 |
|
| | |
Frequently Asked Questions
Remember you can always contact us if you don't find your answers here!
General Information About Sideshow Collectibles
- WHO IS SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES?
Sideshow Collectibles is a specialty manufacturer of licensed and proprietary collectible products. We reflect a passion towards creating unique, highly sought after figure collectibles, as well as film prop replicas and fine art collectibles. Sideshow specializes in high end collectibles from well known film and television properties.
- WHAT IS A SIDESHOW EXCLUSIVE PRODUCT, AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
A Sideshow Exclusive product is a limited edition product that is generally only available for purchase through the Sideshow Collectibles website. These product editions will not typically be sold through international distributors, domestic distributors or retail stores. Most Sideshow Exclusives come with an extra accessory or outfit that is not included in the regular product version, and thus are more sought after by collectors. Sideshow Affiliates are able to refer sales for all available Sideshow Exclusive products. Typically, Affiliates may also refer sales for our regular version of each product, but our exclusive products provide a unique opportunity for you to offer something special to your web audience.
-WHAT IS A PRE-ORDERED ITEM, AND WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Sideshow Collectibles accepts "Pre-Orders" for our collectibles many weeks or months in advance of each product's actual release into the market. This Pre-Order acts as a reservation for the product. The Sideshow Collectibles Pre-Order Policy states that the customer's credit card is not billed for the item until it is shipping to him/her. Affiliates will only receive payment for referred sales at the time of shipment. Your commission for any referred Pre-Order sale will be 'reserved' on a Pending status until that sale has been shipped or cancelled.
General Information Regarding our Affiliate Program
- DOES IT COST ANYTHING TO BE AN AFFILIATE?
Nope! Being a Sideshow Collectibles Affiliate is 100% free of cost to you.
- DO YOU PAY AFFILIATES FOR REFERRED CLICKS OR LEADS?
No. At present, we only pay commissions for referred, completed sales.
- CAN I JOIN THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM IF I LIVE OUTSIDE OF THE U.S.?
Most definitely! A large number of our current Affiliates are from outside the U.S.
- DOES MY WEBSITE MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS?
In order for your website to be eligible, it must accord to the following:
- Be content-based and not just a list or referrer of links.
- Receive a minimum of 3,000 unique page views a month.
- Be an active website.
Your website must NOT:
- Promote sexually explicit materials.
- Promote violence.
- Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
- Promote illegal substances or activities.
- Violate personal rights, intellectual property rights, or copyrights.
NOTE: If your website is under construction, we will be happy to approve your application after viewing some of your test pages and speaking to you about your goals. Just drop us a line at:
affiliateinfo@sideshowcollectibles.com
- I DO NOT HAVE A WEBSITE, CAN I STILL JOIN YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
Please contact our Affiliate Manager. We are more than happy to discuss your ideas for using our Affiliate links.
affiliateinfo@sideshowcollectibles.com
- MY WEBSITE IS NON-PROFIT. CAN I STILL JOIN YOUR PROGRAM?
Sure you can! If an Affiliate website is non-profit, any commissions accrued can be used toward your website expenses, or other related purposes. We can also make arrangements for your Affiliate payments to be sent to an organization of your choosing, as long as the organization does not:
- Promote sexually explicit activities.
- Promote violence.
- Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
- Promote illegal substances or activities.
- Violate personal rights, intellectual property rights, or copyrights.
- HOW MUCH MONEY CAN I EARN?
Some of our Affiliates make thousands of dollars each month! Our best Affiliates have high traffic sites with a targeted audience, but even small sites can earn enough cash to cover website costs, etc. The more active you are in the program, the more commissions you can earn. We're willing to work with each Affiliate to maximize the potential of our program on your site.
- HOW CAN I GET SUPPORT FROM YOUR AFFILIATE TEAM?
First, we offer our Affiliates an online Help Menu and "Getting Started" guide. We also love talking to our Affiliates, and you can contact the Affiliate Team between 8 A.M. and 6 P.M. P.S.T., Monday through Friday. Please use the following contact information for your support needs.
Signing Up
- HOW DO I SIGN UP?
Potential Affiliates may sign up for our program by simply visiting the following URL and filling out an applicaton:
http://www.sideshowcollectibles.com/affiliates/
Additional program information and a link to our Operating Agreement can also be found on this page as well.
