Liberator Affiliate Program

March 6th, 2010

Let me preface this review by saying I believe Liberator will be moving to different software for its affiliate program and pay outs are currently frozen. In the near future, this review may no longer be relevant but, in the mean time, feel free to check out AAG’s post about not being paid.

Liberator’s affiliate program is one of the few manufacturer affiliate programs to which I have applied. Part of the reason for this is because no other retailer sells all of Liberator’s products. It is difficult to do so without marking up the prices ridiculously because of shipping costs, which I understand. Of course, Liberator has also been kind enough to allow me to review one of their products.

Liberator’s currently affiliate program can be accessed by a link in the footer of Liberator’s homepage. This page gives a bit of information to potential affiliates, including that earnings are from 10% – 15%. From there you can sign up or sign in, if you are a current affiliate. There is no direct URL which is easy to access (for this page or the affiliate program, period) even though the affiliate control panel mentions LiberatorAffiliates.com. Unfortunately, this domain redirects to Liberator.com and not even the affiliate page. In fact, links from this section redirect to the Liberator home page and the sign up page does not have a field for referrer so it appears that affiliates cannot refer others and earn commissions from their sales. Although I can live without referring others, it certainly is a nice incentive and it doesn’t bode well for a program when the provided links are useless.

That is essentially my biggest bone to pick with the Liberator affiliate program: the links are provided and there are no ways to create links to different landing pages. Not every program has a link creator or a built in affiliate dashboard when browsing the site but I don’t even know if I can add my affiliate code to the end of URLs to bring visitors in on specific product, review or guide pages. It’s not a problem if you want to link to big named products by Liberator or even other manufacturers like Lelo but not even every Liberator product has a link in the affiliate control panel and I like my links to be relevant. Another downfall to this is that I do not know how frequently the links are updated as new products are added. I find that when my options as an affiliate are limited, I am much less likely to use affiliate links at all which doesn’t help me earn commissions or help the company make sales.

There are, however, quite a few banner options including a group of banners featuring Catalina, a blogger (and model?) of some infamy but with whom not everyone would be familiar. Also, her blog seems to be down and since I am not a follower, I do not even know if these banners are still relevant. Most of these banners are located on one page and are not divided by size (although, most of the standard sizes appear to be available) so they are not as easy to browse as they could be. It would be easier to navigate if the banners were further divided by size, even if they were all on the same page; just add internal links. As you can guess, these banners mostly focus on Liberator shapes with some highlighting their lingerie.

Aside from links and banners, basic account info is readily available on the first page, after sign in. This includes sales and commissions. For more in depth information, affiliates can view monthly reports which are broken down by sales and commissions. Users can also edit their account information, contact Liberator and choose to redeem commissions (over $200). All of these options are easy to find but the control panel is definitely on the basic side. It’s okay if you just want the pertinent information at a moment’s notice but definitely lacking compared to other affiliate control panels.

One noticeably lacking feature is that of payment flexibility. The only option I can see is to be paid by check and, I’ll be honest, a $200 check would be awesome but it could take years for me to get to that point. It would be great to have the option to be paid by Paypal and a lower payout as well. Because I have yet to make commissions, I cannot speak in depth about the payment process.

Overall, the Liberator Affiliate program lacks the flexibility and ability to customize in a way that really attracts and keeps affiliates. With programs like these, I am likely to forget I am even an affiliate after I add banners to my site. Instead, I focus my energy on other retailers which offer more alluring features and allow me to link the pages I want to specifically link. The result is that I make more from other affiliate programs simply because it is easier to do so.

In addition to this, Liberator has not done much to really draw attention to the affiliate site on their main page or to make the two mesh (relatively) seamlessly. I don’t mind separate affiliate sites at all but without even on a logo to distinguish it, the Liberator affiliate program is forgettable.

With that said, it will be interesting to see the new Liberator affiliate program when it is operational. I also hope that the folks at Liberator will take the time to inform their affiliates of these changes because there has not been a lot of communication going on thus far. This will definitely be a chance for them to improve their program so that affiliates will actually want to use it.

2 Comments

Categories: internet, Reviews

Babeland Affiliate Program

January 29th, 2010

Babeland Affiliate Program

Babeland Affiliate Program

In my second installment of affiliate program reviews, I’d like to introduce you to Babeland Affiliates. When browsing Babeland’s site for affiliate information, visitors can find this affiliate FAQ which, while generally helpful, isn’t amazing. For instance, if you’re wondering when you’ll be paid, the page indicates to look at a list of dates that doesn’t exist. Furthermore, interested bloggers and website owners (who are 21+) can sign up via a form which is embedded into Babeland’s shop site; however, once approved affiliates must log into a different site – BabelandAffiliates.com – to manage their states. This really is my biggest complaint about the content of the affiliate program at Babeland – it’s confusingly spread on two different sites.

