Refer a Friend for Another Website

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   davidlivermoreposted 5 years ago

   Hey all,
   
   I write a lot of articles on video games.  I wanted to put a "refer a friend" link for another website in those articles.  It does refer to a site where people can purchase the games I mentioned, and the referral would get me some store credit.  Is this frowned upon?
   
   Thank you.

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      lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

      According to the TOS (the last I know of them) you are allowed to have two affiliate links to any domain (multiple to amazon is ok) provided the links are relevant.
      
      I don't see why you cannot do this, as long as you do not specifically say that you are linking out to get store credit.

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         Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         I disagree. I would classify referral links as spam; they take the reader away from HP site with no financial benefit to HubPages.

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            lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

            How is what the OP said any different from him having referred them to Amazon where they could probably also purchase the game? Instead of getting a commission, he gets store credit.

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               Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

               If he refers them to Amazon with an in-text link, then HP gets a cut of the commission. There is no benefit to HP from a personal referral link.
               
               In addition, the orange A symbol next to the link makes it clear to a reader that this is a referral link to Amazon. A personal referral link is more devious because it's not immediately clear (to a reader) that the writer is benefiting financially from the link.

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                  lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                  That does not really matter, HP allows you to have 2 links to external sites, some even had 2 amazon links of their own where HP did not benefit. Marisa used to have affiliate links to websites other than Amazon on her old account, she asked if that's still allowed today when she returned. That's the reason I mention that it is as far as the TOS goes, from what I know about.
                  
                  Also, the image on Amazon links is relatively new in the broad scheme of things. Secondly most websites are not open about their affiliate links.
                  
                  This is the message in the footer of all hubs:
                  "Copyright © 2020 HubPages Inc. and respective owners. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. HubPages® is a registered Service Mark of HubPages, Inc. HubPages and Hubbers (authors) may earn revenue on this page based on affiliate relationships and advertisements with partners including Amazon, Google, and others."
                  
                  And others could be whatever the OP wants to link out to.

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                     Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                     The easiest way to find out for sure is for the OP to put such a link in his article and then see if it gets snipped.

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                        lobobrandonposted 5 years agoin reply to this

                        True, but a badly worded amazon link is also snipped.

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      2. 77

         davidlivermoreposted 5 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you.  I did confirm in the TOS that it's allowed, but only if it's a benefit to the reader.  My link isn't a benefit to the reader directly, so I feel it's best I don't include it as I don't want to affect my articles. I can do it in the future if I find a benefit to the reader in one of my articles.

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