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Questions on Commission junction account(s),tax etc
covenantguy
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18 Sep 10 12:41 am

Questions on Commission junction account(s),tax etc

Hi
I just signed up to be an affiliate for a product I want to market. I clicked the wrong tab, and I was directed to open an account via C.J. Anyway, I was accepted and given a new C.J account and told to update my tax information. I realised that this was in fact a second C.J account, and all my other advertisers/merchants are under another C.J account. I wrote to C.J and explained my error and they said it didn't matter if I had two accounts. My application for this new Advertiser I see is showing as "Pending"

Now I've had heaps of advertisers decline me on my first account-I presume it's because I've only made a few sales with only a few of the advertisers. Would it be worth my while having a second account so that any future advertisers looking at my account won't see the heaps of rejected applications? Are new advertisers able to see your history of applications? The reason I have had so few sales is a) I'm still a newbie and developing sites b) most of my sales come from Clickbank.

Secondly, does anyone know which tax form to fill in if you don't live in the U.S but have websites that sell products to U.S customers? Is it the "Certificate of no United States activities" that you fill in or the "W-8BEN Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for U.S Tax Withholding"??? I filled in the first one as I live in NZ, and the 2nd one is incomprehensible. Is that the right one? (C.J will not offer any help at all "for legal reasons".) Dear me!!

Thirdly, does anyone use PHP Redirects for the ugly C.J links. Do they work OK??

JOHN
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faradina
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23 Sep 10 2:52 am

 Hi John,

I, too, have heaps of declined applications on my CJ account and I do not believe it matters when you are applying to CJ affiliate programs. What the advertisers primarily look for is the relevance of your site to their product and the amount of traffic to your site. They have other criteria such as country location, among other things (they do not exactly say what their other criteria are).

I wish I could provide you with advice on the US tax thing but I do not really know anything about it. For my cj account I submitted the W-8BEN Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding but I can't remember what went into that anymore. I had a CPA assist me with that. But even if I could remember, it probably would not apply to you since you do not live in the same country as me.

Yes, PHP redirects work nicely with cj links. You just need to learn to identify which one really is your affiliate link. At cj they generate text link codes and banner codes and not just the affiliate link itself.

I hope that helps.
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covenantguy
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23 Sep 10 10:05 am

 Hi Fara
Since neither of us lives in the States, I'm wondering if I should have filled in the other form> Where the heck can I find a CPA, and how much do they charge to advise? If it's an accountant, well I'd rather talk to an I.M person who knows!

Thanks for your advice on the links. MAybe they declined me because , when I applied, I didnt have a site up on the relevant product "x". When I do, is there a way to re-apply or will they just look at your email and account details and treat you as a permanent reject?
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faradina
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24 Sep 10 1:38 am

 Hi John,

The CPA I consulted is indeed an accountant and I didn't have to pay anything because she is my sister. Talk about connections ;-) I have quite a number of them. I have a dentist sister and a doctor sister and I hardly ever have to pay dental and doctor's fees. Only when I cannot go to them (we live in different parts of the country) do I have to pay someone else.

From what I know, if you have been declined, it's not permanent. When you re-apply they will take a look at your site again to see if it's good for their product. That's the main difference between clickbank and cj. On clickbank product comes first and you build your site around it. On cj it's the other way around, i.e., site first before product.
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kajm
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24 Sep 10 1:59 am

 Hi John
I believe the W-8Ben form is for CJ so they have proof you are a foreign national performing work outside of the USA and they don't have to account for with holding tax. It isn't sent to the IRS as such, they just hold it as proof if they are investigated...
Living in NZ (no matter where the site is hosted) satisfies the condition of foreign national doing business outside the USA. You should fill in the W-8 form, I'm not sure what the other form was.
Kevin
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covenantguy
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02 Oct 10 12:35 am

 Hi kajm
The form I completed for CJ was called ""Certificate of no United States activities", not the "W-8BEN Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding". Have I done the right one-in your opinion?
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faradina
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05 Oct 10 2:03 am

 In my opinion, the "Certificate of no United States activities" means you are declaring that you are not targeting the US on any of your websites or that US residents can not buy through your links, and if this is true of your activities then you have filled out the correct form.

But if your websites do come up on US-side searches and US residents can buy through your link, I believe those would be considered "United States activities" and you should do the W-8BEN instead.

Just my two cents :)
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covenantguy
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05 Oct 10 4:31 am

 Hi Fara
I will change to the W-8 BEN form then,because my sites DO target the U.S.

I'm still a bit confused though. I signed up for Google affilates the other day and I went through their tax status questions , which were, "Are you a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. corporation, or a U.S. partnership?
Yes No (I put "no")
Do you own equipment in the U.S. related to your participation in AdSense ? This includes owning a hosting service or web server in the U.S. If you simply use or rent from a U.S. hosting company, you can choose "No" to this question (I put "no")
Please sign and testify to the following information. By clicking Submit...you agree that:
Publisher represents and warrants that it does not have any employees or equipment located in the United States ("U.S. Activities") that are involved in any way with the revenue that has been or will be earned by Publisher pursuant to the Google AdSense Online Program. U.S. Activities include, but are not limited to, owning a web server or owning a hosting service in the U.S., or having employees in the U.S. who are involved in either:
1. setting up Publisher's web server, hosting service, or website
2. developing content for Publisher's website, maintaining Publisher's site, marketing to create a user base for Publisher's site etc etc
.Thank you for submitting your tax information! The tax hold on your account has been removed."

My concern is that they and C.J will tax me 30% if I fill in the W-8 BEn, because the Google affiliate blurb goes on to say:
"Please be aware that if you ...indicate a non-zero withholding % on the W-8 BEN, Google is required to withhold up to 30% from payments made to you under the Google AdSense Online Program Agreement for U.S. income tax purposes. You may also need to pay additional taxes on these payments. Otherwise, Google is not required to withhold taxes from payments made to you under the Google AdSense Online Program Agreement for U.S. income tax purposes. However, you may still need to pay taxes on these payments."

Mark lives in NZ. He must know what form. Any further advice would be apprecited
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faradina
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07 Oct 10 2:24 am

 I'm sure Mark will come across your post. He spends as much time on the forum as he can.
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