CP has advanced the beta test of the affiliate program to phase two. Anyone with a CP account can become an affiliate. Before, affiliation was granted only to those who applied early via email. CP hasn't yet opened it to the general public because the instructions and FAQs need more work plus the site is in transition from the old search system to a new one. Although an experienced shop owner can figure out the process, it is too much to inflict on a newcomer. Still, if you are interested in becoming an affiliate right away, you can create an account with CP and then go to their affiliate sign-up section. To get an idea of how CP works, I suggest creating a free, basic store with one graphic and a couple of products. You can make the store private or hidden if you wish. Who knows? You may actually use it to create Christmas-gift mugs with your company logo or pictures of your kids.

Important news: if you want to incorporate a shop's design or product graphics in your affiliate information, CP wants you to ONLY use those on the CP site and do it by actually linking to the graphics that are on the CP server. The affiliate agreement forbids you from downloading the graphics and hostimg them yourself. This is just the opposite from the rules set forth by many companies which, for bandwidth reasons, tell people they may not take the easy way out by linking to graphics already stored on the company's server.

As you might guess, this has led to some confusion on the part of the beta testers and is one of the areas where affiliates and merchants both are still hashing out the details.

CP's Hurricane Katrina Relief Site is live with the initial designs uploaded. They're in the process of adding more.

"Bull and Bear Gifts" was accepted as part of the affiliate program beta test. That's a relief. At the beginning of September a beta test also started for CP's new, internal search engine. This kept everyone quite busy.

Then, when Katrina hit New Orleans CP shop owners rushed to find a way to raise money for evacuees. CP itself immediately sent a donation of clothes and asked for feedback from shop owners on the best way to organize a relief effort. We decided that shops should develop and donate designs which CP would then put on products and host -- creating one, giant, Katrina-benefit, shopping section whose profits (including CP's profits) will be donated. This is much easier for customers to browse than just having a number of special sections in individual shops. Also, writing one, big, check to relief organizations wastes less of their overhead than processing hundreds of small checks. A lot of shops are doing both: contributing to the overall effort plus lauching their own. CP should have the relief section live on their main Marketplace page some time this week. As you might guess, this has temporarily shifted everybody's time and focus away from the beta tests.

In spite of that, I have developed a test page for various types of affiliate links and added one, actual link in the "Bull and Bear Basis Dept. of Bull and Bear Gifts.com". We are rolling!

I'd love to give you step by step instructions on how to set yourself up as our affiliate but I don't have them yet, myself. Our fulfillment service, CafePress, is known for designing simple procedures; so I am confident you will find the process easy. I have volunteered to participate in the Beta testing which starts in September and will have more details for you soon, if I am chosen. Let's face it, though; our Wall Street oriented shop is really specialised. CP is likely to choose bigger merchants with a wider focus for testing purposes.

In the CP shopowners' forum, members are vigorously debating the pros and cons of offering affiliation, plus discussing the best methods of making a shop attractive to affiliates. Personally, I think the program is a great idea. My biggest challege has been in creating an entire, second, version of the "Bull and Bear Basics Dept." -- one which is a stand-alone "Wall Street Bull and Bear Shop" for you to use.

For many years I have been a very happy affiliate of amazon.com (our Book Dept.) and of barewalls.com (our Art Dept.). Now I find myself in the merchant role and hope to give you as good an affiliate experience as I have enjoyed.