What is the NetShops Affiliate Program?
The NetShops Affiliate Program allows you to place links on your website pointing to our network of stores. The NetShops network of sites includes Hammocks.com, PatioFurnitureUSA.com, AdirondackChairs.com, Benches.com, PatioUmbrellas.com, PorchSwings.com, SimplyFountains.com, and many other unique sites. By placing affiliate links on your site, visitors have the opportunity to purchase our products. If a product is purchased as a result of a link from your website, we pay you a commission for each sale - even if the customer makes the purchase up to 30 days later.

Attention New York residents
In light of recent developments with the New York tax law related to internet sales, NetShops has decided to indefinitely discontinue its affiliate program in New York. Unfortunately this means that at this time Netshops does not accept applications from residents of New York state.

How many stores participate in the NetShops Affiliate Program?
There are 100 stores and counting involved with this program! This represents nearly 50,000 products, not including color, size and other variations. New stores are added every month, so check back frequently!

Can I add my retail site to the NetShops Affiliate Program?
All stores in our program are owned by us (NetShops, Inc.) so we can guarantee quality and customer service. If you are interested in selling your online store to us, feel free to contact us.

How do I get started?
All you have to do is read and agree to the Operating Agreement, fill out the Affiliate Application, and if NetShops accepts your application you will be notified by email and instructed on how to link to our stores and start earning money.

Can I participate if I live outside the United States?
Although some of the NetShops properties can ship to many International destinations, only sites in English and based in the United States are eligible to participate in the NetShops Affiliate Program. Exceptions may be made in the instance where the majority of your traffic originates within the U.S. All commission payments for affiliates will be made in US dollars only.

Does my personal website qualify for the NetShops Affiliate Program?
Anyone can apply for the program. However, NetShops reserves the right to refuse any site. Websites that contain objectionable material, including pornography, explicit language/content, or support for violent or discriminatory groups will be regarded as unacceptable for the NetShops Affiliate Program. Sites that offer no real content but consist only of banners and affiliate links will generally not be accepted, unless they are professional in design and appearance.

Can I apply to be an affiliate with NetShops if I don't have a website yet?
You must have an existing website in order to become a NetShops affiliate. In addition, your website must be operational at the time of application to be considered. Websites with "Under Construction" signs or other placeholders are not deemed to be operational and will not generally be approved for participation. Exceptions may be made in certain circumstances where you are building a site specifically to promote our store(s). Contact us before applying in those instances.

Why was my application rejected?
This is the most frequently asked question we receive. Most often an application is rejected because the website you list in your application is not relevant to any of our stores. If you plan to build a new website specifically to promote one of our stores, you must indicate that in your application.
Another frequent reason for rejection is if the domain name is registered in a different name or state than the applicant. We have dozens of fraudulent applicants each month, where someone tries to join our program using a domain name which they do not actually own. If the information provided in the application looks suspicious, we will frequently reject it.
A third reason for rejection is if your website is really, really poorly designed, impossible to navigate, or just plain ugly. :-) Call in an airstrike on your site, rebuild it, and reapply to our program. Your visitors will thank you.
If you have any questions about why your site was rejected, please contact us for assistance.

Where will I find store banners, buttons, and text links (aka "creative")?
Simply log in to your NetShops account and click on Campaigns to access a variety of linking options by store. If you'd like a specific type of creative not offered online, you may request it via the Contact Us page. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Do you have links for specific sites in the NetShops network?
The NetShops network of sites includes AdirondackChairs.com, Benches.com, Hammocks.com, PatioUmbrellas.com, PorchSwings.com, SimplyFountains.com, GreatBackYards.com, ChessSets.com and numerous others. Choose the links that best fit your site. You may choose to post links to one site or all of them. Place the links anywhere and often on your site. The more prominence you give the links, the more money you'll earn. Text links typically perform better than banners, and 468x60 banners perform better than smaller banners or buttons. Try to place the links/banners above the top fold of your web pages.

How can I get new banners?
In addition to generic, perpetual banners, from time to time we will provide new banners for holidays and seasonal events. You will be informed of these new offerings via email or when you login to your account. We may also serve up banners that offer a discount on a specific store. In some instances you may need to include a text message beneath the banner that mentions the discount code necessary to receive the discount. To access banners, login to your account and select Campaigns.

