So I've been meaning to get out here and post about this for awhile now, just never got around to it.

Basically Amazon closed our BookObsessed affiliate account, because the link/links to it were not public-facing, i.e. they were accessible only once you've signed in apparently. So for that reason, our attached PayPal account hasn't been seeing any influx of funds. Before I go ahead and look at ways of making that link accessible without logging in, and then reapplying for a new one, I wanted to verify that people are still using it. If so, I'll make the time to set up a new one. NOTE HOWEVER, that we won't be able to get the same ID, so the URL to use it will be different.

To go along with this, the BookObsessed.com domain is due to expire on February 19th, 2024. The renewal cost is $12.88 per year (though last time I renewed it for 3 years since we had the funds in PP). Now there's only $7.56 left since the loss of the Associates account, so I'm willing to pick up the extra $5 out of my pocket. But I wanted to run this whole scenario by all of you who still regularly use this site since as you know, I've kind of only been operating behind the scenes lately.


So let me know... should I attempt to get a new Associates account set up to fund the domain renewal stuff again? Or should I just let the domain fall away and access to this forum revert back to the tapatalk URL?
Anything else I'm not considering, like I don't think the Owed Book Database is really used anymore, right? (since that was also using the domain, though it too can be accessed via a default URL from the provider.)

ASK and ADVISE  away!!!


EDITED TO ADD:  If you wish to send over some $ to the BookObsessed PayPal account, the URL address is paypal.me/BookObsessed.  
2/17/24 - And I just updated the PayPal donate button that appears in the side bar as well which will go to the same PayPal account.

I'm still on here and participate in any RAT we may set up. I am also still doing the EME exchange with nimrodiel and kiri.
I would love it if we can keep the BookObsessed domain and I'm willing to pitch in some $, maybe renew for at least two years?
All I need to know is where to send the  money. 

Hi Lemmy! Good to hear from you. 

If you wish to send over some $ to the BookObsessed PayPal account, the URL address is paypal.me/BookObsessed.

If we decide that it's feasible and I'm able to set up a new Amazon Associates link that's visible to the outside from our board, then one of the nice things about the new program is that it allows you to link it to any number of countries with a single link.

OneLink is Amazon’s geo-redirection solution to help you monetize your international traffic. OneLink creates a seamless redirect for your international visitors, allowing them the ability to complete their purchases on their local Amazon website, and improving your affiliate link conversion. In short, this means you can earn more by expanding internationally to other countries.

I currently have it set up for my personal Amazon Affiliates account used on my blog.

It sounds like maybe I should look and see if there's a way to post some public-facing links, or even an Amazon banner on the front page that comes up when not logged in. The tapatalk software changed things up quite a bit so I'm not positive if it works, but if you think it's worth my time, I'll investigate.

Oh, OK, I use amazon canada all the time so if there was a way that it would count for here, it would generate some $ 

I just sent money for one year 

That's great! Thanks Fo! I'll put in the balance and renew the domain for 2 years.

Looking at options to make the Amazon links public-facing has not been as fruitful. We don't have the ability to change what's shown to unregistered users. Since the board is set to allow only members to view forums/posts, we'd have to change all that up, to allow any part of the forum to show to the outside world. And we don't have control over any of the advertisements we display, an Amazon banner link for example, unless we moved into one of the paid monthly tiers for this board. (Premium for $20 a month for example.)

The next thing I was thinking of was a separate standalone page for www.bookobsessed.com with required Amazon links, etc. as well as a link to the forum which would be moved to forum.bookobsessed.com. That way the Amazon links are open to the public and Amazon would not cancel our affiliate account again. But that's going to be quite a bit of work and may not be to everyone's liking... I'm going to have to give it some more thought. For several years, the domain renewals, while inexpensive, were self-sustaining with the revenue brought in from the affiliate account. If we instead just wanted to have annual (or bi-annual) fund drives to raise the $ for the domain, that could work too. Though it's obviously more work in that it's no longer self-sustaining.

I'll get this renewed for the two years for now so we've got some time to ponder on it. But thanks again for helping out!

Sorry - just now seeing this. I donated enough for one year. Let me know if more is needed. Thanks for looking into all this Cherie! 

Thanks for the donation Kathy! Got it and applied to the domain.

Wel I just saw this.  Did you apply for the domain yet?  If not I can check and see if my domain can hive off a portion for BO.  If so I can set up a login for you and you can handle that yourself, I believe I'm paid up for the next 3-4 years over there.   Let me know.  I don't see why we need to spend more than we have to.   Plus this way I can contribute more than just $.  =)