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The Whistle Shop's
Affiliate Program
Thank you for considering our Affiliate Program. Once you have signed up
as an Affiliate, you will simply place a link that we provide (your choice of one of our
banners or text) on your website - whenever someone uses that link to visit The Whistle
Shop and makes a purchase, you'll receive 5% of that sale!
Our Shopping Cart will recognize anyone that makes a purchase
after using the link at your website - they are then "your" customer for seven
full days*! Even if they don't follow the link from your website again to shop
with us, you will receive credit for that sale (for instance, you would still
receive commission for the sale if they bookmark The Whistle Shop, then return
up to seven days later to actually place their order).
As an Affiliate with The Whistle Shop, you will receive an email from
our Shopping Cart service (AmeriCart®) each time a sale has
been made to one "your" customers, telling you the amount of that sale (see notes below about
"qualifying" sales, returns and back-orders below), it's then a simple matter
for you to calculate what your 5% commission is.
Some notes on our Affiliate Program (please read carefully):
We preview all websites before issuing them an Affiliate Number,
we reserve to right to accept or deny any applicant. Some examples of sites that
are not acceptable include: Adult sites, sites that are predominantly "click-thru
sites" (many banners, etc), sites that promote spamming or questionable moral views
or behavior, sites that we feel use questionable business practices. Once we have issued
you an Affiliate Number, you must place at least one link (provided by us) somewhere on
your website - we recommend putting it on your Home Page or a Links Page, but anywhere
that you think the link will generate sales is fine.
Feel free to place a banner or text link on as many pages as you wish.
"Qualifying" Sales - An order is considered a
"qualifying" order when the customer has actually paid for it.
For instance, there is
a chance that a customer that is mailing payment may never actually send the
payment, or that a customer that intends to pay using PayPal doesn't complete the
transaction - as there is a chance that a credit card will be declined. In these cases, no
commission will be paid (we do of course, contact the customer in an attempt to complete
the transaction in these cases). The majority of our
orders are made using credit card - these are considered "qualifying" orders
when we receive them (assuming that the credit card is not declined and that
the item is not currently on back-order). Orders must be paid within 30 days
to qualify for commission.
Gift Certificates - We pay full commission when a Gift
Certificate is purchased, but no commission will be paid when the Gift Certificate is
actually used for a purchase (this would amount to us paying a double commission).
Back-Orders - We try to keep all items in stock at all
times, but if an item is out of stock (on back-order), commission will not be paid until
we are able to actually process the order.
Returns - whenever possible, items
returned by customers are replaced instead of refunded - in these cases,
this would not effect your commission. If we do need to issue a refund on a
sale, there will be no commission paid on that sale. Commissions are held
for at least two weeks after an order is shipped to assure that the customer
is satisfied with their purchase.
You'll find details about our Return Policy on our
Return Policy Page.
Commissions are paid once a month (commissions earned
within two weeks of your commission-payment date are paid the following month). You will
receive a detailed Commission Report from us with your commission check at the end of each
month.
Commissions on some international shipments might need to be held for
longer than two weeks to allow the shipment time to arrive at its destination and assure
that the customer is satisfied with their purchase. Commissions are paid by
business check in the
form of U.S. Dollars - we cannot pay commissions in other forms of
currency.
Commissions under $5.00 will be held over until the
amount due to you equals at least $5.00. It will then be sent to you when the following
month's commissions are paid.
(U.S. Affiliates only) The IRS requires us to
send a form 1099 to you if your commissions total $600.00 or more in a given
calendar year. If your commission total comes to $600.00 or more in a given year,
you will be required to supply us with your Federal ID number (or Social Security Number
for individuals). Note that this is a requirement only if your commissions total at least
$600.00 in a given year, we do not require this information if your commission is below
this amount. Commissions totaling over $599.99 in a
given year will not be paid if the U.S. Affiliate is not able to provide us
with a Federal ID number (or Social Security Number).
Our Shopping Cart service (Americart®)
automatically sends you an email every time one of your Customers place an
order, so you don't have to rely on our honesty alone. You do however, have
to rely on us to report to you your final commission due (see notes above
concerning "qualifying" sales, returns and back-orders).
Email Links - You are welcome to send the link that we
provide to friends, associates, etc. in emails, but we do not allow
the use of it in unsolicited email (spamming). If an
Affiliate's link to our website is used in
spamming, the Affiliate will be removed from our program.
To assure our customer's
privacy, Affiliates are not
provided any customer information (email address, individual items
ordered, etc). The email that you receive when a qualifying sale is made includes only
the order number and order total.
We reserve the right to recoup commission(s)
from an Affiliate in the case of a
fraudulent purchase (stolen credit card, bad check, etc.).
In the unlikely event that we discontinue this service at a future date,
you will be informed in advance that we are discontinuing the program, and commissions due
through that date will be paid.
This program is new for us. We feel that we've covered everything, but we reserve the right to amend any
part of this program at any time if it is not working as we intended. Any
changes in the policies of this program will be noted on this page and sent
via email to all Affiliates.
*
Our Shopping Cart places
a "cookie" on the customer's computer that identifies that customer as "yours"
for seven days. This assumes that the customer has not turned off "accept
cookies" in their web browser. To find out more about cookies, see your
browser's Help file.
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