I have debated this with the management of the company, but the decision has been made. Due to the increasing occurences of affiliates (mostly coupon-oriented ones) optimizing their webpages to rank high on key-phrases used to search for HomelivingStyle.com’s discounts and coupons, the company has decided not to work with coupon affiliates. This merchant does not offer affiliate coupons, and does not wish to be misrepresented.
In conjunction with this, the following paragraph has been added to this affiliate program’s Terms & Conditions to come into force on 17 July 2008:
“As of 07/17/2008 we do not work with coupon affiliates. HomelivingStyle.com offers no affiliate coupons, and does not welcome affiliates that optimize their webpages to rank on “[HomelivingStyle trademark] + coupon”, “[HomelivingStyle trademark] + deal”, “[HomelivingStyle trademark] + discount” and similar phrases. Any affiliate that is noticed as either bidding on such key-phrases or optimizing their webpage(s) in such a way will have their commission lowered to 0.001% on all sales.”
This affiliate program still welcomes content and search affiliates, but starting from 17 July all affiliates will have to abide by the above rule.
