Hey all -

A quick note about “affiliate” programs.  As you can see from the right sidebar, I’m an affiliate for Amazon (does not have to be “.ca”, i.e. Canadian – just access their site via P.O.M.) and a couple of exotic ethnobotanical plants and seeds/imported incense/fair trade shops (in the real sense – I’ve met members of Bouncing Bear and I trust them in their knowledge of how far “fair trade” can be extended right now.  They pay farmers about 80-90% – compared with the common 17% at shops like “10,000 villages” and various vendors of “fair trade coffee – thus being why their prices are so low.  That mark-up for “fair-trade” coffee supplements the income of the Western businesses that sell it – thus, they make the same amount on a cup of fair-trade coffee, and the farmers get a small kick back…I personally wouldn’t say this is “fair”, but that’s just me).

However, please tell me if there are other stores out there online that you love, and in becoming an affiliate, maybe we can all earn a little off this endeavour – i.e. I’ll share my commission with you, the readers, after website costs are covered.  I know “fabric.com” and “abebooks.com” have affiliate programs, but does my readership have any interest in these sites?  Let me know, as this is a kick in the man’s butt (in the form of the struggling online mega-business/corporation that has put so many smaller partnerships/family businesses out of business) – if all these giants need affiliates (not the ethnobotanical vendors, but amazon, fabric, etc), it means times are tough, and the web is branching out to sites outside the mainstream much more. 

Please, let me know where you like to shop online, and let’s see if the commission may very well be high enough so that we can both save and earn a little of our own “profit” – a “stimulus” package of sorts, no?…

Cheers!

scars xoxo