Generally, you will need to have already been accepted as an affiliate by a merchant running a GMBill affiliate program. You can find more info on registering as a GMBill affiliate here.

When you are registered as an affiliate with GMBill, you will be assigned a four-digit Affiliate ID (Aff ID). This number serves as a unique identifier for both GMBill, and the merchants you promote.

Your Aff ID will stay constant throughout your tenure as a GMBill affiliate, no matter how many different GMBill merchants you promote. Whenever you make contact with GMBill.com, or a GMBill merchant, please provide your four digit Aff ID for ease of identification.

An external website that offers paid goods or services, with payment processing provided by GMBill. In the context of affiliate marketing, they are the site to which you refer your traffic, and from which you receive revshare for referred sales.

GMBill handles the payment processing, affiliate payouts, and accreditation of your referrals. Matters particular to a merchant’s affiliate program (e.g. program policies, content allocation, applications), should be taken up with them directly.

Subaccounts are the key to tracking traffic. A subaccount is a subdivision of your main affiliate account with GMBill, dedicated to a particular website, governed by rules defined by the auth key that created it. Each subaccount has a corresponding affiliate link, traffic that follows this affiliate link to the designated merchant site will be recorded under the statistics for the subaccount from which it was taken (including sales credited). You must have at least one subaccount for each merchant you promote, though you may have more according to your needs.

To make a new sub-account, log into your GMBill affiliate account, and click on the subaccount menu item. Select an appropriate auth key listed there, give it a name, and click save: a new sub account is generated. Note – If you use the wrong auth key to create a subaccount, you may be disqualified by the merchant for improper promotion. If you don’t know which auth key to use for your method of promotion, the best course of action is to contact the merchant you’re promoting.

An affiliate cookie is a unique cookie deposited into the browser files of all traffic you refer using your affiliate link. It instructs GMBill to credit any sales made on the designated merchant site from traffic you referred to the linked subaccount, (ultimately paying revshare based on the terms defined by the auth key governing that subaccount).

To be credited for referred sales, the correct and active affiliate cookie must be in place.

An auth key (short for ‘authentication key’), is a special code that is used to create and define GMBill Affiliate subaccounts. It will be allocated to you by the merchant you’re promoting. The following info is encoded within the auth key:

• How much revshare you get for each sale made with any sub-account created from the auth key (be it a flat commission, or a percentage of the sale).
• Whether or not rebills are paid.
• The affiliate link destination URL options.
• The website the subaccount is associated with.
• Whether customers following the resulting affiliate links are entitled to use nominated coupons.

The precise powers and specifications of an auth key are set by the GMBill merchant site that created it, as per your agreement with them. Specific queries or requests regarding the configuration of your auth keys should be directed to the merchant site you’re promoting.

If your auth key is encoded with only one destination URL, that is where all traffic that follows your affiliate link will go. Alternately, if your auth key enables multiple destination URLs (e.g. different tour pages), you will be offered a drop-down selection box to choose the URL you want your traffic to go to in the subaccount settings (accessible via the ‘subaccount’ menu in the navigation sidebar when logged into your GMBill affiliate account). Finally, if your auth key permits custom destinations, there will be a form in the subaccount settings pane, allowing you to nominate your own destination URL for each sub-account your create with that auth key. If you don’t know which auth key to use for your method of promotion, the best course of action is to contact the merchant you’re promoting.

An affiliate link is a special link that deposits an affiliate cookie on all traffic that follows it. Each affiliate link is paired to a subaccount, which is in turn defined by the auth-key that created it. When referring your traffic to merchant site you promote, it is essential you do so with the full and correct affiliate link, otherwise your affiliate cookie may not be applied to your referred traffic, and any sales thereafter will not be credited to you.

Anatomy of a GMBill.com link code

It is possible to modify your affiliate link, however, there are some issues to consider. Take the following (non-functional) example:

It is possible to modify your affiliate link, however, there are some issues to consider. Take the following (non-functional) example:

http://www.gmbill.com/redirect.php?aff=9999xYZ1&track=ExampleTrackingCode

The green part of this example link indicates the part that affiliates can change at their discretion. The red part indicates essential elements assigned by GMBill; they must never be changed, otherwise your affiliate link will not work. Link codes are your key to getting paid; if you don’t link correctly, you will not get credit for the sale. The key to coding your affiliate link correctly is understanding it’s anatomy.