- I DO NOT LIVE IN THE U.S. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW BEFORE APPLYING?
International applicants may apply for our program, and do not need to provide a Social Security number or Tax ID number. We pay all Affiliates in U.S. dollars, and you may choose to receive payment via check or Paypal. Affiliates who earn several hundred dollars per month may also inquire about wire transfers.
- HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO BE ACCEPTED OR DECLINED?
We review new applications daily. If your application is approved, you will receive an approval email no more than 48 hours after your application submission, unless you submit on Friday evening (P.S.T.). If your application is rejected, you will receive a rejection email within the same time frame. If your website is under construction, or if we have questions before approving your application, we will be in touch within 48 hours after your application is submitted. We will not keep applications pending for longer than two weeks. PLEASE BE CERTAIN TO USE AN ACTIVE EMAIL ADDRESS ON YOUR APPLICATION.
- HOW DO YOU QUALIFY YOUR APPLICANTS IN ORDER TO PREVENT FRAUD IN YOUR PROGRAM?
Although it is impossible to guarantee a 100% fraud-free system, we pride ourselves in making every effort to maintain a clean program. Our application requires accurate personal contact information for each Affiliate. In addition, our software includes tools to spot suspicious behavior by Affiliates. The Sideshow Affiliate Team is dedicated to running a fair program for all of our members.
- I HAVE MULTIPLE WEBSITES. DO I NEED TO FILL OUT A NEW APPLICATION FOR EACH SITE?
If you need separate tax records for your sites, it is best to fill out separate applications for each of your websites. If tax records are not an issue for you, you may list up to three websites on one application. We prefer that you list the websites that will be most active in our program if you have more than three URLs to provide. You do not need to fill out another application if you have more than three URLs to list, but we appreciate a courtesy email to inform us of the other websites where our banners and links will be posted.
- WHERE WOULD I LOG IN TO MY ACCOUNT?
Once you have been approved for our program, you can log in to your Affiliate account here:
http://www.sideshowtoy.com/affiliates/
Just log in with your email address and your pre-selected password.
Commission and Payments
- HOW OFTEN DO YOU PAY AFFILIATES?
We calculate all affiliate payments at the end of each month (or payment period), and send payments 30 days after the close of each payment period. If your earned commission is less than $50 at the close of any payment period, we will hold payment until your total amount due is at least $50.
- WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A "PENDING" AND "COMPLETED" COMMISSION?
A "Pending" commission is a commission that has not been paid to you yet, because your referred sale has not been shipped. A "Completed" commission is a commission that is ready to be, or has been paid, because the referred sale has been shipped from our warehouses. We will only pay commissions when each item has been shipped. Sideshow's Shipping Policy states that we will ship products from the same order at separate times if the products are not in stock at the same time. Please read our section on "Pre-Orders" for more information regarding Pending Commissions.
- CAN I USE MY COMMISSION TOWARDS SIDESHOW PURCHASES?
We do not accept commissions as credit towards our merchandise at this time.
- WHAT IF I DON'T WANT, OR CANNOT ACCEPT COMMISSIONS?
If you would like to participate in our Affiliate Program but do not wish to accept commissions, we can accommodate you. Just let us know! As mentioned above, we can also arrange for your commissions to be sent to a non-profit organization of your choosing.
Tracking Clicks and Sales
- HOW DO YOU TRACK MY AFFILIATE ACTIVITY?
Our Affiliate Software generates a unique code for your links to Sideshowcollectibles.com. Each time an end user clicks on your links, the unique code places a cookie in thier browser. This cookie is recognized by our system, and signals our Affiliate software to credit your account for any unique clicks or purchases a customer makes for up to one year, even if the customer visits our site directly at a later date.
- WHAT IS A UNIQUE CLICK?
Our Affiliate software tracks your website traffic, and can distinguish between visitors who click on your Sideshow links once, and those who click on your links more than once. Clicks are tracked according to their unique IP addresses, like online fingerprints, and Unique Clicks are counted only once, no matter how many times that particular user clicks on your links. Sideshow's Affiliate software ONLY tracks unique clicks, including your own. This is a tracking feature that will help you to accurately monitor your Affiliate referral traffic.
