Linkshare Review
October 17, 2008
LinkShare online since 1996, is one of the first affiliate networks on the net. Their affiliate network has some major brand names such as ESPN and Walmart. There is no minimum balance required for payouts. Payments are done by Check and issued by Linkshare or the 3rd party merchant, depending on the setting of the merchant. They also have their own affiliate program, paying $1.50 per affiliate you refer to the Linkshare network. To use different merchants in the network, you must apply to each one for each individual website.
What great thing about Linkshare is that it is an established network with many well known brand name affiliate programs. Their minimum payout is only $1, most other networks are 25-100. Their Interface is confusing and not very convenient though. You must sign up every website you own. You have to use different affiliate links for different websites you put the links on. There is no option to create custom direct urls to link to individual pages. There also is no 2nd tier affiliate programs for merchants in network, datafeeds are not free, no coupon options. There is no auto-deposit feature viewable, so there is no way to know how well a affiliate program will stay active. They don’t show a detailed program uptime history or publicly show any kind of affiliate tracking verification information like Shareasale does. Payments are not all done by Linkshare, it depends on the merchant. Payments can take months from certain merchants, if done by the merchant instead of Linkshare. If you have any payment issues with a 3rd party merchant, LinkShare expects affiliates to report those problems to Linkshare. Before your first payment, you are also required to fill out a tax form if you’re a U.S citizen. It’s also a hassle creatine a profile for each website you own and having to apply to each merchant and wait for acceptance before you can use their links.
Join LinkShare.com affiliate program.
