Help/FAQs The following questions are in reference to the Match.com internal affiliate program, which will be operational through March 31st, 2005. For FAQs regarding the affiliate program migration to the Linkshare-operated platform, please click here. GENERAL INFORMATION What is Match.com? How can I contact the Match.com Affiliate Team? LINKS AND PROMOTIONS Setting up and Getting Started Can I link to any page in Match.com? Why do I have to use the HTML generator? Can I link to a subscriber profile on Match.com? Can I use popups to promote my site? What is match.com's policy on search engine marketing? Can I have more than one affiliate site? Can I accept membership information on my website and forward it to Match.com? Will I know who signs up for Match.com through my site? Can I describe membership prices on my site? TRACKING AND REPORTING Tracking and Performance Reporting How do you track subscriptions acquired through my site? I have multiple sites that I need to track. How do I set up and track the performance of each site? How can I be sure that I get credit for referring traffic to Match.com if a visitor subscribes at a later time at the direct domain, www.match.com? COMMISSIONS How is a sale defined? When do I get paid? Do I earn a commission on traffic to my affiliate website? How much income can I make and when will I be paid? My web-based reports show different new subscription information than what I was paid for? What gives? Can I set a minimum payout for my affiliate commissions? What are subscription prices for Match.com subscribers? BONUS PROGRAM How can I make more money with Match.com? My reports don't show my Top Performer bonus calculation? I have multiple Match.com accounts. Between them all, I have thirty new subscriptions. Do I benefit from higher commissions on multiple accounts? DIRECT DEPOSIT How does Direct Deposit work? Do I qualify for direct deposit? What if I change banking institutions? I am non-US based, can I benefit from direct deposit? I signed up for direct deposit, but I received a paper check? What happened? GENERAL INFORMATION What is Match.com? Match.com is a leading subscription-based online dating site, offering adults worldwide a fun, private, and secure environment for meeting other singles. The company estimates it is responsible for arranging hundreds of thousands of relationships for its members. Match.com powers paid online dating on MSN, EarthLink, AOL, Comcast and AT&T. Match.com is an operating business of InterActive Corp (Nasdaq: IACI). back to top How can I contact the Match.com Affiliate Team? The Match.com Affiliate Team is here to help you: Mailing Address: Match.com Affiliate Program P.O. Box 940889 Plano, TX 75094 1-800-603-7038 9AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday Technical help: affiliatetech@match.com Marketing and Business Development Inquiries: affiliateadmin@match.com back to top LINKS AND PROMOTIONS Can I link to any page in Match.com? The Match.com Affiliate team constantly tracks and tests the performance of various landing pages within the Match.com site. We have identified the most intuitive and logical landing pages for you to send your site traffic. When you select a different landing page, you jeopardize the integrity of your link as the Match.com site may change or replace content resulting in broken links for affiliates who select other landing pages. When a visitor registers with Match.com through a referring affiliate, we attach the affiliate's Tracking ID to that visitor. That way, no matter when or how that visitor returns and purchases a subscription the referring affiliate benefits from commissions. The Tracking ID never expires. back to top Why do I have to use the HTML generator? In order to ensure proper tracking of subscriptions coming from your affiliate site, your links must contain critical tracking information. If any of this information is incorrect or missing, you won't get proper credit for subscriptions resulting from the erroneous link. The only way to ensure that all information will be correctly tracked is to create links using the html generator we provide. back to top Can I link to a subscriber profile on Match.com? Affiliates are prohibited from using the individual profiles and information of Match.com users on their referring affiliate site. Any use of a Match.com user profile as an advertisement on a Match.com referring affiliate site is strictly prohibited and unauthorized. Doing so violates the privacy policy of the Match.com User Agreement and will result in immediate termination and/or disruption with affiliation with Match.com. back to top Can I use pop-ups to promote my site? There are no limitations in the Match.com Affiliate Agreement to prevent you from using pop-ups and interstitials in your promotion of your personals. We have a strict 'no spamming' policy. Match.com reserves the right to immediately terminate an affiliate relationship if that affiliate uses unsolicited email to promote Match.com. back to top What is match.com's policy on search engine marketing? All traffic from search engines must link to the "sponsoring Web site"; the sponsoring Web site must be owned and/or operated by you; and the sponsoring Web site cannot consist merely of links to the Match.com Site, rather, it must provide a user-experience distinct from that