Frequently Asked Questions

Quick answers to common questions. Need a walkthrough instead? See the how-to guide.

Affiliate Programs

Go to Dashboard → Affiliate Programs and add your store tag (e.g. your Amazon Associates ID). MakerManifest automatically appends your tag to every matching product URL in every gear list — you set it once and it applies everywhere.

Yes. Tags are applied at click time — when a visitor follows one of your short links, MakerManifest looks up your current affiliate rules and applies them on the fly. This means any rule you add or change takes effect immediately on all your existing links, with no manual update needed.

Yes — Dashboard → Affiliate Programs has built-in presets for common networks: Howl (Anker, Target, Best Buy, and 17 more stores via bulk setup), eBay EPN, Etsy via AWIN, VigLink/Sovrn, and SkimLinks. VigLink and SkimLinks work as a catch-all — they apply to any store that doesn't have its own specific rule. You can also add any custom affiliate rule manually using query-param or URL wrapper format.

In Dashboard → Affiliate Programs, go to the Howl, AWIN & Link Wrappers section, click the 'Etsy (AWIN)' preset, and enter your AWIN Affiliate ID. You can paste either a plain Etsy listing URL or a full AWIN deep link — MakerManifest will automatically extract the Etsy URL from AWIN wrappers and re-apply your own affiliate ID when visitors click. Your Etsy (AWIN) rule covers etsy.com links; for other AWIN merchants you can add additional rules using 'AWIN (generic)' with the correct merchant ID (awinmid).

Yes — eBay EPN is built in. To set it up: go to Dashboard → Affiliate Programs, find the eBay EPN preset in the "Howl, AWIN & Link Wrappers" section, and click it. You'll be asked for your Campaign ID.

Where to find your Campaign ID: Log in at partnernetwork.ebay.com, then click Campaigns in the top navigation bar. Your campaign(s) are listed there with their Campaign IDs — the long number next to each campaign name (e.g. 5338941329). Copy that number and paste it into the MakerManifest eBay EPN preset field.

Once saved, MakerManifest will automatically route every ebay.com link through your eBay Rover redirect URL so EPN can track referrals and credit your commissions.

Not automatically. Lowe's runs its own creator program separately from the major affiliate networks. You'll need to sign up at the Lowe's Creator Program and generate your affiliate links there, then paste those links directly into your gear list items. MakerManifest will save and redirect them correctly — it just can't apply a Lowe's tag on its own.

A catch-all rule (VigLink, SkimLinks) applies to any product URL that doesn't already have a specific store rule. It's useful when you monetize through an aggregator network — set it up once and it covers stores you haven't explicitly configured.

If the affiliate program or store you use isn't supported yet, let us know! Head to the Suggest a Feature page (Dashboard → Settings → Suggest) and describe the affiliate network or store you'd like supported. We regularly add new presets based on user requests. In the meantime, you can add a custom rule manually in Dashboard → Affiliate Programs using query-param or URL wrapper format — most affiliate programs follow one of these two patterns.

No — if you have your own affiliate rule set up for a store, every click goes through your tags and we collect nothing. The only exception is when a visitor clicks a link and you haven't configured an affiliate rule for that particular store: in that case, our own fallback tag is used to help keep the lights on. This applies to Free and Basic users by default. Premium users can opt out of this fallback entirely in Dashboard → Settings → Preferences — any untagged clicks will pass through as-is with no platform fallback.

Analytics

Analytics are tiered by plan. Basic plan users get period clicks, lifetime clicks, a clicks-over-time chart (7-day and 30-day), and top 5 links. Premium users get everything in Basic plus a Countries tab (world map and table), Referrers, Devices, geo-based affiliate alerts, store filtering, top 20 links, and 90-day and all-time date ranges.

Clicks and views are recorded immediately, but the dashboard may reflect a small delay due to caching.

Yes — the Top Links tab shows the item or gear list title above each short URL so you can identify what's performing best without having to look up each code manually.

