Solved Why am I seeing Amazon and Walmart as links everywhere?

[aart]

What's up with that?!

Why am I seeing Amazon and Walmart as links everywhere....
...thinking it's not intentional?

That could be!! Cause I don’t remember them ever auto linking before. Would be interesting to find out why and/or which ones. I know that TSC doesn’t for some reason but either Petco or Petsmart does.

 

[R2elk]

What's up with that?!

It is part of the pay for click throughs that BYC gets when someone clicks on a link here and purchases an item from a participating site.

The links are generated automatically. More sites will be added to the automatic links as more sites participate.

 

[aart]

The links are generated automatically. More sites will be added to the automatic links as more sites participate.

Did this just start?
Never noticed until a couple weeks ago(not sure exactly).

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Yup, it just started about a week or so ago. Right now we just have a handful (amazon, tsc, petco, walmart, ebay, and petsmart) and as of right now we probably won't be adding any more.

 

[aart]

Yup, it just started about a week or so ago. Right now we just have a handful (amazon, tsc, petco, walmart, ebay, and petsmart) and as of right now we probably won't be adding any more.

OK, Thanks @Nifty-Chicken !
Do they only make money for BYC when they are clicked.....
.......or is it like the ads, just seeing them helps us all out.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

OK, Thanks @Nifty-Chicken !
Do they only make money for BYC when they are clicked.....
.......or is it like the ads, just seeing them helps us all out.

Great questions!

It's different from advertising and is an "affiliate" relationship where BYC gets a few pennies (like, literally pennies) if someone clicks and buys stuff.

Just to be clear, the links do NOT alter the prices of the items... it's just these companies ways to compete with each other and try to get you to buy the widget from them vs. someone else, so they have these programs in place to motivate websites to link to them directly.

Ads are the primary way BYC keeps the lights on, but with the economic downturn, advertisers spending less, and BYC making the choice to block political ads, we felt this affiliate relationship would be a very unobtrusive way to help out.

 

[aart]

It's different from advertising and is an "affiliate" relationship where BYC gets a few pennies (like, literally pennies) if someone clicks and buys stuff.

So if I want to buy something from Amazon (I have several things in my cart),
I should get there by clicking an Amazon link on BYC and some pennies will automatically get slipped into the coffers here?

 

[CarpCharacin]

So if I want to buy something from Amazon (I have several things in my cart),
I should get there by clicking an Amazon link on BYC and some pennies will automatically get slipped into the coffers here?

Yeah, I think so, because it adds this tag to the link.

 

[aart]

Yeah, I think so, because it adds this tag to the link.
View attachment 2355059

..and "?tag=backy-20" means what.... in regular laymans english?

 

[CarpCharacin]

..and "?tag=backy-20" means what.... in regular laymans english?

It appears to be the affiliate tag for BYC.