Affiliate Links & Donating to HPC:Factor

I have done some rewrites to Marbl today such that the Forum Amazon and eBay link generator buttons can now accept Amazon/eBay URL's respectively.

Amazon
Clicking on the "Amazon Link" button (or writing the BBS code manually) you can now insert:
- Amazon searches
- ASIN (item IDs)
- ISBN (book IDs)
- Amazon search URL's
- Amazon product page URL's

e.g.
[ Amazon=Jornada 720] ==
[ Amazon=B08SJM9VKR] ==
[ Amazon=9781572318564] ==
[ Amazon=https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Samsung+860+EVO&ref=nb_sb_noss_2] ==
[ Amazon=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-MZ-76E500B-EU-Solid-State/dp/B078WQT6S6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Samsung+860+EVO&qid=1613838024&sr=8-1] ==

eBay
Clicking on the "eBay Link" button (or writing the BBS code manually) you can now insert:
- eBay searches
- Item IDs
- eBay's new search URL's*
- eBay's new product page URL's*

e.g.
[ eBay=MobilePro 900c] ==
[ eBay=254181125255] ==
[ eBay=https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=Samsung+860+EVO&_sacat=0] ==
[ eBay=https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250GB-500GB-1TB-2TB-Internal-SSD-Samsung-EVO-860-2-5/184080432546?hash=item2adc0c7da2:g:HaYAAOSwCXRcub-E] ==

* eBay changed their URL and search syntax structures this morning, which I have been waiting for to do this. So only eBay URL's generated using the new addresses will work. If the URL contains /itm/ or /sch/ it should be fine. eBay haven't ported over all of their territories either, so I'm sorry to the likes of Singapore, China and Malaysia who they won't work for (yet at least).

In both cases, Marbl will attempt to extract the product code and search term to use automatically in the link - if it is able to.


The eBay code is new, so it remains to be seen if it actually works! I have updated it throughout the site, so it is also working in Devices & Specifications and the HCL as well. Fingers crossed.

In the interest of transparency, I wanted to share the income once again made from eBay and Amazon referrals from HPC:Factor during 2020 (1st Jan - 31st Dec).

Amazon made £4.73 + $2.77 USD + €0.52 EUD + $0.00 CAD (excluding traffic from c-amie.co.uk)
eBay made £64.29 (although this include traffic on c-amie.co.uk which I only separated last week)

There are also new link creators here: https://www.hpcfactor.com/info/help/donations/

Thanks everyone.

Shout out to anyone in Canada. I've had an email from Amazon.ca this morning saying that they're going to disable the Amazon.ca referral if it isn't used in the next 90 days. If you're a Canadianor have family who are, please don't forget us when you are shopping at Amazon.ca!

I'm not clear on how this link thing works. Can you only buy link identified items or can any purchase made generate credit?

Also, is there any option for a monthly recurring donation as other web sites have, say minimum of $3 to $5, etc. Mostly for SuperUsers who want to be supportive but lose track of time, etc.

joval

The theory is that if you use the links on the first page of this thread, that you can buy pretty much anything from Amazon under the affiliate scheme. You can also create and use a link in a forum post (or even just the preview) or any of the links in the HCL/Reviews section to do the same.

Interesting question r.e. the recurring donation... I hadn't thought about it. Honest answer right now: I do not know if PayPal can do that. Anyone else know? Patreon can, I suppose we could use that?

Usual festive shout out to everyone if you can, please use the site's Amazon and eBay referral programme links. It doesn't make much, but every little bit helps keep the site going

Thanks,

I have received a number of emails over the last few months from visitors to the site informing me that they have attempted to donate to the site, however they have been unable to do so due to changes in PayPal's geographic restrictions.

Several of those who contacted me asked if there was an alternative way to contribute and sadly I was left scratching my head. I was talking to someone last week and they suggested that I try setting up a Patreon for those users. To then end, I have now setup a Patreon account for the site.

View: https://www.patreon.com/hpcfactor

Anyone can use this to donate to the site if you prefer - and the fees are slightly cheaper than PayPal too at 5% + fees vs. anything from 6% to 35% from PayPal (the average is 11.4% ).

If you want to use it to make a one-time donation, please do so and then disable the monthly re-billing option!

If anyone would like to use it to setup a regular donation to the site, I would of course be very humbled and would definitely come up with a new forum badge for it

I haven't setup tiers or anything like that on it.

My thanks to everyone for your continued support. The site would definitely not be online still if it was not for the generosity and good will of so many of you in this community.