Things You Should Know About Flipkart Affiliate Program.
Flipkart, a popular Indian e-commerce site that sells everything from cheap books to expensive TVs. And like many other ecommerce giants, they also have an affiliate program. But is it worth it?
How does a Flipkart affiliate work?
First, you will need to sign up for their affiliate program and you will receive a unique tracking ID. Use this to direct visitors from your site to flipkart. And when a visitor makes a purchase using your link, you get a commission.
What do I need to become an affiliate of them?
To join the Flipkart Affiliate Program , you must have a website and bank account number.
However, if you do not have a PAN card or bank account, you can opt for a gift certificate . And if you don’t already have a website, you can start by creating a free website under the “blogspot†domain, or even a semi-prefab site will work.
Join the Flipkart Affiliate Program Now www.flipkart.com/affiliate
How much money can you make?
Obviously, the Flipkart Affiliate Program is not among the highest paying affiliate programs. Unlike hosting referral programs that offer up to 75% commission per sale, on Flipkart you get about 5% commission.
To be honest, most people don’t make much money from this Flipkart affiliate program either, but it acts as an additional source of income.
The people who make real money from memberships are professionals and have been doing it for years. So if you are a beginner, you may or may not be making a living, but you can quickly generate additional income.
Related: HubPages Review: How Much Money Can You Make?
Having said that, let’s talk about numbers. The money you make depends on the type of product you are promoting. Cheaper merchandise, say a pen worth INR 500, can earn you a commission of no more than Rs 25.
But if you are promoting a large TV or smartphone worth 30,000 rupees, then you can easily make somewhere around 1,500 rupees. 3,000 times larger than a flash drive.
The second thing that matters is your niche, for example, I promote electronics and gadgets from Flipkart that offer low commission (4-5%), whereas if you are promoting books, consumer goods or clothing, etc., you you can get a commission of 10%.
Although the commission rate changes every month, the following screenshot will give you a general idea.
Benefits of joining the Flipkart Affiliate Program
Easy to Join: Anyone with a simple website can join the program and start promoting products within 15 minutes.
Reputable and Reliable Company: Flipkart is not only a well-known but also reliable e-commerce industry in the market. Customer support, quick swap policies, reviews, etc. Allow affiliates to trust them.
The payout happens on time: Since they have a 30-day replacement guarantee, they pay their affiliates after one month of sale. But so far I have been getting all the payments right on time.
Tons of Product to Promote: This ecommerce giant sells anything and everything, it’s easy to find what you want to help and converts well.
Decent Commission: If it’s not high, compared to other affiliates like Snapdeal and Amazon, Flipkart offers a decent commission.
Disadvantage
Like anything useful, the Flipkart affiliate program has its drawbacks. Few worth mentioning –
Poor code implementation: As you know, Flipkart is still in its early stages when compared to international e-commerce giants like Amazon. And from my own experience, I’ve noticed that this difference is reflected in the implementation of the code and the maintenance of the site.
Hard rules: this is my personal experience . Every time I have to remind the affiliate team to pay. Even when I switch from gift certificates to wire transfers, I have to fill out a long form, attach scanned copies of my card and bank book. I have been with many partners and Flipkart was the first to ask about this. It looks like the Indian government is tough on them.
Update 1
Another example of poor coding structure was recently noticed when Flipkart announced “ Live Affiliate Program Tracking in All Flipkart Mobile Apps (Android / iOS / Windows) â€. To get this working, you will need to replace the / dl parameter in the affiliate link with a suffix. For instance. [a source]
http://www.flipkart.com/offers?affid=test (old, only works on PC)
http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/offers?affid=test (new, works on mobile and desktop)
This is bad because in the affiliate market, you have to post links in many places, most of which you don’t even remember. So going back, digging up old links and updating them is a tedious process. The developers had to come up with a better solution.
Update 2
On December 9, 2014, when I checked “my Flipkart affiliate link,†I was shocked to see that they weren’t working. Some problems that I have found –
1. The Flipkart URL shortener tool found in the Flipkart Affiliate Program dashboard is not working. The link is shortened with this tool, do not load the web page or application.
2. When I click smart URL in Chrome browser on Android device, it opens Flipkart webpage in Chrome browser instead of launching in app. I later found out that this was an exception to the Flipkart site mention. As I said, bad code implementation.
How to redeem a Flipkart e-gift voucher?
Flipkart offers 2 payment methods. First, it is the traditional EFT where money is transferred directly to your bank account, which you selected during registration. (screenshot of EFT payment)
Secondly, you can opt for electronic gift certificates. The Flipkart Affiliate Team will send you an email with the pin code of your e-Gift Voucher. This e-gift certificate is valid for 1 year and can be used directly for payment by choosing the e-gift card option. (screenshot of Gift Certificate)
Flipkart Affiliate’s minimum payout is Rs 250 for an e-gift certificate and Rs 1,000 for an EFT. And the cookie duration is 24 hours, which is the same as the Amazon affiliate.
Bonus tips
Capture visitors when they buy mood. For example, during the season of festivals like Diwali, people want to buy things and Flipkart sells for a billion dollars. So, it’s time for partners to make real money.
Pick a niche that is truly interesting to you and browse products related to your niche. For example, if you are interested in smartphones that make an overview video or write an article about it, leave your affiliate link at the end of the article or in the video description.
Likewise, if you are into books, start a series of book reviews on your blog, ask people, and post your partner link there.
One of the mistakes newbies make is spamming social media with their affiliate links or asking friends to buy through them. Take this from the guy who “ was there and did it” and trust me, it doesn’t work. Instead, try to provide value to your visitors and they will convert better.
Output
Having been a Flipkart partner for a long time, I can say that it is one of the best affiliate programs in India. But don’t think that you can make a lot of money from this. But yes, this affiliate program can give you decent passive income over the years if you play your cards right.
Personally, I prefer the Amazon India branch over Flipkart as they offer more commissions and their service is better than Flipkart.
Update 1
How To Get Passive Income From Affiliate Marketing?
I’m not an expert in affiliate marketing, but I manage to generate small but passive income from Amazon and Flipkart affiliate programs. How ?
Of course, there is no secret trick here. However, there is one tried and tested method that usually works, i.e. I review the materials I personally used on my second YouTube channel and leave my affiliate link describing the video. It goes without saying that video conversion rates are higher than display ads on websites.
Update 2
After January 2015, Flipkart’s tax policy changed. Apparently 10% TDS is withheld for both the gift card and NEFT payment. You will need a PAN card to receive payment. However, if you don’t already have a PAN card, you can still opt for the gift certificate option, but then the TDS deduction will be 20%.
Related:
How I Save Money When Shopping Online in India (for example)
How Much Can You Make Writing Articles on Hubpages