SwagVault has compiled this info so that you may be better informed about our affiliate program.
If you have any questions please Contact Us for more information

1. What is a quick overview of the SwagVault Affiliate Program?
2. Where do I place the banner or text link on my website?
3. What is the difference between an impression and a click through?
4. How do I gauge the performance of my banners?
5. What are some strategies for maximizing my commission?
6. How are commissions calculated?
7. When and how are commission payments made?
8. I have not received my commission payment, what do I do?
9. What is a refund, what is a chargeback, and what is the difference?
10. What happens when an order is refunded or charged back?
11. How do I close my Affiliate account?
12. I still have more questions, who do I ask?

Simply put, the SwagVault Affiliate Program is a way for you to make money by referring customers to SwagVault.com. You may have a MMO-related website, a blog, or discussion forum that has achieved some degree of popularity. By placing a SwagVault.com banner or text ad on your website, blog, or discussion forum, your visitors are alerted to the products and services provided by SwagVault.com. If those visitors click on the SwagVault.com banner or text ad, and subsequently places an order on SwagVault.com, you will be eligible to earn a 10% commission. To learn more in detail about how the SwagVault Affiliate Program works, read through the rest of this FAQ and contact us if you have any remaining questions.

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Banner or text ad links can be placed just about anywhere you can imagine on your website. A variety of banner and text ads are provided to fit your layout scheme. Most affiliates find it best to place a banner horizontally on top or vertically on the right side of their website.

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An impression is when a banner or text link is shown on your website to a visitor. The number of impressions generated by your website is tracked and is displayed on the Affiliate Summary page after you log in. A click through is when a visitor clicks on a banner or text ad and visits the SwagVault.com website. This number is also tracked and displayed on the Affiliate Summary page.

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The ratio of click-throughs compared to impressions is an important statistic for gauging the effectiveness of the banner or text ads. Typically, a click-through ratio of 2 to 5 percent is healthy, and 5 to 10% is good. A ratio above 10% is excellent and should be generating strong commission for you.

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The most important thing to success of banner or text ads in generating commission for you is how well the ads matches the content of your website. If you have a website that caters to people who mostly play World of Warcraft, for example, then your ads will generate a lot of commission because SwagVault.com offers World of Warcraft products and services. On the otherhand, if your website caters mostly to Grand Theft Auto players on PlayStation 2, then your ads will likely generate only a small amount of commission. After you have determined that a SwagVault banner or text ad is a good fit for your website, choose an ad and placement that is prominent but not annoying. This requires a bit of artful arrangement on your part but most Affiliates find it effective to use either a horizontal banner across the top or a vertical banner along the right side. We suggest that you refrain from using pop-ups, pop-ins, floats and other similarly annoying methods for displaying ads on your website.

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Each time a visitor places an order on SwagVault.com after clicking on a banner or text ad on your website, the order is marked to have been referred by you. On the last day of each month, all orders that are 1) paid in full, and 2) older than 30 days, and 3) not paid a commission on previously, are added together for calculation of your commission. The dollar value of each order is multiplied by the 10% commission rate and the results are added together. From this total, the commission for refunded and charged-back orders are deducted. Also deducted are commission that were already paid previously but the associated order of which has been issued a refund or chargeback in the past 30 days. The resulting amount is the total commission payable to you. For more details on the treatment of refunds or chargebacks, please refer to subsequent sections of this FAQ.

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Commission payments are made within the first week of each month. Commission payments are made using the PayPal MassPay service. By using the MassPay service, SwagVault covers all PayPal fees incurred and affiliates receives the full amount of the payment with no additional fees deducted. If you do not provide a PayPal payment email address, your commission will be paid to you in the form of store credit, redeemable for products and services offered by SwagVault. It is up to you to make sure that all payment information, including name, address, and email address, are accurate and current. SwagVault will in no case undertake the task of tracking down mis-directed payments due to errors on your part. After a payment has been made using the information you have provided, you are considered to be in receipt of the payment.

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Keep in mind that comission is only paid on orders that are 30 days or older. Therefore, the comission you receive in the first week of each month is not from the previous month, but the month before that. This also means that new affiliates will not receive a comission payment during the first payment cycle following their sign up. For example, comission payments processed in the first week of May will be for orders in March, and affiliates who signed up in April will not receive a comission payment since those orders are not 30 days old yet.

Another possible reason you have not received your payment is that your payment information is incorrect. If you entered a PayPal email address in your Affiliate Information, your commission payment will be sent to that email address. Upon request SwagVault will provide you with the PayPal Transaction ID for the payment. If you did not enter a PayPal email address, your commission payment will be made in the form of store credit and you will need to contact us to arrange for delivery of products or services you would like to purchase. You may also update your payment information and request your commission payment to be made by PayPal.

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A refund takes place when a customer decides to cancel the order he has placed and paid for. In this case, the money he has paid will be refunded to him and the products or services he has purchased will not be delivered. A chargeback happens when a customer files a dispute with PayPal or a credit card company and a decision was rendered in their favor.

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The treatment of refunds and chargebacks are the same in the SwagVault Affiliate Program. If a refund or chargeback is issued on an order for which a commission has not been paid, the commission on that order is reduced to zero. At end of the month, that order is included for calculation of commission and is marked as paid afterwards. If a refund or chargeback is issued on an order for which a commission has already been paid, the amount of commission for that order will be deducted from the total commision amount calculated at the end of the month.

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We are sorry that it the SwagVault Affiliate Program did not work out for you, but please send us an email through the contact form and we will process your cancellation ASAP.

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If you have any additional questions not addressed in this FAQ, plese send us an email at affiliates@swagvault.com and we will respond to your inquiry. Please do not use the Live Chat or Contact Us feature as the operators are only trained to handle order related issues and not Affiliate Program issues. Thank you for your understanding.

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