Money Making Modules

There are two basic ways you can make money on Squidoo.

Direct commission
The first is to sell items on your lens. We have several modules (eBay, Cafepress, Amazon) that allow you to sell products right on your lens and earn a commission. Since Squidoo needs money to run, here is how we split the dough.

5% off the top goes to our Squidoo Charity Fund. One of the fun things about this is we often give lensmasters the opportunity to tell us where we should send these donations!
45% goes to run Squidoo. This keeps our servers running, the lights on, and the fridge stocked with seaweed and calamari.
50% goes to you, the lensmaster.

There is a delay between when a sale is made and when it shows up on your stats page, and some of our affiliates don't offer stats. But be assured that at the end of the pay period, your commissions will be included in your total. And you can track these on your dashboard in the pending commissions column.

Payment tiers
The second method is by using what we call our payment tiers. Commissions from some of our ads (think Google AdSense and image ads) and eBay signup bonuses go into one big pot. We apply the 5% donation to charity and keep 45% to keep Squidoo running. Then we reward our best lenses by paying out earnings in tiers. You can read more about payment tiers here.

Since we don't know who will be earning what until the month is closed out, these figures don't show on your dashboard or stats pages until AFTER the payment is processed. Harder to track, but a ton of fun when you see an unexpected boost!

For all payments, our payday is the 15th of the month two months after the commissions were earned. So for July, we'll pay out your earnings in September no later than the 15th.

The Amazon module is one of our most popular modules, and with good reason. There are six (yes 6!) versions to choose from, and our hottest selling item, the good ole book, comes from here.

The modules to choose from include:
- Amazon
- Amazon MP3
- Amazon Recomendations
- Amazon Search
- Amazon Spotlight
- Amazon Voting (Plexo)

Each looks and works a bit differently, so be sure to test them all!

How do the Amazon modules make you money? Commissions earned from Amazon are attributed directly to the lensmaster. That means when you make a sale on Amazon through a lens, you earn 50% of the commission.

(And 5% automatically goes to charity. How great is that?)

Cafepress users unite! If you're on Cafepress, you can create awesome lenses to show off your Cafepress goods. Plus, you're not only getting your basic markups, you're getting an additional commission, even on your own items. Bonus!

How do the Cafepress modules make you money? Commissions earned from these hand-design shirt sales are attributed directly to the lensmaster. That means when you make a sale on Cafepress through a lens, you earn 50% of the commission.

(And 5% automatically goes to charity. How great is that?)

Music is HOT, and there's no better way to sell it than with the iTunes module. Create a soundtrack for your lens, a mix tape of your favorite songs, or add background music for your favorite book and video promos.

I know...the term "mix tape" is SO 1993!

The eBay module allows users to spotlight eBay listings in three ways.

- let eBay pick based on your keywords and input
- add specific items from any shop or auction
- show items from a specific seller or shop

How do the eBay modules make you money?

As of December 15, 2009, how eBay tracks their commissions has changed, so we've changed how we payout lensmasters. Each month, eBay looks at all the clicks and sales made from Squidoo and determines what our total revenue pot is. (All on their end, and it's weird). We take that pot and distribute a percentage to the lenses that contributed to it, based on how much each lens contributed.

Users can generate signup bonuses if they refer new eBay users. However that bonus is different. IF that lensmaster is a Giant Squid, the signup bonus goes directly to them. If not, the money goes into the general pool and gets paid out in payment tiers like ad revenue. This prevents fraud from fake signups, which is against Squidoo's TOS, and can cause an offender's entire count to be deleted. (Yikes! So just say no.)

Note: eBay has changed their rules and are no longer allowing personal affiliate links on lenses, so using the eBay module is the best way to go! Learn more here.

While it doesn't earn commission for you through your lens, the Zazzle module helps authors promote their works of heart and draw attention to their shops.

While it doesn't earn commission for you through your lens, the Lulu module helps authors promote their works of heart and draw attention to their shops.

While it doesn't earn commission for you through your lens, the Etsy module allows you to showcase amazing creations that you won't find anywhere else.