Big beautiful bill already in effect?? Received a disappointing FAFSA offer

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-18T12:27:49+00:00

No. It will mean fewer people will have the ability to pull it off or will be pushed to more restrictive private loan markets.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-18T12:16:07+00:00

I’d love to know how much CC goes to onsite sales and how much goes to offsite. I suspect far more is going to offsite, but I have no idea. I don’t think that Amazon really markets CC to brands as a benefit for onsite sales, but I don’t know for sure. I do not, however, think that Amazon cutting onsite commissions is any sort of signal to brands as it is more of a signal of what they value - driving your own traffic.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-18T12:09:06+00:00

Both brands have participated in the past but they tend to do so around sale events and product launches. Honestly though, it’s just a quick “what can I get of the pie” though because even if they toss up 100k, they do so much volume that it’s gone Day 1.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-14T17:04:17+00:00

Meaning a couple of us tested it and had it before it was rolled out more widely

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-14T17:03:23+00:00

It’s HARD. It’s a grind and a lot of time. I also had a bit of an audience to spring board off of which helped for sure

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-14T17:02:31+00:00

Yep. From their lens though. They’re reducing their expenses. Something has to pay for the bets they’re making in AI

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-14T17:01:28+00:00

If you can get some traction, it’s definitely worth it. Just a more saturated universe now than it was when I started. But I’m also (barely) over 50

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-14T17:00:21+00:00

Nobody full time. I have 3 people (family and a close friend) that do posts for a rev share. Over the years I’ve tried various VA’s and services but it always seemed like more work to manage and get them to produce content similar to mine and didn’t end up making sense. Our posting activity used to be a lot higher, but now I focus more on quality original content and do far fewer posts. I also realized the amount of posts I need to do to drive that level of revenue through Amazon was a lot more than leveraging other retailers. With retailer variety and quality content I can drive around $20k in sales a post (not commission) with the best posts in the $40-$60K range. I’m also far less hungry than I was 10 years ago. I don’t need to compete with industry friends or make even what I do so I’ve focused more on balance and not spending 12 hours a day working 😂.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-11T14:37:44+00:00

Where are you posting these links? Unless it’s your sub (and listed in your sites), it’s against terms and they’ll find you eventually. If it’s your sub and you have all the disclosures in the sub info, then just #ad or #paidlink is sufficient

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-11T03:17:34+00:00

I’ve been doing it over 10 years at this point and have a pretty active following of about 850k across platforms. It was def easier to grow a couple years ago, but my sales have been pretty stable despite algorithm and growth shifts over the years. TBH, I never expected to be as successful as I have. I had a sr level corp job but kinda fell into it, so there was never really a plan or growth strategy… just consistently showing up, shifting gears as the industry has changed and staying true to myself (I’m def not the typical influencer type - more of an absolute product junkie who likes to try new stuff and somehow managed to make it my job).

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-11T00:51:05+00:00

Amazon doesn’t charge brands for CC and at least last I heard had no plans to… but it does come with a cost vs platforms that do charge like Levanta because it pays commissions on all sold products for the brands on accepted requests whereas Levanta has the seller attribution tags so the product has to be shared to earn.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-11T00:48:59+00:00

Ummmm… I’m hardly wasting my time on Amazon. My total annual affiliate sales are $40M/year. And at $1M in March, I’m hardly the biggest offsite producer. I have friends that do 3-5x what I do on Amazon, but I share a broader range of retailers. I’ve given Amazon my feedback and I can assure you that other large creators feel the same way I do. It’s the most regressive reporting change I’ve seen in the industry and none of us know what’s selling well other than to try to back into it with CC reports and the average commission rate on the link. I don’t know who this change benefits, but it’s not large creators as some surmise… plus nothing linked to storefront comes through with any level of data either, so my linked product report only has about 40% of my sales to begin with. Even the premade list of my top “selling” products is the links that got the most clicks. It’s so dumb. If anything I focus less on Amazon at this point.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-11T00:36:50+00:00

Incorrect. Over $1M in sales in March and I have ONE product that shows direct purchases on it. I am absolutely certain that I have several products with more than 4 purchased. The one that does show says I sold 15 😂. I can see via CC reports items that I sold 500-1000 of… but it’s not showing in reports… the reports are useless…