Custom Domains

It works exactly like any other short link on your domain. The grantee's affiliate rules are applied (so their affiliate tags are injected, not yours), and the click is counted against their link's analytics. Your domain is used for the URL, but the link belongs to the account that created it.

If you revoke access for a specific account, their links will stop resolving on your custom domain immediately — but continue to work on platform domains (mkr.ms, m4ke.us, etc.). If you cancel your Premium plan and your custom domain is deactivated, all links on that domain — including links from shared accounts — will fall back to platform domains.

Gear Lists & Products

Yes — you can add products from any website. MakerManifest will attempt to scrape the title and image automatically. Affiliate tag auto-application works for Amazon, Howl, AWIN, VigLink, etc., out of the box; for other stores you can set up a custom affiliate rule in Settings or paste your affiliate URL directly. If you have an affiliate program that we do not support, please reach out to @help and we can see what we can do!

Some sites block automated scraping. When that happens, you can upload your own product image directly from your computer using the Upload button in the item editor. You can also paste a custom image URL if you have one.

Some sites (like Lowe's, Home Depot, and others with bot protection) block our server from fetching product data. The link will still be saved and work correctly for your visitors — MakerManifest just can't auto-fill the title or image. In that case, type the product name manually and use the Upload button to add your own photo.

After fetching a product you can edit the title and description before adding it to your list. You can also choose which scraped image to use, paste a custom image URL, or upload your own photo.

Yes — Free accounts support up to 25 gear lists, Basic up to 50, and Premium is unlimited. Each list gets its own page, short link, and view counter.

Drag and drop items using the grip handle on the left side of each row in the editor. You can also sort your gear lists on the dashboard by title (A–Z or Z–A), date created (newest or oldest first), or set a manual order by dragging the lists themselves.

Yes — your dashboard sort preference controls the default order visitors see on your public profile. Pick any sort at the top of your dashboard (Manual, A → Z, Z → A, Newest, Oldest, Last Edited, Views) and it's saved to your account. Visitors will see your lists in that order by default, though they can re-sort using the buttons on your profile page. Manual mode lets you drag your lists into any custom order.

Yes — open the gear list editor and click Fetch All Images near the top. MakerManifest will re-scrape every item's product page and update images automatically. A status message shows progress and confirms when it's done.

Yes — open the gear list editor and use the View sort buttons (Manual, A → Z, Z → A, Newest, Oldest) above the item list. Whichever sort you choose is saved automatically and becomes the default order visitors see when they open your list. You can still drag items to set a custom manual order, and visitors can always re-sort using the buttons on your public page.

Open the gear list in your dashboard and click the pencil icon on the item to edit it inline. To change the product URL entirely, delete the item and re-add the new URL.

Yes — Basic and Premium users can set a custom URL slug for any gear list directly in the gear list editor. The slug must be unique across the system and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens (e.g. my-woodworking-tools). Free users get an auto-generated slug based on the list title.

Yes — your Following list and Liked Lists are visible on your public profile by default, each with their own tab in the profile navigation. Premium users can hide these from their profile in Settings if they prefer to keep them private.

Yes — paste a YouTube video URL into the YouTube Video URL field when editing your gear list. The video will appear embedded at the top of your public list page.

In the gear list editor, scroll down to the YouTube Description Export panel. You can set a prefix, choose an item format using {title}, {url}, and {shorturl} placeholders, and add a suffix. The panel generates ready-to-paste text for your video description. Hit 'Save as Default' to reuse your format across all lists.

Getting Started

Yes — MakerManifest has a free tier that's free forever. The free plan includes up to 10 gear lists with 25 items each, a public profile, short links, QR codes, and more. Paid plans (Basic at $5/mo and Premium at $10/mo) unlock affiliate tools, analytics, unlimited items, custom domains, and more. Every paid plan starts with a 30-day free trial — no charge until the trial ends.

Sign up at makermanifest.co/register — no invite needed. Create your free account in seconds. You can start building gear lists immediately after verifying your email.