available on the Match.com Site (for example, it may include unique content or services). The following activity is strictly prohibited: Bidding on the Match.com service mark “MATCH.COM” or any other trademark or service mark of Match.com’s on any search engine. Including the Match.com service mark “MATCH.COM” or any other trademark or service mark of Match.com’s in any paid search engine marketing copy. Using the Match.com service mark “MATCH.COM” or any other trademark or service mark of Match.com’s in any Web site page titles or meta tags. Pointing traffic from search engine results directly into a page of the Match.com Site or a page of any Web site that is co-branded with Match.com, including Web sites that consist of the Match.com Site framed by a differently-branded header and/or footer. back to top Can I have more than one affiliate site? Yes. You can even have more than one under the same e-mail address. In fact, we encourage having multiple sites. More sites mean an increased commission potential. back to top Can I accept membership information on my website and forward it to Match.com? No. Subscription information is accepted only on the subscribe form at Match.com. Note that your commissions are calculated only through the subscription application form. Additionally, to protect Match.com’s customer privacy, personal information about specific customers is not provided to Match.com Affiliates. back to top Will I know who signs up for Match.com through my site? To protect Match.com customer privacy, the names or other personal information about specific customers is not provided to affiliates. back to top Can I describe membership prices on my site? No. Prices, terms and options are subject to change. We will only honor the prices listed on Match.com, not prices, special offers or discounts made by affiliates on their referring websites, that have not been offered by Match.com through a consumer promotion. back to top TRACKING AND REPORTING How do you track subscriptions acquired through my site? Match.com's tracking system assigns you a unique Tracking ID for each domain you create. That Tracking ID is yours and only yours; it accompanies any code you receive for self-service banner ads and integration, ensuring you receive credit for users who register through your site. When one of those users later subscribes to Match.com, you are credited with the sale. back to top I have multiple sites that I need to track. How do I set up and track the performance of each site? If you choose to segment your business or add domains, simply visit http://affiliates.match.com and select "Manage Sites." Each new site you add will receive a new and unique Tracking ID. Be sure to select the proper site from the dropdown list when entering your "Linking Options." Remember: Your Tracking ID is different for each site, but the performance of all Tracking IDs rolls up into your overall performance report. So, no matter how many sites or Tracking ID's you choose to use, they all are combined into your monthly payment. There is no need for you to create a new account. back to top How can I be sure that I get credit for referring traffic to Match.com if a visitor subscribes at a later time at the direct domain, www.match.com? Once a visitor registers at Match.com, the Match.com Affiliate Tracking ID is attached to that user for the lifetime of that subscriber's relationship with Match.com. Therefore, if a visitor decides to join at a later time by going directly to www.match.com (without going through the referring affiliate's website), the referring affiliate will still get credit for that subscription. Unlike cookie tracking, once the Tracking ID is attached to that user, it never expires. This is an ideal and exciting integration option for Match.com Affiliates with content rich sites. back to top COMMISSIONS How is a sale defined? Match.com is solely responsible for tracking subscription sales. A 'sale' is recognized when a subscription is purchased on the Match.com Web site via valid credit card, check or money order or other means. Commission is not paid on credit card fees, sales tax charges, penalties or other costs collected from subscribers by Match.com. You can conveniently monitor your performance at www.affiliates.match.com. back to top When do I get paid? Commission payouts are processed through the 15th of every month and mailed or deposited within 5 business days of processing. back to top Do I earn a commission on traffic to my affiliate website? No, Match.com affiliates earn commission on new subscriptions only. back to top How much income can I make and when will I be paid? Match.com affiliates are paid a commission on new subscriptions acquired from a referring website. All Match.com affiliates earn 75% of the initial subscription price. Those affiliates who generate over thirty subscriptions per month receive 100% of the initial subscription revenue for all subs that month – not just those over thirty. Package Subscription Price All Match.com Affiliates Earn 75% Your bonus is 25% more Our Top Performers Earn 100% New 1 Month subscription $29.99 $22.49 plus $7.50 $29.99 New 3 month subscription $50.07 $37.55 plus $12.52 $50.07 New 6 month subscription $77.94 $58.46 plus $19.48 $77.94 All affiliate commissions, including top performer bonus commissions, are calculated