Troubleshooting

It's not you, it's us. (Well, sometimes it's the merchant.)

We wish that your experience could be 100% trouble-free, but if you're looking at this page, it probably wasn't. Take a look at some of the most common issues that cross our ticket system below. Don't see your issue? Feel free to drop us an email at Support (or for merchant-related questions, email our dedicated merchant support guy). Please include your username, the name of the shop you are having an issue with, and the URL to the live page (if you have one).

You might also want to pop into our ABW forum and see if your question has been addressed there.

"Why don't the links on my shops work?"

Please confirm that you have added your AFFILIATE ID correctly. If there is a problem it is almost always because:

  • You are using your account number instead of your affiliate ID
  • You are using your account number instead of your LinkShare encrypted ID
  • You are using your email or login instead of your ID
  • You don't have an active/approved affiliate relationship with the merchant
  • You have a typo in your affiliate ID that is on file
  • You have an extra space either in the beginning or end of your affiliate ID on file
  • Sometimes the merchant has expired their affiliate program or dropped you unexpectedly from their program

"Why can't I find a particular merchant on PopShops?"

Since PopShops works with product data feeds, it means that you won't find every merchant in PopShops (but you'll find a lot!). You can tell if a merchant has a feed by checking with the merchant directly or with the network. The networks call their feed programs different things. Commission Junction refers to it as their "Product Catalog," LinkShare refers to it as "Merchandiser," and most others call them "feeds" or "data feeds." If a merchant you like offers a data feed through any of the networks we work with, let us know and we'll try to get them on board. 

"PopShops doesn't have every single product that my merchant carries."

PopShops displays all products that are supplied by the merchant feed, but that won't necessarily be identical to the online store itself. For example, some merchants might leave out products that have a very low margin or where they are contractually prohibited from promoting the products through the affiliate channel.

"The pictures look fuzzy or are missing altogether."

PopShops does not host the images, they are supplied as URLs by the merchant data feed. Unfortunately, all feeds are not created equal and some have better images than others. Some feeds have no images at all or point to broken images. We suggest that you contact us and contact the merchant as well.

"My page is loading s-l-o-w-l-y."

If you have lots of product images on one page, then your page will be heavy and take a long time to load. Try reducing the number of products on a single page.

"Why do I see tons of inactive products in my shops even though those products still appear to be available on the merchant's site?"

PopShops marks products as "inactive" for the following reasons:

  • The product has been removed from the merchant's data feed
  • The product was marked as "out of stock" in the merchant data feed

Some merchants only supply a subset of products in their feed and pull products from their feed frequently. They may remove products that have high demand or are seasonal so that they can focus on products that they are trying to move. Generally speaking, even if the product is not in the feed, as long as the link still works, you should still receive credit for that item because your affiliate cookie is still being set. If you have any questions please contact the merchant directly.