Affiliation and X10
By Mike Mallari - August 14, 2006 [Discuss This Article]

You love your X10 products and tell your friends about your latest gadget purchases. So why not make money by advertising X10.com on your website or newsletter? Whether you are looking to make a few bucks on the side, or build a comfortable living, it's all possible by joining the affiliate program at X10.com!

X10.com operates an in-house VIP affiliate program. Signing up for the program is free and there are no costs for you to be involved. As an affiliate, you become an advertiser of the X10 products through your personal website or newsletters and are paid every time someone makes a "qualifying" purchase as a result of a referral from your website or newsletter. Think of it almost as being employed by a company. When you apply for a job, you don't pay any upfront fees to that employer, you are hired to do the work, and you get paid when you provide the results.

Affiliation works under these same concepts. Although you are not employed directly by the company you have an agreement that if you drive sales to their site, you are then paid for your work. Through the In-house VIP Affiliate program, you earn 40% commission from each sale that resulted from your advertising. If a customer of your website makes a $100 purchase at X10.com as a result of clicking on an X10.com banner on your site, you are rewarded with a $40 commission from that sale once the sale "qualifies." If a total of $1,000 of sales occurs in one month as a result of visiting your website, you receive a commission of $400 for that month simply by displaying the X10.com ad banner!

Qualifying Sales:

A qualifying sale is one that has passed the thirty day return policy, and thus the item purchased is no longer returnable to the manufacturer for refund. A qualifying sale is also one that is purchased "properly" under the guidelines of the VIP Affiliate Program. What this means is that you as the advertiser did not make the purchase for the sole purpose of receiving a discount. The purpose of the Affiliate program is to reward you for contributing sales from your customers, not for self-discounts.

Receiving A Commission Check

Once a sale passes both of these guidelines, you are then rewarded with the commissions. X10.com mails out commission checks on the second to third week of every month. The commissions paid are for qualifying sales that have occurred two months prior. The reason for the two month waiting period is to make sure commissions are not paid out for items which may have been refunded as they still fall under the 30-day return policy.

Checks are sent directly to your mailing address, or you even have the option of direct deposit for a nominal small charge to be deducted from your check.

How to get started

To get started as an affiliate, you must first register through the X10 In-house VIP Affiliate website at www.x10affiliate.com. You will be asked for basic information such as name, address and phone number. In addition, you may also be asked to provide personal information such as a business license number or social security number, for tax reporting purposes. All monies made are taxable income and must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service or your taxing authority.

Once you have properly filled out the application, you will then receive your Affiliate Identification number up to 24-hours after submitting your application. This number is unique only to you, as each affiliate receives their own personal Affiliate number. Make a note of your number, as your customers who purchase over the phone will need to provide it, in order for you to receive credit for all sales that occur over the telephone.

For sales purchased online, your Affiliate Identification number is uniquely embedded within the banner code. So X10.com automatically is able to track where sales accrued from, ensuring you receive your commissions from customers who have purchased from your site. X10.com even handles the shopping cart! So there's no need for you to have any special programming skills or abilities!

The Affiliate Website

The Inhouse VIP Affiliate website is a great resource to help you begin your journey as a new X10 VIP affiliate. Through this site, you have the ability to monitor sales made as a result of customers visiting your website, find various X10 advertising media to display on your website, or communicate with other members of the affiliate program through the Affiliate forum and message boards.

Once you have registered for the program and received your affiliate identification number, you have full access to this resource.

If you have further questions regarding the Affiliate program , you can learn more by visiting the VIP Affiliate website at www.x10affiliate.com.