CAPTCHA verification (powered by Cloudflare Turnstile) helps protect the site from automated bots and abuse. It typically takes just one click and no puzzles.

No. Your email is never shown publicly. Only your username, display name, bio, and the social links you choose to add are visible on your public profile.

Every new paid subscription (Basic or Premium) starts with a 30-day free trial. Your card is required upfront but you won't be charged until the trial ends. If you cancel before the 30 days are up, you pay nothing. After the trial, billing starts automatically at the plan rate you chose. You can manage or cancel any time from Dashboard → Settings → Plan & Billing.

Free accounts can create up to 10 gear lists with up to 25 items per list. You also get a public profile, short links, QR code downloads, and YouTube video links on your lists. Upgrade to Basic for 50 lists with unlimited items, affiliate tools, analytics, and more.

Beta users (anyone who joined before June 1, 2026) have a 30-day grace period from launch where all features remain available at no charge. After June 30, 2026, accounts without an active paid plan move to the free tier. As a permanent beta perk, your existing affiliate rules stay active on the free tier — they can't be edited without a paid plan, but they still fire when your links are clicked. You're also exempt from the 10-list cap for lists and items you already have.

Importing & Migrating

Yes — MakerManifest has a built-in kit.co CSV importer available to all paid users, and all users of the system during the beta period! Export your data from kit.co (account settings → data export), then go to Dashboard → Import and choose the "From kit.co" tab. Upload your collections.csv file and your gear lists and products will be imported automatically. Your affiliate rules are applied at import time. Note: kit.co is shutting down May 11, 2026 — export your data before then.

GeniusLink does not currently offer a data or link export. To migrate your links, use Dashboard → Import → CSV Import — paste your destination URLs into our template and MakerManifest will apply your affiliate tags automatically and generate short links for each one. If you used GeniusLink primarily for Amazon geo-routing, configure your Associates tags per marketplace in Dashboard → Affiliate Programs — MakerManifest's geo-routing handles the rest. Custom vanity codes (Basic/Premium) let you preserve any short codes you've already shared.

You can add any Amazon product URL to a MakerManifest gear list and your affiliate tag will be injected automatically. There's no direct Amazon Storefront CSV importer, but you can add items manually using the product URL fetcher — paste the Amazon link and MakerManifest scrapes the title and image automatically. For bulk imports, add items one by one or contact support for assistance.

Yes. Export your links from Linktree (Account → Export), then use Dashboard → Import → CSV Import to add them in bulk — format your destination URLs using the CSV template available in the Import tab. MakerManifest will apply your affiliate tags automatically and generate short links. Product links go into gear lists; sponsor or brand links go into the Affiliate Links section. Custom vanity codes (Basic/Premium) let you keep the same short codes you've already shared.

ThirstyAffiliates has a CSV export under Tools → Export. Download it to get your link slugs and destination URLs. To migrate in bulk, go to Dashboard → Import → CSV Import, format your destination URLs using our CSV template (available in the Import tab), and upload — MakerManifest will apply your affiliate tags automatically and generate short links for each one. Product links go into gear lists; brand or sponsor links go into the Affiliate Links section.

Short links you've already shared (from any platform) need to be updated manually if the old platform is shutting down. MakerManifest short links (mkr.ms, m4ke.us, m4ke.uk) are permanent — they won't break when a product URL changes, because you can update the destination without changing the short code.

Integrations & API

Yes — Premium and above accounts get API access. The API lets you create and manage short links programmatically from any tool, script, or application. Go to Dashboard → API Access to generate your first key and see the full reference.

New to the API? Read the step-by-step guide: How to Use the MakerManifest API →

The v1 API currently covers short link management: create a short link for any URL, list your existing links, get stats for a specific link, and delete links. All links go through the same redirect system as links created in the dashboard — your affiliate rules apply, clicks are tracked, and your preferred short domain is used. More endpoints are planned.

Go to Dashboard → API Access and click New Key. Give it a name (e.g. "NoteSmith Integration"), then copy the key immediately — it's shown exactly once and cannot be retrieved again. Store it somewhere secure like an environment variable or a secrets manager.

