Return Day Benefit Policy

What steps do I need to take in order to be entitled to benefit from the Return Days offered by a merchant?

As you know, each merchant partner, for the most part, sets its own rules for participation in its affiliate marketing program, so the answer to that question will obviously vary from merchant to merchant. Our suggestion is that you carefully review the terms of your engagements with each of your merchant partners, and when in doubt, contact the merchant or LinkShare directly with your questions. With that said, there are a few very basic rules relating to Return Days that apply to your participation in all LinkShare affiliate marketing programs. Those guidelines are as follows:

Add Value by Delivering the User
In order for you to benefit from the Return Days offered by a merchant, you must have actually delivered the user to the merchant's site. You will be deemed to have delivered a user to a merchant if, after receiving a clear indication from that user that he or she is interested in viewing a merchant's offerings, you in fact direct that user to the relevant page on the merchant's site. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Direct Link to Merchant Site - Displaying a merchant's link on your site such that when a user clicks on that link he or she is redirected to the merchant's site.
• Direct Link Within Affiliate Site / Indirect Link to Merchant Site - Displaying the merchant's advertising link on your site such that when a user clicks on that link, he or she is redirected to another page on your site devoted to the merchant and, at the same time, a fully visible window displaying the relevant page of the merchant's site opens over or under your webpage.
• Search Link Within Affiliate Site / Indirect Link to Merchant Site - Permitting the user to use the search features integrated into your site to conduct a search of your site in order locate a merchant's offerings and then redirecting the user to or opening a fully visible window displaying the specific merchant's site as part of the search results. In this example, the user's search query must include some specific reference to the merchant, like the merchant's name or its products, as opposed to generic search terms.
• Search Link to Affiliate Site / Indirect Link to Merchant Site - Acquiring search placement on third party search engines on behalf of a specific merchant such that when a user clicks on your listing in the search results, the user is redirected to a page on your site devoted to that merchant or the merchant's products and, at the same time, a full sized window displaying the merchant's relevant page pops over or under the window containing your page. In this example, the user's search query must include some specific reference to the merchant, like the merchant's name or its products, as opposed to generic search terms.

To the extent that you engage in search marketing, please be aware that some merchants regulate the purchase of keywords based on their name, brands and/or trademarks, so you should consult with those merchants before attempting to acquire search placement on their behalf.

Don't Try to Beat the System
The concept of Return Days is built around the fundamental assumption that you have actually referred to the merchant a user that has expressed a clear preference or clearly requested and have in such referral process added value such that you should be rewarded for the referral. If you have delivered a user who has not indicated in some clear manner any desire to be referred and delivered, you have not actually delivered the user in a manner warranting a commission. Worse, if you attempt to "beat the system" by simulating the referral and delivery of a user to a merchant, then, not only should you be denied the benefit of Return Days, but you will also not be entitled to any commissions. You may even be required to return commission payments that you have already received.

By way of example, but certainly not limitation, if you:

• Program your site to open a 1x1 pixel of the merchant's site or webpage without actually making the merchant's site or page visible to the user then you have not delivered the user.

We consider these kinds of business practices to be deceptive practices. Please be advised that LinkShare takes the integrity of its Network very seriously and will terminate you from participation in the LinkShare Network if you are found by us to be gaming or trying to beat the system.

By establishing these very basic guidelines, we are in no way attempting to discourage you from optimizing and ever improving the ways you promote the products and services of your merchant partners. We do, however, want to make sure that you act in an ethical and responsible fashion, with your primary focus being on adding value to the merchant's affiliate marketing program.

We are serious about maintaining the integrity of the Network and expect you, as a valued member of the Network, to act with the same values. We understand that you may have questions or concerns as to whether one of your current or proposed promotional strategies is consistent with these guidelines. If you do, then please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@linkshare.com. When emailing us, please be as descriptive as possible in identifying the promotional strategy in question, include an example path or search for us to review, and feel free to include diagrams and screenshots, if applicable.