Pinterest Affiliate Service Attracts Thousands

Since launching Saturday, Pinterest affiliate service PinDollars has attracted “thousands” of affiliate signups, a company spokesperson said. Products from H&M, UGG, and Payless Shoesource are getting link love through people pinning products associated with the affiliate network.

PinDollars sends traffic to product pages through Skimlinks, which connects e-commerce site links to publishers looking to monetize content. Pinterest users have employed the PinDollars app – a PinIt style button on their browsers – to post images of summery H&M dresses and strappy wedge sandals from UGG.

However, concerns about increasing spam-like clutter on the popular image sharing platform are on the rise. PinDollars stresses that users “just pin normally and let us worry about what clicks make money,” said the spokesperson.

Last month, reports illuminated the relationship between Skimlinks and Pinterest; Pinterest was receiving affiliate fees through Skimlinks, but the company has reportedly stopped working with Skimlinks and appears to be more focused on raising investor cash than affiliate dollars.

Also, while Pinterest lends itself well to catalog-like product discovery, services such as PinDollars appear to be contributing to an influx of porn site links to Pinterest. A link to a Pinterest page showing images originating through PinDollars is loaded with racy photos of women that link to pornography sites.

PinDollars said it issues payments at the end of the month when affiliate fees owed reach $100.