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+--- Thread: Affiliate programs / supporting the site (/thread-1747.html)
Affiliate programs / supporting the site - Mervi - May-18-2016
I thought it was time to start a new thread for this since the previous one is full of old and possibly confusing info.
Although building and maintaining this website has been and continues to be a dear hobby of mine, it actually costs a bit of money to keep it up and running. I currently pay about 40 euros a year for the web space and the features that allow the use of scripts such as the wiki and these forums, and have been paying for the site's hosting since 2004. 40 EUR is roughly 45 US Dollars or 31 British Pounds at the current rates. People have asked how they can help, and although you can donate by Paypal if you wish to, most of the financial help has come from the affiliate links.
The basic way the affiliate links work is this: when a visitor to theplenty.net clicks on a banner or a text link leading to a bookseller's site, that site tracks whether or not they purchase something (it doesn't have to be the exact item that was linked to, nor does it have to happen immediately) and a fraction of that revenue gets put aside for a later payment or gift certificate. Nothing is added to the price, you still pay what you'd be paying anyway. And your click only counts as long as you haven't clicked on someone else's affiliate link before your purchase (affiliate links are everywhere).
I don't expect or demand anyone to use these links, and please also consider supporting your local bookstore instead if you're lucky enough to still have one.
Over the years, I've tried quite a few different affiliate programs, especially because I wanted to give people options besides amazon, but the harsh reality is that none of them ever generated any coins and I don't want to display more ads than are necessary, so we've been stuck with the amazons (uk and us) and the book depository for a few years now. Amazon can only send me gift certificates (which are appreciated honestly, because books yay!) but the book depository can actually pay me in pounds and that goes directly to paying for the website.
If you're buying a book online, for those of us outside of the US and UK and, book depository is sometimes cheaper than amazon in the end because they have free worldwide delivery! The old UK site is no more, but the .com site works just the same.
So if you're buying stuff online for whatever reasons, please consider doing so through our links, especially the book depository? Thank you kindly.
I want to emphasise that this site or the use of these links have never been about making a profit. There has been a single year (2012) when the commissions from the book depository clicks actually about 100% paid for the hosting. Mostly, I've been getting an amazon gift certificate every other year or even less often. In the old thread I tried to report the earnings or if any new or deleted programs, and I plan to continue doing so here.
If you have an adblock on your browser or other such arrangements, you probably don't see any banners (the main ones at the moment are the hand picked ones + the book depository search engine on the main news page and the banners at the footer section of the forums).
If you'd still like to use the links, or are not sure whether something is an affiliate link or not, here are the text versions you can use (just click through and search for whatever you want to buy like you'd normally do):
The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=ustheplentynet
Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/1WDLSeB
Amazon.com http://amzn.to/24Z8uYS
Last but not least - if you have any questions or suggestions please don't hesitate to comment!
RE: Affiliate programs / supporting the site - Mervi - May-23-2023
Just a quick note to report that as Book Depository has sadly now been closed, those affiliate links now longer work. I'm deleting them in the most obvious places but there will probably always be some left in discussion threads.
I've also been thinking about winding the down the amazon programs for some time now. I'm always open for suggestions if anyone has a favourite bookseller website that offers these programs!