Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions About
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine’s Affiliate Program

What is an affiliate?
An affiliate is an independent organization or person, who is willing to promote a product or a service, in exchange for a commission should that product be purchased, or lead generated, as a result of their online promotional efforts.

Do I have to pay anything to be an affiliate?
You can become an affiliate with any of our sites for FREE. Simply click on the link for each site to sign up:

Are there requirements to be an affiliate?
You must have a valid email address in order to participate.  The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (TOS) may also reject any applicant that doesn’t meet standards we feel reflect the homeschool community.

How do I see reports on my earnings?
You can access your TOS Affiliate account at anytime, 24 hours a day – 7 days a week, using the username and password that you selected when signing up for your account. The reporting is all web based and user-friendly for your convenience.

How does TOS track the sales and the leads on the Web?
Our sites use cookies to track leads and sales through The Old Schoolhouse® websites. The cookies are only used to identify affiliate generated sales. TOS does not collect any other information for any other purpose with these cookies. Upon an event, such as a lead or a sale, we are able to determine the total amount of commission paid to the affiliate and the affiliate that was responsible for that sale.

How does TOS know which affiliate to credit for which sale?
Since an affiliate’s link is specific to her account, we are able to match up at the event of a sale or lead with the affiliate who caused the action.

What about the customers who don’t have cookies turned on in their browser?
Research indicates that nearly 99% of Internet users have cookies enabled on their browser. Cookies are an integral part of the web and aid in the creation of e-commerce websites, user-friendly websites, and other customized sites. In the uncommon event, however, that a customer has cookies disabled on their
browser, the customer is not available for tracking and potential sales will not be tracked.

When cookies are used, what information is available to TOS?
The information TOS collects is minimal and outlined in the Privacy Policy found at this link.

How and when will I be paid for my generated sales and leads?
TOS issues payments via Paypal on the 20th of each month. These payments are made to those affiliates who have reached the $50 minimum BEFORE the end of the previous month. For example, if an affiliate earns $50 by the end of February, he/she is paid those commissions on March 20th. If the affiliate did not reach the $50 minimum until March 1st, those commissions would be paid on April 20th. This allows TOS time to review sales and leads in the case of returns, invalid credit cards, or even fraud.

What kinds of stats are available for the affiliates?
You can log into the TOS website (www.theoldschoolhouse.com) and click on this link (http://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/affiliate-area/) to view your stats.

What kinds of products can I promote on my website?
TOS offers eBooks, memberships to Schoolhouse Teachers and Molly Green, as well as many other items of use to the homeschooling community.

What types banners or advertisements are available?
Banners come in all shapes and sizes, and TOS has uploaded a variety of banners for affiliates to choose from.

What kind of computer or technical skill is needed to be an affiliate?
Affiliates will need to be somewhat familiar with HTML, so that they can correctly copy and paste the linking code from our websites and place it within a web page or within the body of an email message.

How much time is required to get started?
It takes only a few minutes to sign up, and after that . . . it is up to you. If you are familiar with HTML and can copy and paste, you should be able to get your first link loaded in only a few minutes.