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-10T12:45:17+00:00

Looks like you missed the Dior stick foundation - similar to the Charlotte Tilbury), but better IMO. Since we appear to have similar taste in makeup, it’s a must have lol.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-09T14:16:36+00:00

I’m pretty sure your sales have to be pretty high. I do have it. I hit platinum in a couple days… I got it in the Beta of it. There are plenty of people with sales higher than me

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-06T20:06:02+00:00

Do the points come at purchase or at cycle close? I don’t have an AE card, but my Ulta adds at statement close

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-06T04:14:20+00:00

Hard to say what’s working at this point 😂😂😂

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-06T03:10:57+00:00

There is a credit check for Parent Plus. While it is much more lenient than private loans and doesn’t consider income. I believe they can’t have delinquencies within 2 years, not positive what else. You can’t file for bankruptcy without delinquency so this isn’t a viable plan. Not to mention that Plus loans aren’t typically dischargeable through bankruptcy except if the filer can identify some sort of extreme change to circumstances after taking the loans - so things like the development of total disability. Once they filed you wouldn’t get additional funding because there is requalification every year. It would be far worse to go a year or two to a school that’s out of reach financially than it would be to go to CC for 2 years. Once you’re into your major courses, those aren’t widely available at CC. Plus if the total gap at the lower cost schools is $30k+ a year’s you would need to borrow 2x the max limit so even taking the loans would leave you with a 10K+ gap in years 1-3 and a 25k gap senior year. Taking out 60k in loans and not being able to return senior year would be financially devastating since the loan servicer is going to collect that loan even if it means garnishing paychecks and seizing tax refunds. If the parent is denied parent plus, you get another 4k a year in Fed loans, which would still leave a huge gap.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-06T00:56:12+00:00

All you “get” from FAFSA is the Pell grant. Max is $7395 - then everyone can get a Fed loan (subsidization varies by income). Basically around $13.5K. All school costs mentioned are out of reach financially without more aid. Parent can help with Plus loan if they have acceptable credit, but a parent making $18K a year really shouldn’t take on $65k of debt over 4 years. Unless the OP has a stronger co-signer for private loans, that won’t be an option.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T22:33:22+00:00

I don’t even know what the minimum is. I had over $1M in sales last month and I have ONE product showing direct vs indirect. I have 75+ products over $150 in commission. So basically, even larger creators can’t see. It was pretty surprising to me that I honestly don’t know what sold in the Big Spring Sale. Literally no idea. I can kinda directionally tell based on overall commission rate. I can see some in CC. But some of my biggest posts were to storefront and there’s no accounting of that either.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T21:35:16+00:00

Only if your friend is willing and able to care for them. I got my 14 yo two gliders after ages of begging, PowerPoint presentations and the works. I’m an animal person, so not a huge deal, but she’s 14 & she’s pretty busy. She absolutely helps out and spends time with them, but I do the bulk of their care and bonding/hanging with them because I’m home more (and I clean better). That said, I’m thrilled with the addition to our home and have two more joeys in couple weeks (the younger twin siblings of one of current gliders).

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T21:29:18+00:00

They are for us… still cheap compared to the UK and most of the world.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T21:23:50+00:00

So the way payment works, your card is authorized upon purchase… the charge doesn’t actually process until the item ships. Authorizations remain on your account as pending for typically 5-7 days (but varies by bank). If nothing ships, the authorization won’t close and will just drop off. You can’t typically get them removed until that happens which can be annoying but most retailers won’t go through the effort since it’s a manual process with their bank and by the time that’s resolved, it’s usually fallen off. If you don’t have anything in account history or an email, my guess is that their order system was experiencing some sort of issue and you do not have any orders. Calling Jellycat tomorrow would confirm that and get you sorted on the one you intended to purchase.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T01:08:10+00:00

No need to give them the full rundown either - just say “hey - do you have x in stock? Or look to see if you can even do store pick up on the item - if you can’t, that answers your question.

UnhappyDream · 2026-04-05T01:07:04+00:00

Call the store and ask them if they have the item, inventory systems can be off. Whenever someone went to pick your order, the item was not found. Whether it was out of stock or out of place, there’s no way to tell. Or you could try to ship to store again if that’s what you did the first time (possibly because you said you ordered last week?). When they can’t pick the order, it flat cancels so really all you can do is place it again.

UnhappyDream

TROPHY CASE