Premium accounts can have 1 active key at a time. Enterprise accounts can have up to 10 active keys (useful for separate apps, environments, or team members). You can revoke any key individually at any time.

See also: How to Use the MakerManifest API →

API access requires a Premium plan or above. Free and Basic accounts do not have access to API key generation or the /api/v1 endpoints.

Yes. Each API key is rate-limited per minute: Premium keys allow up to 60 requests/minute; Enterprise keys allow up to 300 requests/minute. When the limit is exceeded, the API returns a 429 Too Many Requests response with a Retry-After header telling you how many seconds to wait. Rate limit counters reset every 60 seconds.

Yes — pass a code field in your POST body to request a specific code (e.g. {"url":"https://example.com","code":"my-link"}). Custom codes follow the same rules as the dashboard: letters, numbers, and hyphens, 2–50 characters, no leading/trailing hyphens. The code must be unique — a 409 is returned if it's taken.

Yes. Links created via the API go through the exact same redirect system as links created in the dashboard. Your affiliate rules are applied at click time — not at creation time — so any rule changes you make in Affiliate Programs take effect immediately on all your links, including API-created ones.

Privacy & Visibility

By default, your profile at makermanifest.co/username is visible to anyone — logged in or not. It shows your display name, bio, avatar, social links, and any published gear lists or affiliate links you've made public. Draft gear lists and unpublished content are never visible to other users. All account tiers can enable Private Profile in Dashboard → Settings → Privacy to hide their profile from the public. Premium users can additionally choose to hide their liked lists and following list from their profile.

Yes — set a gear list to Draft in the editor and it becomes invisible to everyone except you. Draft lists don't appear on your public profile, aren't indexed by search engines, and can't be accessed by URL. Publish it when you're ready for it to go live.

No. Only published gear lists appear on your public profile and are accessible via their URL. Drafts are completely private — even if someone has the direct URL, they'll get a not-found page.

Yes — go to Dashboard → Settings → Privacy and enable the Private Profile toggle. This hides your profile from everyone except you (visitors see a 'This profile is private' message instead). This setting is available on all account tiers. If you want to remove your account entirely, you can delete it from Settings → Danger Zone.

Yes — Premium users can hide their Following list and Liked Lists from their public profile in Dashboard → Settings → Privacy. Follower counts are always visible regardless of privacy settings. Free and Basic users' following and liked lists are visible by default.

No. Your email is never shown publicly or to other users. Only you and admins can see the email on your account.

No. Analytics are private to your account only. Visitors can see the view count on a gear list page (if enabled), but click counts, referrer data, device breakdown, and all other analytics are visible only to you in your dashboard.

View counts on public gear list pages are shown by default. If you'd prefer not to display them, contact support — per-list view count visibility controls are on the roadmap.

The destination URL of affiliate links is not directly shown on your profile — visitors see the label and description, and clicking the link goes through your short link redirect. However, the destination can be inferred from where the redirect lands. If you're using affiliate tags, those are applied at redirect time and are part of the final URL.

Your affiliate links page (makermanifest.co/username/links) is publicly accessible whenever you have published affiliate links. There's no per-link or page-level visibility toggle currently — remove links from the Affiliate Links dashboard to stop them from appearing publicly.

No. Only published gear lists are included in the sitemap.xml and eligible for Google indexing. Draft lists are excluded entirely.

Profile

Your bio page at makermanifest.co/[username]/bio is a public page you can share in your social media bio. It shows your custom links, gear lists, and optionally your affiliate programs — all in one place. It's available to all accounts for free.

Yes — grid view is available on Basic and above. Go to Dashboard → Bio Links and toggle the view from List to Grid. Grid view shows thumbnail images for each link in a card format.

Yes — link groups are a Basic+ feature. From Dashboard → Bio Links, create a group and assign links to it. Groups appear as labeled sections on your public bio page.

