Affiliate links

[claptomania]

I've noticed recently that a lot of S&B links are affiliate links. For the untechy basically that means that someone is earning a small amount of commission on sales made via that link. So either individual posters are doing that, or Mumsnet is converting links that forum users post to monetise the site. Anyone know which it is?

My mobile (do most of my MN ing this way as iPad is ridiculously jerky) anyway my mobile just takes me to the linked page. Is there any way of seeing an affiliate link BEFORE clicking?

Blair you make a good point about the income stream for the person putting up the Affiliate links.

Interested to see HQs take on this.

v. Interesting blair Someone posted a thread asking why so many recommendations for debanhams a few weeks ago, questioning if people were on commission.

I've noticed a lot of links go through other sites before they get to their destination, I looked it up a while ago and just assumed it was mumsnet. I looked at quite a few links last night and then deleted my cookies and it seems quite common.

I think it's the individual posters for the most part (unless they are copying a link from another blog)
When I was using an affiliate company I would get links with the affiliate company name hidden (awin) and would then earn commission.
Mumsnet would have to be editing individual posts immediately to include unique links to certain websites. It would be a huge job and I really don't see the point in editing a random link so they may earn £2 if somebody happens to purchase something from that site when their banner ads earn thousands without them having to do anything other than post a tiny bit of coding once. It just doesn't make sense for it to be MN (though happy to corrected).
If it is individuals though, should we report to HQ so that others who arent tech savvy dont get deceived?

I agree with blair's points (though don't know of the poster in question). I've been following the recent Caroline Hirons thread which talks about the blogging industry in general and it's been an eye opener.

If we can't assume that all recs on here are made in good faith (or any personal interest disclosed) then there's really no point to S&B.

99 you seem to know a bit about it, so hope you don't mind me asking for clarification if you can help - I am confused and not tech savvy at all really!

I clicked on one of my own links which I posted in the 'what cardi to wear with this dress' thread and it went via awin... I don't earn commission - I wasn't even aware one could! What in the feck is going on? I am sure I simply went to the John Lewis site and copied the link from there though I guess I could have googled short jacket wedding or something...

Maybe you won't believe me, but I didn't find the link on a blog and I didn't deliberately use an affiliate site. Could it be that I clicked on another link with the affiliate site, then searched from there in the same window and it remembered the affiliate site?

Horribly confused and a bit weirded out by this. Thinking about just closing my MN account now tbh, though I don't want to as I love it here! Will await MNHQ response.

I haven't blogged for a couple of years now so it could all have changed but if you aren't a blogger and didn't click on a link from a blog then it could be possible that you've clicked on a link elsewhere and it has remembered it, ie if you typed johnlewis.com and an affiliate link came up then something weird has gone on and I'd probably clear your cookies to be on the safe side, if you started typing johnlew... And it suggested a link to click on from your history then it could have remembered it from another website and be earning them commission.
As I said though, I haven't used it in a long time so it could all have changed since then and I could be completely wrong.

DCs school PTA use www.easyfundraising.org.uk/how-it-works/ to raise money using a similar model, I keep forgetting to download the app I wonder if this could circumvent any fashion blogger bot commission on purchases made online?

I'm interested in this too. I teach units in digital marketing, and I think 99percent's explanation is right, it's all to do with the cookies and not clearing them that gives the affiliate link - that doesn't mean the link hasn't been posted in good faith though lady, it's just a quirk of the stalk-y nature of things! I think ultimately clicks don't matter in terms of revenue for the blogger or whoever, that only kicks in when someone purchases. Where links take people through to a blog, then the number of site hits would be used as "currency" for selling their ad space or negotiating PR opportunities.

Thanks for explaining 99 and Judy. I think I've cleared my cookies - really am not so great with technology!

Just read this with interest. Will have to read it again cos I don't really understand. I have often noticed the redirect but presumed Mumsnet got a payment.
Are you saying that I might link to an item from say, John Lewis, and some blog I visited might benefit??
Is there a fsilsafe way of linking?
Should I regularly clear cookies? (I don't )

I always clear out my cookies regularly due to this. I hate the thought that just because I have clicked on a link from a blogger/youtuber that if I buy anything at all from that website in the next month they are going to profit from it. I generally try to source the item a blogger is talking about myself if I'm interested in it, but a lot of bloggers now only list an affiliate link where you can't see where the item is from until you click on it!
I use the free version of ccleaner to clear cookies quickly and easily which can be found here, or is easily found through google.
www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

^ I should probably add not to worry, ccleaner won't start downloading as soon as you click on that link. It just takes you to their website.