Provided you have already registered as a GMBill affiliate, you can find the affiliate link for each of your subaccounts in the subaccount menu (accessible from the navigation sidebar when logged into your GMBill affiliate account).

GMBill Clients tend to use GMBill.com as their primary biller, and CCBill as their backup biller. Typically at least 90% of sales will be processed through GMBill.

Therefore, Affiliates should merge the links provided by GMB and CCB, so cookies are set for customers for both billers.

That way, regardless of which biller the customer joins by, the Affiliate will be credited for the sale.

Using only the GMB link will mean the Affiliate misses out on some sales. Using only the CCB link will mean the Affiliate will miss out on many sales!

We have a simple tool to merge GMB and CCB links, but this is a use-at-your-own-risk deal: we strongly encourage you to make a test join via both billers after creating the merged link.

Doing a test join helps ascertain if referred sales are being attributed correctly.

To perform a test join it is essential to follow the same steps a customer you refer would. Here’s how we suggest you do it.

1. Consider using an “incognito” / private browser instance
   1. This will keep the process separate from your normal work, and make the test more like a real customer
2. Clear all GMB and CCB cookies.
   1. If already set, these will confuse the result of this test.
3. Get the referrer cookie set in the same way a potential customer would
   1. That is, by GMBill (and, if using merged links, a CCBill)
   2. Access your promotional method the same way your traffic does
   3. Click on the affiliate link that sends the potential customers to the merchant you’re promoting (this will set the affiliate cookie)
4. Choose to sign up
5. Identify what biller you are using for the test join – GMBill or CCBill
   1. Check the URL on the page for entering credit card details
   2. Before this page, most GMB Clients have an option for the customer to choose which biller is used; if not, ask the Client how to “force” a join by CCB or GMB (let them know it’s for testing purposes)
6. Go through the entire join process, like a customer would
   1. Enter a username that includes your four-digit Aff ID – this helps find and refund your test join later
7. Check the sale was logged correctly
   1. If joining by GMBill: Log into your GMB Affiliate account, and check if the sale shows up in the ‘Summary’ menu, (stats are updated hourly, so you may have to wait a bit, or time your join carefully).
   2. If joining by CCBill: Log into your CCBill Affiliate Dashboard, and look for the new sale
8. Repeat the test for the other biller
   1. That is, if you made a test join by GMBill, do the test again via CCBill, to make sure sales are tracked in both billers
   2. We recommend starting this process from the start – why risk missing sales?
9. Get refunded
   1. Once you have seen the results, contact the Merchant and ask them to refund your purchase(s) – advise that you’re an Affiliate performing a test join, quote the username(s) you chose, and the unique GMBill or CCBill subscription ID allocated to the account upon creation.

If the sale does not show in your GMB / CCB account, there’s a deeper problem somewhere – contact us, and we’ll help you solve it.

If the sale does show up, you’ll know everything is working as it should!

If the merchant site you promote is changing from CCBill to GMBill, there is some key information to take note of to ensure a smooth transition, and that all due sales are credited to you during the changeover process.

This information is separate from the registration process; a process largely handled and driven by the merchant making the transition.

The Threshold Amount is the amount below which a payout to you will not be triggered. For example:

A payout period lasts for a month and ends at 11.59:59pm on Sunday night (GMT/UTC), on the third full week of the month.

Your balance is $490, and your threshold is $500.

Your payment will not be made this month (Wednesdays, on the fourth full week of the month), because your balance is below your selected threshold; even if you earn more sales on Monday and Tuesday that bring your balance over the threshold set, because the payment period ends on Sunday night.

Any time your payment threshold is below your balance, you’ll receive a payout on the schedule of your Payment Frequency. For example:

You want to be paid out as soon as your balance is $1000.

You set Payment Frequency to “Weekly” (the most frequent option). You set the Threshold amount to $1000.

Each month, our system will check if you balance is above $1000 on Sunday night at the third full week of the month. If it is, you’ll get a payout on the next Wednesday. If it’s not, no action will be taken, but next month, we’ll make the same check.

Another example:

You only want to be paid every two months (that is, all your earnings for Jan and Feb, regardless of what the balance is).

You set the Payout Frequency to $100 (the minimum).

On the third full week’s Sunday of Feb, we’ll queue your account for payment in the next Payout cycle. So long as the balance is over $100, you’ll be paid out in the next Payout Period.

As payments often come with fees, some people prefer to reduce the payout frequency to reduce the fees. The only way to do that is to is to simply set a higher Payment Amount threshold.