- WHAT IS COOKIE RETENTION? WHY DOES SIDESHOW'S AFFILIATE PROGRAM OFFER A 365-DAY COOKIE RETENTION?
Cookie Retention refers to the amount of time our unique Affiliate cookie will remain in an end user's web browser. Sideshow's Affiliate cookies are designed to remain in a browser for a full year! Any time within the year that your referred customer returns to shop at Sideshowcollectibles.com, you will receive commissions on all purchases he/she makes. We offer the whopping 365-day cookie retention as an excellent incentive for our Affiliate to join the program and earn commissions! Please note that your cookie can be removed from an end user's browser via the following circumstances:
- Manual deletion
- The end user clicks on another Sideshow Affiliate link
- HOW WILL I KNOW IF I MADE ANY SALES?
We will send you an email notification everytime you refer a sale. You can also keep track of your sales by using our Affiliate Statistics reports, available once you have logged into your account.
- IF SOMEONE CLICKS ON MY AFFILIATE LINK TO A PARTICULAR PAGE ON THE SIDESHOW SITE, THEN MAKES A PURCHASE FROM ANOTHER PAGE, DO I STILL GET CREDIT FOR THE SALE?
Yes, you will still receive credit for that referred sale. You will get credit for referring any sale at Sideshowcollectibles.com, no matter what item is purchased.
Miscellaneous
- I RUN A HIGH-TRAFFIC, SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE. CAN YOU PROVIDE ME WITH ADDITIONAL TIME-SAVING SUPPORT?
Of course we can! Just get in touch with us to discuss your needs, and we will create a plan that works for your schedule.
- YOUR PRODUCTS ARE COOL. CAN I USE ONE FOR A WEB PROMOTION?
If you are an actively earning Affiliate, we are happy to support you by offering promotional items for a giveaway or review on your website. Your web promotions should be designed to increase your website's traffic and referred sales. Send us a request, and we will put our heads together to come up with some creative ideas.
- TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE TYPICAL SIDESHOW CUSTOMER/SALE.
Sideshow takes great pride in the supportive community we have built around our products and company. We enjoy a dedicated customer base, and many customers purchase several collectibles each year. Our products range in price from $40-$20,000, and our typical order is approximately $75.00. Affiliates earn 10% commission on most of our products, and some extremely high-end products offer a 5% commission.
- CAN I BUY YOUR PRODUCTS THROUGH MY OWN LINKS?
If you are an active affiliate referring sales from a variety of customers, you may purchase our products through your own affiliate links. You may not use our affiliate links for the sole purpose of purchasing your own collectibles. You may not purchase products through your own links for resale or commercial use of any kind. At our sole discretion, Sideshow Inc. will determine if an affiliate is abusing this agreement, and reserves the right to charge back and/or disallow any and all commissions to the affiliate. Additionally, this activity may result in the termination of this agreement.
- WHAT SIZE BANNERS DO YOU OFFER?
We are happy to create custom banners for your website. Our current banner sizes are as follows:
- 468x60 (GIF)
- 234x60 (GIF)
- 100x130 (GIF)
- 130x200 (GIF)
- 145x120 (GIF)
- 120x90 (GIF)
- 120x120 (GIF)
- 300x150 (GIF)
- 600x400 (JPEG)
- 120x600 (GIF)
- 160x600 (JPEG)
- 728x90 (JPEG)
- 300x250 (JPEG)
- DO YOU OFFER FLASH BANNERS?
Flash banners will be available soon in the following sizes:
- CAN I USE PRODUCT IMAGES FROM YOUR SITE TO PROMOTE YOUR COMPANY?
We provide our Affiliates with a wide selection of product-specific banners, in many different sizes. We also provide you with the option to build text links to our webpages. If you feel that these do not suit your needs, you may choose to download product images directly from the Sideshow website. This is acceptable as long as the product images display the Sideshow Collectibles logo, and are being used in a respectful manner. Most of our product pages offer a JPG gallery, and this is where you will find our branded images.
- CAN I BECOME A WHOLESALE CLIENT?
To become a Wholesale Client you must own a brick and mortar store. If you are interested in our Wholesale program, Please contact:
marcia.chapman@sideshowcollectibles.com
| 
Program Introduction