While affiliates can link to pretty much any page on Babeland’s site including individual products, guides and specials via the link creator on the Babeland site, the affiliate site only offers premade links to specific products and pages. There is no link creator at all within the affiliate site. And if there is a way to link to the affiliate site with an affiliate link, I do not know how. Furthermore, sometimes Babeland no longer sells products and I believe visitors are redirected to the main page without notice of why this is happening.

It’s also great to see seasonal banners from Babeland and they are conveniently displayed below the link creator but guess what? There are also banners in the affiliate control panel and they are not always in sync. As long as I’ve been an affiliate, it seems like seasonal banners are quickly removed from the link creator page on Babeland.com but there’s no real indication in the affiliate control panel about the status of certain banners. If that weren’t confusing enough, there is actually a third page with more banners on the Babeland site. Sure, affiliates have lots of options but they also have to exert a lot of effort to find the tools available to them. Now, I have nothing against having to use an external site for affiliates as long as that external site is all encompassing which is not the case for Babeland.

Banner and linking issues aside, the commercial software they used to track impressions, clicks, orders and commissions is easy enough to use (and set my date). Affiliates can also view The “View Reports” page does not have as much in depth information as the EdenFantasys affiliate program but it’s easy to see that I am owed some commissions. However, I’m not entirely sure when I will paid (remember, the Affiliate FAQs weren’t so helpful in that area) and the “Training Center” link in the affiliate control panel is a broken link. I do believe I will be paid next month because I have over $25 in commissions this month. It would be great if that question could be answered in the control panel, however.

The specific software BabelandAffiliates uses does have some interesting, tools. For instance, there is a page entitled “Marketing Material” which shows the banners I have in use along with their impressions, clicks, click-thru ratios, number of sales and commissions. Ironically, all of my commissions are via text links and not banner clicks. (= This affiiate setup also allows users to create Sub-IDS which are defined thusly:

Sub-IDs are a tool that will allow you to track specific placements of our links and view the performance of each. For example if you have a website and an email newsletter, you can create a sub-ID for each like site and news. You can then view the reports below to determine how your site and your news links are performing.

Although I don’t personally have use for this feature, I can see how it would be useful, especially for networked sites.

It’s also to see previous payments. Because of the $25/month commissions rule, it’s been some time since I got one but it’s still listed which is nice. This is helpful if you move because Babeland only pays out by check and sometimes moving or mail issues can prevent that money from reaching your hands.

I briefly touched on the limited links which are available through this control panel. There are only a handful of text links available, one of which points to G-spot toys, one to the Babeland store and one to the SaSi product listing. It’s pretty meager and having the link creator here would be awesome, am I right? There are more options with banners (and these are separated into categories by size or promotion) but, as I mentioned before, some of the banners are “time-sensitive” and no longer useful to affiliates because the promotion has ended or, in the case of the 2008 election, is completely irrelevant now.

Affiliates can easily change their personal information in the dashboard, thankfully, and that wraps up the control panel. It’s doesn’t include everything and the kitchen sink, like the control panel for EdenFantasys affiliates but it does meet all basic needs and then some. It would just be that much more useful if the powers that be focused on the control panel instead of spreading affiliate content across several sites and pages. As it is, it’s more than a little frustrating because the goal is so clearly within reach.

I’m not entirely who the powers that be are anymore. I believe that both the the affiliate program and the reviewer program fall under the same management (and the review newsletter includes affiliate information also) but there have been some changes recently. While I understand employees come and go, I am not the only person who is thoroughly confused as to whom to contact. Even when I thought I knew whom to contact, replies were very inconsistent. Some folks were constantly getting e-mail and phone calls replies in a timely manner whereas others, like myself, have heard absolutely nothing back. I don’t pretend to understand the kind of stress that these folks are under and I also know I’d concentrate on improving the customers experience before worrying about affiliates so I don’t like to make a big deal out of things. However, I do know that it’s easy to set up an automatic reply to the extent of:

So and so, the affiliate manage at Babeland has received your message but due to an influx in correspondence will only be replying to e-mails which require a reply.

And we’d really be happy with that. In addition, since affiliate newsletters go out on a weekly basis anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to add a little blurb “Hi, my name is Bob and I will be taking over correspondence with affiliates.” To be fair, I was told that someone would be taking over affiliate correspondence which I absolutely appreciate but I don’t think this message was spread consistently to all affiliates.

With a little tweaking around the edges, I think the Babeland Affiliate program would be quite formidable but it is currently quite clumsy.

3 Comments

Categories: internet, Reviews

EdenFantasys Affiliate Program

January 22nd, 2010

When I wrote this, I wasn’t aware of how shitty EF is as a company. Please consider these alternatives, instead.