Can I build custom links?
Yes you can. For a detailed description of how to link to individual pages or products, please see our direct linking tutorial.

Do you have datafeeds?
Yes we do. Please read our article on datafeeds for important information about this system.

What can and can't I do with datafeeds?
If you have a database on your server such as MySQL, you can load our product datafeeds into a table and display them on your website. One thing we DO NOT allow affiliates to do is to append your affiliate ID to the product URL's and upload them to free classified ad sites, most notably Google Base and CraigsList. This dilutes the value of the classified ads by potentially displaying hundreds of listings for the exact same product.

Can I download graphics and logos from NetShops stores to my website?
Yes, you can - although we prefer and recommend that you use banners provided for each campaign. If there is a particular product you would like to review on your site, you may grab that image and serve it from your own site with your affiliate link attached, with the proviso that you not modify the image in any way (resizing is okay).

May I link to NetShops from more than one website?
Yes. You may use one affiliate account even if you have more than one website. You will be able to track CT's and sales from each campaign/store. You may also use the "&opt=" variable at the end of your affiliate links to specify which store you are sending the traffic from. If you would like to create a separate affiliate account for each of your sites you may do so, though we encourage you to utilize just one account. Either way, we must approve all sites for membership. If you would like to add a new website to your account, click on Account Info > Edit Account. If you have more than three websites that link to our stores, contact us with a list of all the relevant domains. Without an accurate list of sites that you own, we will be unable to reliably track all your sales as part of our tracking is referral-based. All changes to your account will be approved by us before they take effect.

How can I promote NetShops stores?
NetShops will provide banners, buttons and text links that you can use on your site. We have found that text links and 468x60 banners are the most effective type of link for generating purchases. In addition to your website, you may promote NetShops stores through an opt-in mailing list. All links on your site must be created using our Campaign interface to ensure proper tracking of click-thru's and sales. You may not send spam (unsolicited emails) at any time to anyone.

Will NetShops promote my site on its website?
Currently, the NetShops Affiliate Program does not promote affiliate sites unless specifically requested to do so by the owner of the site. We will review your request before making a decision. You must have an attractive website with functioning navigation, and a high conversion rate, in order to be considered.

Can I change or personalize the images provided by NetShops?
It is not permissible to change or personalize any NetShops images. If you would like to request customized creative, send your request via our Contact Us page for consideration. We will evaluate the development of unique creative on a case-by-case basis.

What kind of advertising can I do?
You may use copy taken from any of our stores in an email, but not on a webpage. This is to avoid potential duplicate content penalties from the Google search engine. Some of our most successful affiliate partners prominently display our affiliate links in emails which they send to opt-in lists. Including a personal testimonial about a particular product is also a good way to increase CT's and sales. Visit NetShops University for more tips on increasing your sales via email and on your website.

What kind of advertising is prohibited?
1. You cannot send unsolicited email (a.k.a. spam) in any way. There will be no leniency in cases of unsolicited email. Affiliates found to be in violation of this policy will forfeit their commissions and be removed from the program.
2. You MAY bid on product keywords through PPC programs such as Yahoo Search Marketing, Google AdWords, and Kanoodle, but only to drive traffic to your own website. You may no longer use PPC ads to drive traffic directly to our websites. You may NOT bid on our store names (Eg. Hammocks.com) under any circumstances. We appreciate your compliance in these matters. Any affiliates found in violation of these terms will be asked to desist, and in some cases of non-compliance we may cancel your affiliate account.
3. As noted above under the section on datafeeds, you may not append your affiliate ID to product URL's and upload them to free classified ad sites such as Google Base and CraigsList.

How can I keep track of how many people visit and purchase through the NetShops Affiliate Program?
Simply log into your NetShops account and click on Statistics to access a variety of online reports, where you can track click-through's and commissions in real-time. To make sure that all clicks and purchases are tracked correctly, all links on your site must be created using our Campaign interface. Keep in mind that each visitor will only be tracked for one click within a 24-hour period. This is to prevent over-inflation of your click statistics. Also, while banners track impressions, text links do not, which can cause your impression numbers to appear to be inaccurate.

