I know I’ve been writing a lot of holiday Gift Idea posts and holiday Home Decor posts over the past month – all of which have contained “affiliate links”. I really DO hope you’ve found these posts helpful with your gift ideas, or at least entertaining and interesting.
If you’ve been following my blog since the beginning, rest assured that this blog hasn’t turned into a place that only promotes shopping. There’s a lot more to it than that!
But, I DO enjoy shopping online (especially this time of year) – searching for the unique and unusual gifts and home decor pieces that you wouldn’t necessarily find in local stores. I love discovering things that are really cool, and something I’ve not seen before. And I REALLY do like sharing these discoveries with you! It’s like shopping with your best friend and sharing the excitement of your latest cool finds together. So thank you for allowing me to do this.
You might wonder – what’s with all the “affiliate links” anyway?
I would have shared these Gift Idea posts and home decor idea posts with you, regardless of being an affiliate or not. Like I said – it’s like sharing cool treasures with your best friend. I just figured since I was going to write these kinds of posts, I might as well earn a small commission from them – assuming anyone buys anything through my links.
The links in this post contain affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. I only write about and share things that I actually use and enjoy.
What is an Affiliate and How Does It Work?
Simply put, an affiliate is a person (like me) who earns a commission for sending traffic to merchant websites.
For example, let’s say I share one of my latest fun finds with you from a store that I have partnered with – like this Nature’s Wick Bonfire Nights candle from Target (which I have been burning pretty much every evening since Fall began – I love and HIGHLY recommend it!).
If you click the link I provided, it will bring you to this product on the Target website. If you then buy the candle through my link, Target knows it was me who sent you to their website (my affiliate number is part of the link), and they pay me between 1%-5% of the purchase price (depending on the item). YOU, as the consumer, do NOT pay this commission – It is paid by Target. There are no extra (or hidden) costs to you when you purchase through my link.
In the case of this candle, the purchase price is currently $13.49. When someone buys this through my link, I earn 40-cents for one candle from Target.
Obviously, this is not a “get rich quick” gig. But that is NOT why I decided to become an affiliate. Again, I just figured I was going to be recommending these products anyway – affiliate or not – and I could earn a little something along the way. And… you can be sure that I don’t just post random links to random products (some affiliates do that). I ONLY write about and share things I either personally own and love, or things I love and hope to own one day. Just the things I would share with a best friend. 😉
Each store has their own affiliate program, with their own commission rates, and their own rules about how to earn a commission. For example, some stores only pay a commission if a purchase was made within a certain number of days after posting. Some stores pay a commission on total sales made by a customer, so if you buy this candle along with other items from the same store at the same time, the commission I earn is on the total sale price.
Your purchases are private. I never see your purchases, nor do I have any idea who purchases through my links. I do see reports of my total commissions, but that’s it. These reports don’t show which products were purchased. As I mentioned, my links include my affiliate number along with the item I’m linking to – and it’s through that number that commissions are calculated/credited to me.
I hope this helps explain my latest venture into something new. If you have questions, just let me know. And of course, if you want to pass along my fun find posts to your friends and family, that would be cool – and you know that I’d appreciate it. Best friends, and all 😉
Oh…
And this candle?
Seriously. This candle is awesome! I was hesitant to buy a scented candle online. You know how that is – you’re either going to love the scent or hate it. It was the name of this candle that pushed me into a purchase – ‘Bonfire Nights’. This candle seriously smells like a bonfire! It has a woodsy scent, but not like typical pine trees and other tree-scented candles. The scent really is amazing! AND… here’s the part I love the most: this candle has a wooden wick that actually crackles (loudly) as it burns, adding to the sense of an actual bonfire. The wick sparks a little, too, just like a bonfire would.
I love that this candle is in a jar. It has a wood lid with a rubber seal, so when you’re not using the candle, you can cap it off and trap the scent inside the jar. Some days, I leave the lid off, and even without the candle burning, you can smell that woodsy scent when you walk by the candle.
I’ve burned this candle a lot since I originally bought it (on the first day of Fall). Here it is almost two months later, and there is still about half the candle left. I call that long-lasting! You can be sure when this candle burns all the way out, I’ll be burning the next one. Yep, I had to stock up.
