Lab6 Media

Pinterest is a new social networking site and Skimlinks is an affiliate. Pinterest doesn't allow for someone to directly post an affiliate link right off the bat. You can post a direct link to a merchant site (provided your merchant allows you to direct link) or to your own site (ie a blog post about a specific product that has your affiliate links) but you can't post a link you pulled directly from a network. As soon as you post a pin, it's live for anyone and everyone to repin, comment, or like, but it doesn't have your affiliate link associated with it yet. As soon as a pin is posted you can edit the link on your pin to your affiliate link, HOWEVER if anyone repins your pin between the time you post it and the time you edit it, the link on the repin will remain the original link (and you won't get paid for sales through it). This is where the Skimlinks affiliate link comes into play. Links that are not affiliate links on Pinterest and are directed to a merchant website (and they have an affiliate program, that skimlinks is approved for, etc) are replaced with Skimlinks affiliate link when the user clicks through. We have NOT seen them overwrite -existing- affiliate links at this point, nor are they "hijacking" your link to change your destination. Pinterest is merely monetizing links on their site that are direct merchant links. As an affiliate, it's important to know that you'll need to be prepared with your affiliate link to change a pin immediately after you make it. For merchants, it's important to know as they could potentially spend a lot of time adding pins to Pinterest only to find that they've made commissions for one of their own affiliates. This could of course all change tomorrow, so affiliates and merchants should definitely keep their eyes open. Let us know if you have any questions!