The history of Shareasale.com goes back to the year 2000, when the idea of providing high quality tracking software to merchants at the lowest cost in the industry came into fruition. Add to that idea the benefit of being connected to an immense network of high quality affiliate sites, and you start to see what Shareasale.com is all about. Maintaining a strong relationship between the salesperson, or affiliate, and the merchant is the idea that Shareasale.com believes and depends on, and they have a reputation for being honest and responsive to all customer complaints and concerns.

But slow down….Before I sign up, can you explain to me what exactly “performance marketing” is?

Sure thing! If you sell stuff online, then performance marketing is the best way to acquire new customers. When you sign up to the Shareasale.com program, that means you’re linked up to a vast network of sales experts who will promote their products to all of their visitors – not just via websites, but also e-mail newsletters and other forms of online marketing. You get to decide how the commission rates are paid – and you only have to pay once the results arrive. For example, you can choose the pay-per-sale model, pay-per-lead, or pay-per-click. It’s all up to you.

Okay, so how does it work?

Shareasale.com utilizes special software to bring together merchants and affiliates into mutually beneficial partnerships. There are no special technical requirements for using our system. It is also completely compatible with any shopping carts or e-commerce software you might employ on your site – we have not found any glitches to date. Shareasale.com functions not only for sales, but also records hits to each website as well as “lead” generations (i.e. the action of filling out an online form.) Basically, Shareasale.com will do whatever you want it to do. Their staff is always on call to solve any problems that might arise, whether before or after the installation process.

Merchants sign up for the affiliate program for only $350. Then, upload the banners you want used on to the Shareasale.com site via the Banner Management Center. Next, you set up the commission amount you want to pay your affiliates for each sale. This can be a percentage of the total sale, or a set amount.

Our affiliates will then browse the offers. The ones who choose your program will add your banners to their site and/or their e-mail newsletters. This will result in more traffic to your site. Each time a lead or a sale occurs, Shareasale.com checks to see if the affiliate was responsible for bringing that customer to your site. If so, then the amount you decided on is deducted from your account – it goes to the affiliate. Shareasale.com takes care of paying the affiliates each month, so you do not have to worry about it. As long as you keep your balance above $0.00, Shareasale.com will continue to promote your site through our affiliates.

What does the $350 include?

This is the software access fee. It takes about an hour to set up on your server, but doesn’t require any special extra technical things. If for some reason you have difficulties getting the software to run on your machine, we give you a full refund.

In addition to the software access, Shareasale.com also screens all the affiliates for you, to make sure no fraudulent activity occurs. Shareasale.com also pays out your affiliates for you each month, so you don’t have to bother with it. Shareasale.com also provide an affiliate help desk, should your affiliates have any problems they need solved. What’s more, all banners, text, and links will be served for you.

Merchants are also expected to maintain a minimum deposit of $100. This enables you to pay your merchants and Shareasale.com their commission.

The Shareasale.com commission is 20% of the rate paid to affiliates, depending on the program you choose to offer. So if your affiliate receives $1 per lead, then Shareasale.com will receive 20 cents per lead. Shareasale.com does demand at least $25 per month. If your account does not generate that much, you will be charged the difference. There is a grace period of 60 days after your account has been registered on the network. After that, Shareasale.com gives you a further 60-120 day grace period where your monthly minimum is reduced to $10.

The billing will commence on the first of the month following your grace period, so you might actually get a little extra time. Shareasale.com realizes that an online marketing plan can take some time to get off the ground, hence their generosity in administering these grace periods.

That sounds good for merchants. But what about the affiliate program?

The idea of our affiliate program is to get independent and corporate websites the chance to match up their current content with links to other sites – and earn money doing it. Once you sign up for a Shareasale.com affiliate account, you can take a look at the Merchant programs we have available. You then choose the ones that are best for you. Each time a surfer clicks on one of the banners you’ve chosen for your site, you earn a commission – either a portion of the sale, or a certain amount for each click or lead.

There are now several thousand merchants connected to the Shareasale.com system. They range from small to large, sell products of all sorts, and are all willing to give you a commission whenever you bring a customer to them. As the affiliate, you get to decide which merchants you want to promote. You also get to decide how you want to promote them – whether it be through your website, email newsletters, or other tools you might use. Commission stats are displayed in real time. Merchant payments are always taken up front, to guarantee that you will always receive your commission. Payments from all of your programs are then consolidated, and you will receive a check from Shareasale.com.