The affiliate program at EdenFantasys is one which I am perhaps most familiar with so it shall be my first review. EdenFantasys uses a proprietary setup, not commercial software (as far as I can tell) which blends seamlessly with the rest of the control panel. Upon first registering, I was able to enter the affiliate code of another affiliate which I did (I just picked one from RetailMeNot – you’re welcome!).

The program at EF allows affiliates to earn commissions in several manners.

Partner Online
Users can grab content from any page and save it to their “desktop.” Product images, descriptions and titles are saved to the desktop for use in HTML or Flash widgets which affiliates can display on their websites. These widgets can serve as a “recently reviewed” list or as product comparisons, among other things.Alternatively, users can convert URLS, including products, reviews, forum threads, searches and more, by adding it to the “My URL” list. The URLs remain saved for future reference and I frequently use it to save intricate URLs which I frequently post. However, almost any page can be turned into an affiliate link by adding #pcode-yourpartnercode to the end of the URL. Few pages on EdenFantasys need special treatment. Search filters do require special treatment; thus I use the My URL tool.

Edenfantasys also provides nearly 250 different banners which affiliates can use with their Partner Online links to attract potential customers.

When a customer makes an order having click a Partner Online link, the affiliate earns 20% commissions (after discounts).

Partner Flyer
EdenFantasys provides printed flyers free of charge to affiliates. These flyers help affiliates spread the word to potential customers and advertise the 15% discount. Each affiliate has a partner code which can be entered an unlimited amount of times. This code is not unique to the actual customer so affiliates can spread the word of their partner codes via e-mail, blog or word of mouth as well.If a customer were to use both the link and partner code, the code would override the link providing a 15% discount to the customer and 5% commissions to the affiliate.

My Partners
Like other affiliate programs, users can earn commissions by recruiting others beneath them. Affiliates will earn 3% commissions on orders from new affiliates who sign up under them.

As I mentioned, the affiliate control panel is merged with the overall account options at EdenFantasys; however, when one signs up as a contributor, one is not automatically signed up as an affiliate. When viewing one’s account, there is a link for “Affiliate Program” and clicking it brings up all the options to use widgets, banners and URLs as well as the options to invite new partners, order flyers and view reports.

The reports contain a lot of information which can be difficult to take in at once. I usually just glance at the main reports which give a summary of traffic, orders, sales, estimated commissions and earnings so far. It’s easy to navigate to specific pages if an affiliate wants to track incoming links. For example I can click to see where my 92 incoming links originate. Most of my incoming links are from this blog (logically), Twitter and Google. Affiliates can adjust these statistics for a different time period. The default period is the current, open period. Additionally, affiliates can view orders/sales by program: partner online, partner flyer or my partners.

There are two pages within the reports section which cannot be accessed through the Main reports page – problem orders and payment history. Problem orders are orders which have been returned/refunded, thus the affiliates does not earn commissions. The payment history shows commissions earned for closed period, payments and remaining balances. Earnings are ‘stored’ in the partner account and can applied to orders on EdenFantasys via checkout. When used in such a manner, these orders show up as payments. Additionally, payment by check or Paypal will also be listed here.

Affiliates can choose to be paid in a variety of methods on the Registration for Payments page (Affiliates can also edit payee name, tax ID and address). Unlike other pages in the control panel, the link is the last under the “Settings” navigation and cannot be found with the affiliate program links. American affiliates can choose check or Paypal payout after reaching a $50 minimum. There are a few restrictions for international affiliates, however. Payments by check or wire transfer must meet a $200 minimum and wire transfers costs $15. International affiliates can select Paypal as an option to receive payments of $50 or more.

It’s important to note that earned commissions are not eligible for redemption until after the period has closed (the end of the month) and a month long cooling off period (in the event that an order is returned) has passed. Thus, an order placed on December 17th should become eligible for payout/redemption at the beginning of February.

Edenfantasys has one of the most comprehensive and easy to use affiliates programs, in my opinion. I rarely need to use the URL maker because it’s easy to add my partner code. Furthermore, I like being to link almost any page on the site, not just specific products and while I do not use all the tools provided (like widgets), the numerous banners allow options for all sorts of affiliates. Originally, I was confused by the payment process (and if you look on the forums, I was not the only one) but have come to understand it. Additionally, questions can be asked on the forums (where other affiliates can respond) or e-mailed. The different tools allow affiliates to attract new customers and affiliates . However, all the options can be a bit overwhelming and do take some time to get use to.

There is not much I would change about the affiliate program at EdenFantasys. It allows me to do things that other programs do not and has been the most profitable affiliate program I have joined. Although, there is way to reproduce the contributor widget I have on my sidebar in the control panel and it would be nice to change or at least see the referrer partner code. If you are already a contributor (or even if you are not), I would suggest you at least check it out. If you do join, my partner code is 9br.

3 Comments

Categories: internet, Reviews

Image © MisterUnlucky; used with permission.