Can I refer other websites to your affiliate program?
Yes. Any affiliate which you refer to our program becomes your sub-affiliate, and you will earn 10% of their commission on all sales. This is an excellent way to expand your affiliate income potential. To retrieve creative to assist you in recruiting sub-affiliates, click on Tools > Super Affiliate after logging in.

What is the "Deploy Creative" option under Campaigns?
This feature allows you to compare statistics on how well a piece of creative performs in different groups. Another usage could be to provide the same piece of creative to different "sub" affiliates to find out how each deployment functions.
As an example: If you have a mailing list that you send to 50 people with AOL email addresses, 50 people with Hotmail email addresses and 50 people who have random email addresses,you can set up three "deploy creative" codes on your Campaigns page. You could then set up an "AOL" creative, a "Hotmail" creative and an "other" creative. Then, you could use this AOL creative to send a newsletter to your AOL subscribers, Hotmail creative to your Hotmail subscribers, and the other creative to the rest of your subscribers. Then you can see how well your creative performed within each group.

What is the "View Banners in Rotation" option under Campaigns?
This allows you to place different banners of the same size - in a rotation - on your website. It is a neat feature, but not for the faint of heart. Visit the NetShops University for detailed help in implementing this feature.

How much can I earn with the NetShops Affiliate Program?
Affiliate Partners initially earn 10% commission on all sales with the exception of the optical sites like Binoculars.com that pays 5%. If you sell more than $200 worth of product in any given month within one store (campaign), you will receive 12% commission. Occasionally we offer higher commissions as part of a limited-time promotion.

Can I earn commission from more than one NetShops store?
Yes. Simply click on the Campaign button at the top of the affiliates.netshops.com login page, and select the store you want creative for.

May I earn commissions on my own purchases?
Yes. When you buy products from us through your website, you earn the same commission on your purchase that you would from a visitor purchase. If you make multiple purchases, make sure you clear your cookies before placing subsequent orders as we only pay commission on the first sale to an individual.

When and how do I get paid?
You will be paid monthly by check when your NetShops Affiliate Program account reaches a minimum of $50. If your earnings are less than $50, the amount will be carried over to the next month. Commission checks are issued within 35 days of the close of the month. This allows 30 days for customer returns and order cancellations, and 5 days for commission processing.

What is each store's conversion rate and average order size?
Every store performs differently, depending on factors such as the average cost of the item. Carports are typically more expensive than weathervanes, so the conversion rate is lower - but the flipside is that you will earn higher commissions from a carport sale. Across all stores, our average order size runs between $140 and $160 depending on seasonality. Conversation rates vary between .5% and 12% at a typical NetShops store. If your site is unrelated to the store you are linking to, your clickthru and conversion rates will be very low. If your conversion or click-thru rates are remarkably low, please contact us and we will help you determine what you can do to increase those numbers.

How are sales tracked?
We use cookie and referrer tracking to confirm affiliate sales. When a visitor to your site clicks on one of your links to one of our stores, a cookie is set on their computer that allows us to track any resulting sales. We are also able to track sales for people based on a maintained database of known affiliate URL's. It's extremely important that you register all your domain names with us, so we can track sales from any of your websites. Affiliates caught trying to earn commission from sites that they do not own OR employing cookie overwriting techniques (you know who you are) will be immediately removed from the program and will forfeit all commissions. We will also, at our discretion, say really mean things about you behind your back and stick pins in little dolls that resemble your mother...so BE GOOD!

How long does each store's cookie last?
Each cookie - a small file stored on the computer of a user that clicks your affiliate link - lasts for 30 days. This means that if a user clicks on your link and doesn't purchase right away, they will have a cookie containing your affiliate ID on their computer. If they return to the same store within 30 days and make a purchase, you will receive credit for the sale. Cookies that track click-thru's from a visitor are reset every day, so if a visitor to your website clicks on your link multiple times in one day, it will only count as one click in your daily stats report.

What about phone orders?
At the present time we are unable to reliably track affiliate sales that come in via phone. However, the vast majority of our sales are placed entirely online.

How do I make changes to my account?
Login and click on Account Info > Edit Account to make changes to your account info. We will review any changes you make and approve or deny them before they can take effect.