Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Free money from Amazon


Rob Boudrie

Recommended Posts

The USPSA / Amazon associate program is now live. There is a link to Amazon.com on the home page of USPSA (last item in the menu on the left), and a more prominent one on the members page.

If you use this link, USPSA will get a comission on sales (generally 5%, but computers are capped at $25 a system), and your cost is not increased to cover this payment.

I would also like to thank the Million Mom March, as their use of this Amazon service is what gave me the idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice going Rob,

I understand dell computers also have a comission program(yes, the MMM is already there.)

George

I'm not quite as excieted by the Dell program as the comissions are lower and it's run by a third party (linkshare), but I have applied.

Before anyone gives me grief about doing this in 12/25 - the kid is asleep, and the wife is at work today so the Xmas celebration at my house starts this evening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

It looks like the Amazon program is working. We've only have about $150 worth of stuff ordered so far, but the system is tracking orders and reporting the comissions to USPSA. Once our members get into the habit of visiting Amazon via USPSA, I think this is going to work out rather nicely.

We'll be introducing additional referral programs in the near future. If you order something from any one other than Amazon, please drop me a line so I can confirm we are getting proper credit.

Rob Boudrie

rob@boudrie.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go for REI (linkshare) and some of the other related-gear stores too.. No cost to enter, very little maintenance required (Linkshare keeps sending new HTML code for specials and all, but the basic links always work)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Rob, yer famous Dude! and as usual I get no credit :P

From the OUTDOOR WIRE:

On December 22, we carried a story regarding the Million Mothers March. The story recounted the "MMM"s staunchly anti-firearm, pro-Brady Center alignment, as well as their ability to receive a designated portion of purchases from Amazon.com through what is, basically, a commission plan.

That story caused a slight stir immediately thereafter as The Outdoor Wire was accused alternately of either stirring the pot of discord, or, fiddling while Rome (at least the firearms portion of Rome) burned. We chose to let the whole matter ride through the Christmas/New Years holidays.

Yesterday afternoon, we discovered that the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) has done considerably more than "sound off" about the Amazon.com/MMM program. Visiting their site, we spotted a new link - from the USPSA site to Yahoo.com.

We contacted the USPSA to find out why. "Based on your story," USPSA Executive Director Dave Thomas explained, "we started checking into the whole 'royalty' linking idea. It looked pretty good, so I had our webmaster Rob Boudrie add the link."

"Now," Thomas explained, "whenever a USPSA member buys from Amazon that 'very' anti-gun organization will be required to write our 'very' pro-gun organization a check."

Are they looking to make a bundle? Not according to Thomas. "Regardless of the size of the check," he explained, "we will take great pleasure in using the money to recruit more people to enjoy practical shooting. The idea has grown to include several other 'royalty' links.

While we're not much on having to wade through pop-ups, sales opportunities and such on website, it seems to be a very sensible alternative to complaining. Rather than protest the innovation of the anti-firearm organizations, we should adopt some of their more clever ways to recruit members and/or raise funds.

Nolan

I jus don't get no respect!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go for REI (linkshare) and some of the other related-gear stores too.. No cost to enter, very little maintenance required (Linkshare keeps sending new HTML code for specials and all, but the basic links always work)

I have added a number of Linkshare vendors to the affiliates page at uspsa.org, and will be adding more (including REI). The only Linkshare vendor who has turned us down so far is H&R Block. I do not yet know if H&R Block declines affiliations from both sides of the 2nd ammendment, or if they are taking sides. I do know they faced an organized boycott because there was previously an NRA marketing program in place.

Linkshare has *so many* vnedors that listing them all is not practical. I'm trying to pick the ones most likley to be of interest to our members (some of the biggies we have so far are Dell, Orbitz and WalMart)

I also have an approval from Barnes & Noble which runs a direct program, and will be adding that shortly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Amazon system is working nicely. We are seeing orders come in trhough Amazon on a regular basis - although there are no big $$ orders yet, it shows the system is working. The key to making it work is getting the word out to members that this is a free way to support USPSA. [No, the system does not tell USPSA who is placing orders]

I do not yet see any sales form the other vendors on the page (all except Barns & Noble, which I have not yet added, are "linkshare" vendors). If you buy anything from one of these via the USPSA link, please email rob@boudrie.com so I can check to make sure the system of crediting us via Linkshare is working properly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I would like to thank everyone who has been going to Amazon via the link on www.uspsa.org before buying stuff. We are getting a slow but steady stream of buyers, running at about $100 per month comissions.

With the number of people in USPSA, and the popularity of Amazon, I suspect we can do even better once the word becomes more widespread. My guess is that we are currently seeing a minority of the USPSA member Amazon purchases.

The system does work. It's not obvious, since the buyer doesn't see any obvious hint that they arrived via USPSA.ORG once you get to Amazon.com, however, USPSA gets a report of purchases (the report does NOT contain any information about the buyers), and every time I check on a purchase I know was made via the link, I find the comission was credited. I see one order every 2-3 days.

The other links (bn.com, dell, orbitz, cheap tickets) are also working, but are getting very little action.

So, if you are using the link - thanks. If nor, please consider doing so if you are a buyer from Amazon or one of the other featured vendors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can the links that support the USPSA be put up at other locations as well? What I am thinking is that there are shooters who have web sites, and they may be willing to put the links there as well. Or, people could put them on their perosnal home pages to make them convieniently available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...