I've noticed all the affiliate links too.

Hi folks,

We just wanted to clear up the questions around affiliate links.

We use a programme called skimlinks to automatically add a bit of code to links posted on the boards, which is why the URL sometimes changes. This bit of code allows us to earn a commission on any purchases that you make from these links. Typically the commission is somewhere between 3-8%. Earning this commission allows us to rely a bit less heavily on display ads and other forms of advertising, and can sometimes help us reach out to brands you love to secure exclusive discounts for Mumsnetters. Please rest assured it's nothing sinister, and doesn't affect the cost of anything you buy.

If you think that someone is posting links purely to earn commission and not to give recommendations in good faith, then please do report them to us and we'll take a look.

And of course, if there are any brands you love that you'd like us to try and secure a Mumsnet discount on, let us know and we'll see what we can do!

Thank you Amy. Much appreciated. Cheers!

I wonder if some of them are actually done innocently, with people using the links from a blog or Pinterest, without realising its affiliated. I would probably not notice when C&Ping.

Thanks for clarifying Amy.

Wow, I had no idea MN tinkered with my innocent links!

Jasmine - incidentally, why is it a problem if a blogger whose link you've clicked earns a little commission from your eventual purchase? Surely they've done a little work identifying something you'd like to buy, photographing it, posting the link etc? It doesn't cost YOU any more and it seems odd to go to great lengths to avoid benefiting someone.

(not a blogger, by the way)

^ It's not generally a problem to me at all. As I stated much further up thread, I am totally fine with it in many ways and do understand the reasoning. However only if it is disclosed clearly beforehand. The problem I have is with the sneakiness that is often creeping in around affiliate links and many bloggers in general to be honest.
There is one blogger that I follow who kindly lists her links in both affiliate and non affiliate form. She very clearly states that she will get commission from the affiliate links and that she would be grateful if you use them, but you totally don't have to if you don't want to so to help you she also states where the items are actually from.
I therefore click on her affiliate links every time as I don't feel there is any dishonesty there and I'm more than happy to support her in that way. Clear disclosure is everything.

I think there is also something that just sits badly with me about the amount of times that blogger will potentially earn from me. For example, I regularly place orders on amazon. I personally feel uncomfortable that for a month a blogger will be earning commission on any random item I order from amazon just because I clicked through from their site at some point. If I ordered the item that they were initially trying to sell me then fair enough, but anything for a month I'm not happy with. That's just my personal feelings though.

Oh, and at no point do I go to great lengths to avoid benefiting anyone? I regularly clear my cookies and that's it. I do that every couple of days even when I'm not reading blogs. It takes me seconds.

I see your point, Jasmine.

But I click links everywhere, all the time. I might follow 10 different ASOS or M&S or Boden links (for example) from various different blogs during the course of a week.

Presumbly the website pays commission to ALL of those bloggers for anything I buy from these sites thereafter. AmyMN mentions 3-8%. How the hell can they afford to pay out this much? Are you saying that everytime I buy something they shell out up to 80% of the purchase price to bloggers? Or is it just the "last" one that benefits?

I agree with Jasmine. If you have a vested interest in my clicking your links then fine but please say so.

I no longer follow any bloggers because I'm fed up of the sneakiness.

Also it's becoming increasingly clear that with a lot of bloggers, there isn't a great deal of research going on, that they're mostly just recycling PR.

I accept I may not know exactly how it works and that there may be still be good ones around but frankly I don't care any more. They could have been more upfront but chose not to and as far as I'm concerned, they've blown it.

I would hate it if those practices started creeping into Style and Beauty

I read the other thread about beauty blogs and feel the same way floisme s&b is free free of all that PR guff, or is it? How do I know a link is genuine or not? Am happy for mumsnet to use skimlinks to get a cut but I couldn't find any info on the MN site confirming that they use it when I tried to find out about these redirects a few weeks ago. I found confirmation on the MSE site www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/skimlinks that MN use this programme. As someone said up thread, clear disclosure is everything. Hmmmm.

Thanks for the info evryone. I went through the cookies on my iPad one by one (there are some legit ones I want to keep - newspaper subscriptions etc.). I found about a dozen ones that looked affiliate related (skimlinks, awin, rstyle, and a lot of mysterious ones that had click, gains, track, incentives in their names). Pretty shocked. I clear my cookies regularly, every two months or so.

I first became aware of rstyle.me on Pinterest a couple of years ago - a lot of Pin links were routed through rstyle.me ("an invitation-only network to monetize your web content"). I've stopped using Pinterest.

Here is an interesting story from a blogger how the affiliate thing really works.