Fund raising for York AS.

Hi All,

I thought I would share our experience with using a "web shop" affiliate
link off our York AS web site in the hope that it might help other AS to
raise much needed funds.

Since we set up our first web shop, which was all free of charge, we have so
far raised over £20 towards our new YAS observatory project. Any
organisation, club, society, school or charity can set up a web shop on
their web site.

The concept of a web shop is that it is used as a "portal" or access point
to lots of on-line shops where your supporters can do their on-line
shopping. There is no difference in the on-line shopping experience once
you reach your intended retailer's web site, the only difference is that a
small commission from anything you buy is paid into the host's account.

In order for the commission to be paid, the buyer must get to the retailer's
web site via the link on the host's web site. It's as simple as that.

We asked all out members to start using our web shop, and also to spread the
word to all their friends and relatives too. We seem to make between £5 and
£10 each month on average, but the more people who use it, the better. It's
relatively easy to use the A to Z list, or search windows to find the
products you are looking for. Anyone who is familier with on-line shopping
will have no trouble using a web shop portal as a front end to their on-line
shopping.

The companies who subscribe to the affiliates programs pay the commission
out of part of their marketing budget, hence the price shoppers pay for the
goods are identical to a "normal" on-line purchase. Obviously the web shop
provider gets a small slice of commission themselves. The commission we get
varys from retailer to retailer, and can be anything from 1% to 6%, or even
more. Some retailers offer special deals such as a fixed commission for
switching gas or electricity, or opening a bank account, or similar
services. i.e. BT for example were offering a flat rate donation for
signing up for broadband.

Since starting one shop we found another affiliate program and recently
signed up to that too, so now we have two web shop links, which complement
each other as the list of retailers are, in the main, different between the
two shops.

Some of the retailers include common on-line store such as Amazon, Play.com,
Novatech, John Lewis, Thorntons, Virgin Wines, etc, plus a whole host of
others covering a wide range of products and services. Others are small
retailers covering some very diverse and niche markets.

If any of you want to ask us any questions, please feel free to contact us
via our e-mail link from the York AS web site www.yorkastro.co.uk and we'll
be happy to answer them. You can also find out more information about
setting up your own web shops by following the links from the web shop
providers themselves. Just look for the "get your own web shop" links

Finally, as a blatant plug, could I invite anyone who has any on-line
shopping to do, to visit our York AS shops, via our website web shop links?
It won't cost you a penny, but will help raise funds for our new
observatory. Every bit helps, and who siad there's no such thing as free
money?


Very best wishes and clear, dark skies

--

Paul Buglass, Vice Chairman - York AS.

York Astronomical Society
www.yorkastro.co.uk