What is the Hayneedle Affiliate Program?
The Hayneedle Affiliate Program allows you to place links on your website pointing to our stores. The Hayneedle network of sites includes Hammocks.com, Binoculars.com, Cribs.com, Doghouses.com and most importantly, Hayneedle.com, where we have over 500,000 products. 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 60 days later.
How many stores participate in the Hayneedle Affiliate Program?
There are over 120 stores and counting involved with this program! This represents nearly 500,000 products, not including color, size and other variations. New stores are added regularly, so check back frequently!
Can I add my retail site to the Hayneedle Affiliate Program?
All stores in our program are owned by us (Hayneedle, 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?
You’re already on the right track by going through our FAQ’s. Next, put in an application at Pepperjam or Google Affiliate Network. Once PJN or GAN has accepted you as an affiliate, just apply to the Hayneedle affiliate program and start promoting! You should receive notice from both the network and Hayneedle within 48 hours of applying.
Why Two Networks?
So we can give you options! Many affiliates are just more comfortable working with certain networks, so we wanted to provide you a choice in who you work with to promote our products.
What happens if a customer clicks my link and another affiliate’s link?
This is called a “multiple referrer”. Hayneedle has logic in place that will give credit to the first referring affiliate. In the off chance that a customer visits more than one affiliate site before making a purchase, we will always give credit to the affiliate who was first clicked before the purchase was made.
Does my personal website qualify for the Hayneedle Affiliate Program?
Anyone can apply for the program. However, Hayneedle 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 Hayneedle 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. In general, we’re looking for high-quality sites with decent traffic that are related to our products.
Can I apply to be an affiliate with Hayneedle if I don’t have a website yet?
You must have an existing website in order to become a Hayneedle 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. Here’s a short list of the reasons we may reject an affiliate application:
- Website isn’t relevant (not related to our products)
- Website is “Under Construction”
- Domain name is registered to a different person
- Website is poorly designed or really, really ugly
- Website has objectional material (pornography, explicit language, etc.)
- Website is not in English or targets non-U.S. residents
- Primary marketing method is “direct linking” or PPC
- Applicant is a resident of a state with nexus tax law
The above list is just a snapshot of reasons we might decline an application. We personally review every application to our program, so take the time to make sure that your application looks good. If you have any questions about why your site was rejected, please contact us for assistance.
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. In addition, there are a number of tools that can help you format datafeeds if you are technically challenged. Tools like the Pepperjam Store Builder, PopShops or Datafeedr can help make formatting datafeeds a snap!
Can I download graphics and logos from Hayneedle stores to my website?
Yes, you can – although we prefer and recommend that you use banners provided within the networks. 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. If you do this, we ask that you do not modify the image in any way other than resizing. As a side note, we want to work with partners who bring something unique to the table. Do not in any way attempt to copy or mimic our site look and feel. It’s a better user experience if you set your site up as completely separate and unique from Hayneedle.
May I link to Hayneedle 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 click throughs and sales from each store. You may also use the SID feature in Pepperjam to determine which store you are sending the traffic from. (For more on using SID’s click here.)
How can I promote Hayneedle stores?
Hayneedle will provide banners, buttons and text links that you can use on your site. We have found that text links and 468×60 banners are the most effective type of link for generating purchases, but it’s up to you how you choose to promote us. In addition to your website, you may promote Hayneedle stores through an opt-in mailing list, but make sure you are in compliance with all rules and regulations. All links on your site must be created using the Pepperjam or GAN affiliate interface to ensure proper tracking of click-thru’s and sales.
In addition, 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 click-throughs and sales. Check out our tips and tricks section for some promotion ideas.
What kind of advertising is prohibited?
- 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.
- 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 not 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.
- 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.
Will Hayneedle promote my site on its website?
Currently, the Hayneedle 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 Hayneedle?
It is not permissible to change or personalize any Hayneedle images. If you would like to request customized creative, send your request via email for consideration. We will evaluate the development of unique creative on a case-by-case basis.
How much can I earn with the Hayneedle Affiliate Program?
Our commission levels are based on what we can afford to pay for each store. With stores that have better margins, you can earn as much as 8% on each sale. On stores where margins are tighter, commissions are between 3% and 5%. Check out our full list of our stores and commission rates or check out the program terms of each store when you login to Pepperjam or Google Affiliate Network.
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. This is both an awesome way to get a discount on a product that you’d want to purchase and a way to get the real Hayneedle experience. Consider it our little gift to you. ☺
Can I earn commissions if I send customers to Hammocks.com, but they purchase from PatioUmbrellas.com?
Yes! In August, 2009, we implemented new technology that allows us to track affiliate sales for all of our stores. This means that if you send a customer to any of our sites, you’ll receive commissions on sales from any of our stores – no matter which store you send them to! You just need to make sure that you are signed up for all of our affiliate programs to receive the commission. At this time, sales of this nature will be credited manually so give us several days to credit you in full for all commissions earned.
Will I earn commissions on Gift Cards?
Unfortunately at this time Hayneedle does not pay commissions on gift card purchases.
When and how do I get paid?
You’ll be paid by whichever network you are signed up with. Please see the terms at either Pepperjam or Google Affiliate Network to choose your payment method.
What about product returns and exchanges?
If a customer returns a product for a refund, or if credit card charges are reversed due to a dispute or credit card fraud, unfortunately we will need to cancel that order and you will not be paid commissions. If a product is returned in exchange for new merchandise, or if goods are lost or damaged and we ship replacement goods to the customer, you will keep all commissions.
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 the cookie last?
Each cookie – a small file stored on the computer of a user that clicks your affiliate link – lasts for 60 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 60 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. In light of recent developments with tax laws, some states with an affiliate nexus tax will not be accepted. Check with your state to determine whether an affiliate nexus tax is active where you live.
If you still have questions after reading through our FAQ’s. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at affiliatesmanager@hayneedle.com or 1-866-238-5244.