based on the net amount of subscriptions earned, less charge backs, refunds, resignations and other transactions that occur during the calendar month. NOTE: Your top performer commission bonus MAY NOT BE REFLECTED IN THE COMMISSION CALCULATION SHOWN in our web-based reports! back to top My web-based reports show different new subscription information than what I was paid for? What gives? Web-based displays are delivered as a courtesy and convenience to affiliates to make strategic decisions about their Match.com affiliation. Though we are conscientious in our desire to deliver accurate real-time reports, note that there may be discrepancies between the number of transactions credited to you in this report and the number of transactions for which you will be eligible for a commission. Discrepancies occur as a result of charge backs, refunds, resignations and other issues that are taken into account when calculating commissions but may not reflected in this report. Consequently, this report should not be relied on in calculating your commission payments from Match.com. Please contact us if we can provide any further information in this regard. back to top Can I set a minimum payout for my affiliate commissions? No, but recognize that you will never receive a check less than $50. Be sure to sign up for our direct deposit option to allow for automatic wire transfer of your commission payments directly to your bank. back to top What are subscription prices for Match.com subscribers? Match.com policies will always determine the price paid by the customer. Match.com subscription price information is available at here. back to top BONUS PROGRAM How can I make more money with Match.com? Now EVERY Match.com Affiliate generating at least thirty new subscriptions in a single month will earn up to $65 commission on every new subscription for that month. Depending on your net subscription total at the end of the calendar month, you can expect to earn the following: Package Subscription Price All Match.com Affiliates Earn 75% Your bonus is 25% more Our Top Performers Earn 100% New 1 Month subscription $29.99 $22.49 plus $7.50 $29.99 New 3 month subscription $50.07 $37.55 plus $12.52 $50.07 New 6 month subscription $77.94 $58.46 plus $19.48 $77.94 All affiliate commissions, including top performer bonus commissions, are calculated based on the net amount of subscriptions earned, less charge backs, refunds, resignations and other transactions that may occur during the first fifteen days of the reported calendar month. NOTE: Your top performer commission bonus MAY NOT BE REFLECTED IN THE COMMISSION CALCULATION SHOWN in our web-based reports! back to top My reports don't show my Top Performer bonus calculation? Your top performer commission bonus MAY NOT BE REFLECTED IN THE COMMISSION CALCULATION SHOWN in our web-based reports. Please note that there may be discrepancies between the number of transactions credited to you in this report and the number of transactions for which you will be eligible for a commission. All affiliate commissions, including top performer bonus commissions, are calculated based on the net amount of subscriptions earned, less charge backs, refunds, resignations and other transactions that may occur during the first fifteen days following the reported calendar month. Consequently, this report should not be relied on in calculating your commission payments from Match.com. back to top I have multiple Match.com accounts. Between them all, I have thirty new subscriptions. Do I benefit from higher commissions on multiple accounts? No, we will not combine multiple accounts in order to sum your new subscription count to equal thirty. We require that each affiliate only maintain one Match.com account since you can easily manage multiple websites under one account. To do this simply use the "Manage Sites" feature. When you log in to http://affiliates.match.com, select "Manage Sites" in the top bar navigation. You can then easily add or edit sites under your main account. back to top DIRECT DEPOSIT How does Direct Deposit work? Heartland Payroll Services, our vendor notifies your financial institution electronically that a specified amount of money should be made available to you in an account you designate. Federal Reserve Banks and financial institutions process these electronic transactions through a national automated clearinghouse (ACH) system. back to top Do I qualify for direct deposit? Anyone with a valid Checking or Savings account at an NACHA registered financial institution can benefit from direct deposit. Simply enter the information requested for direct deposit on the join form. back to top What if I change banking institutions? You can at anytime update your direct deposit information by going to the update my account area on this site. back to top I am non-US based, can I benefit from direct deposit? Anyone with a valid Checking or Savings account at an NACHA registered financial institution can benefit from direct deposit. Simply enter the information requested for direct deposit on the join form. back to top I signed up for direct deposit, but I received a paper check? What happened? If the information you enter for direct deposit is incorrect, you will be issued a paper check. You can at anytime update or correct your direct deposit information. back to top