Just add the * to your URL on any links you have on forums or websites and if someone buys something using that link you get 7% more. You must sign up for the affiliate account to have it work though.

I've looked all over and I can't find any mention of the star which used to be all over the place as a simpler way to affiliate. So has that changed???...

But! A word of caution! Apparently search engines have a real problem with the star, so it's better to use the star only for things that are intended for human consumption (like hard-copy print; business cards, etc.), or of course as href links. So, in the case of href links, something like:

<a href="http://www.zazzle.com/wilddeej*">http://www.zazzle.com/wilddeej</a>

...might be a wise usage. The search engines will "see" the one without the star, but anyone who clicks on the link will "follow the star"!

Thanks for posting the link! I just clicked the grab your star link, it popped up a become a affiliate button, clicked the button and it just gave it to me,I didn't have to fill anything out. That was fun!

I ran a test (sorta) on that, before I got the star. I typed in my store url with a star in my top bar and it just went there. No I have no idea what that proves if anything! ;-)

What I was thinking is to get it into a bookmark, course that would require explanation, something like...to bookmark this site please use this address: zazzle.com/fit2betied* (without the html)

EDIT: No, that doesn't work it converts to the regular url when you bookmark it...

Of course that's what I meant! And now that you pointed out my goof, I fixed it to be correct now, too... (thanx!)

...and...



Yes, I agree with all of the above (especially about Zazzle fixing it, since it doesn't work well with search engines). In fact, there is a non-star way to get at least something like your affiliate account without the star.
I stumbled upon it accidentally. To find it,

1) Go to a product in someone else's store and click on the "Link to this" link under the product options box.

2) Highlight and cut (ctrl-c) the Option 1: Link for Email or IM entry. For example, I grabbed http://www.zazzle.com/inganielsen/product/228098039609258307?dim=59.0009x39.3306in&width=22.5&height=14.9987&size=small&rf=238267604486860157&CMPN=ltte

3) See the rf=238267604486860157 part I highlighted above? That's wilddeej's personal referral ID - yours will be different if you do the same thing on the same product. So, I can now tack that info on to the end of my "vanilla" Zazzle address; http://www.zazzle.com/wilddeej?rf=238267604486860157 (essentially substituting ?rf=238267604486860157 for the star - yes, the question mark is significant!). Be sure and use your referral ID, not mine - unless you really want me to get the referral bonus (for which I will be grateful, but is probably not what you really intended)!

Try the link, it will take you to my top-level page, and with my "reference ID" set (so if you buy anything while you're there, I'll get both royalty and referral for it - well OK, that probably doesn't apply if you're a Zazzler yourself, but you get the idea, right)?

Now you know how to do the star without the star! The moral of the story? Use the star for printed stuff that humans would see/use, and the &rf=lahDeDah everywhere computers are involved...

Zazzle's web site is set up special to translate that star to track your referral ID (that complicated long rf=number I mention a couple of posts ago). I don't know of any other site that does it this way. I've got some other affiliate linking stuff set up, and everyone else does it using something other than a star...

It's a cool idea. Undoubtedly they set it up this way because it is so much easier to ask someone to go to http://www.zazzle.com/wilddeej* instead of http://www.zazzle.com/wilddeej?rf=238267604486860157 - can you imagine putting that on a business card and expecting anyone to actually try typing it in correctly? If only the search engines didn't barf on it, and it would actually stay in a saved bookmark!

(No, I don't work at Zazzle and know their internals, but I do work very closely with web site set up, design, and programming, so I have some experience in the area!)

You mean just using the link without the star?
There'd be no visible difference then between your referred link and a non-referred link so a online system wouldn't see a difference either. So Amazon and Zazzle etc. have people sign up to their affiliate / associate programs so as to give you a unique identification to differentiate you from the crowd and track your earnings properly without confusion.

I agree though it might be cool if sellers automatically got their "star" during the signup process if thats what you mean? Since I assume everyone is automatically interested in earning extra money. Still its pretty easy to sign up for the star, just takes a few clicks. I found the star thingy on my first day so not too complicated but maybe thats just me since I'm familiar with associate/affiliate things from other sites now.

Thanks for finding that out wildeej, very interesting.

So with that said would using the referall ID number instead of the star still convert into a recognised referall link and track things properly? Or does the server rely on the star to convert..... I guess thats a question for Zazzle maybe.

I make them myself, they're premade graphic backgrounds (like a template, except serrated (sp?) so you can bend out the individual cards) They cost about 8 dollars for 250...I'm just lazy oh, and cheap (lol) I want to get my 8 bucks worth. Don't they have those in the US???...