Yes — toggle on "Show affiliate links on bio page" in Dashboard → Bio Links. This is a Basic+ feature. Your affiliate programs will appear as a separate section below your gear lists on your bio page.

SEO & Discovery

Yes — all published gear lists and public profiles are included in MakerManifest's sitemap.xml, which is submitted to search engines automatically. A robots.txt file guides crawlers to index public pages while excluding private dashboard routes.

MakerManifest includes several SEO features that scale with your plan. All users get Open Graph and Twitter Card metadata so links look good when shared. Basic and Premium users can upload a custom Social Share Image per gear list — a separate image optimized for 1200×630 social previews, independent of the cover image. Premium users also get JSON-LD structured data (ItemList + Person schema) added to their kit pages, which tells Google exactly what each gear list contains and can unlock rich search results. Premium gear lists and profiles also receive priority placement in the sitemap, signaling to search engines that this content should be crawled more frequently.

Short Links

MakerManifest operates several short link domains — including mkr.ms, m4ke.us, m4ke.uk, mkrs.uk, and fndry.us. Every gear list and item gets a short link like mkr.ms/aB3xYz that redirects to the full page. All platform domains resolve the same links, so mkr.ms/aB3xYz and mkrs.uk/aB3xYz go to the same place.

Yes — Basic users can pick one preferred platform domain that applies across all their links. Premium users can have multiple platform domains active at once, with a preferred domain used as the default display. The setting is in Dashboard → Settings → Short Link Domain and only appears when multiple platform domains are available. The link code itself works on any of our platform domains regardless of which you display.

Yes — Premium users can use their own domain for short links. Go to Dashboard → Custom Domain, follow the setup steps (create a CNAME DNS record pointing to cname.mkr.ms, then register your domain in the dashboard), and your short links will display as yourdomain.com/abc instead of mkr.ms/abc. Cloudflare is recommended for automatic SSL — see the How To guide for a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots.

Custom vanity codes are available on Basic and Premium plans. When creating a short link via Dashboard → Shorten URL, paid users can enter a custom code (letters, numbers, and hyphens, 2–50 characters) instead of an auto-generated one. Free users get a randomly generated code.

Yes — Dashboard → Shorten URL lets you create a short link for any http or https URL. Each shortened link tracks its own click count.

If the destination URL matches one of your affiliate rules (e.g. an Amazon link and you have your Associates tag set up), your tag is applied automatically when a visitor clicks through. For links not covered by your rules, MakerManifest's own affiliate tag is applied as a fallback — that's one of the ways the service stays free. Basic and Premium users can disable this fallback in Settings → Preferences if they prefer their untagged links to stay clean.

Status & Uptime

Yes — the MakerManifest status page at stats.uptimerobot.com/mjRzlSwJBJ shows real-time uptime for all platform components: the main site, login pages, profile pages, gear list pages, the health API, and all three short link domains (mkr.ms, m4ke.us, and m4ke.uk). You can subscribe to email or SMS alerts directly from that page to be notified of any outages.

Suggestions & Messaging

The fastest way is to message @help from Dashboard → Messages — it goes directly to the support team. You can also use the Contact page (/contact) with no account needed.

Message @help from Dashboard → Messages, or use the Contact page (/contact). No account needed for the contact form — just include your email so we can follow up.

Yes — you can send direct messages to users you mutually follow (both of you must follow each other). This keeps the messaging system spam-free. Go to Dashboard → Messages to start a conversation. Messages are not real-time, but you'll receive a toast notification when a new message arrives while you're logged in.

Yes. While you're logged in, MakerManifest checks for new messages every 30 seconds and whenever you switch back to the browser tab. A slide-in notification appears when something new arrives.

Direct messaging requires a mutual follow — both you and the other user need to follow each other. Follow them first, and once they follow you back, you'll be able to start a conversation. This prevents spam and keeps messages meaningful.

Have a suggestion or feedback?

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Still have questions?

Message @help from your dashboard, use the contact form, or check the step-by-step guide.

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