Am I glad I transferred many of my merchants links from TradeDoubler to LinkShare UK during the Autumn? Too right! It’s just won me a $3000 trip to the US.

All LinkShare UK affiliates were entered into a prize draw if they made just 1 sale during a 3-day period.

Well I made exactly 100 orders on that network during the month of December.

On Friday whilst browsing my email in the pub on my phone, I spotted one from Andy Greaves, which caught my attention “San Francisco Trip – Are you free?”

Too right I’m free mate. I’ve never been to America and this is an opportunity too good to miss.

“Sorry about the rather last minute of this, remember the advent calendar promotion … Well my US colleague randomly picked you.”

I’ve been really lucky the last couple of months with winning prizes (and money out of crackers.) Ever since winning a pass for a4uexpo in October I’ve not looked back. On Christmas Day I won a 4GB iPod Nano in the Affiliate Window draw; I’ve had 4 numbers on the lottery; won a pair of shoes and much much more that was documented last month.

The trip to San Francisco is to attend LinkShare Summit 2008. It will be an opportunity for me to see what coupon affiliates on the other side of the pond are up to and a chance for me to see how the LinkShare foray into m-commerce is getting on. An area that I want to dip my toe into later in the year.

The prize includes:

• Flight to San Francisco
• Four nights hotel stay in San Francisco (29 January – February 1)
• Complimentary attendance at the LinkShare Symposium 2008 conference
• LinkShare Summit after party and dinner

The conference is for 2 days, allowing me time to do a bit of tourism or shopping or have a shiutsu massage back at the hotel.

The New Year has already got off to a flying start and this trip may just set the agenda for the rest of the year.

First things first. There’s a North East Affiliate Meet on the 26th January in Durham.