Welcome back to this week’s Side Income Roundup, Monday, November 9.
This week is about what happens after the sale: keeping the buyers you win, protecting the orders you take, two year-end deadlines, and an ad rule you’ve already agreed to.
🔁 Why your Black Friday profit sits in the second order
🛡️ Free fraud protection and a new way to earn on YouTube
🧾 Shopify’s sales tax change and an Etsy fee holiday
🤖 Meta now holds you responsible for its AI ad edits
📝 How to earn commissions without posting every day
Let’s get into it.
THIS WEEK’S BIG IDEA
🔁 Why one Black Friday order isn’t a customer yet
A Black Friday order bought with peak ad costs and a deep discount often barely breaks even. The profit sits in the second order.
So plan the follow-up before the sale. Note what each buyer bought, ask for a review after the order arrives rather than when it ships, and bring them back with bundles and perks instead of another discount.
Our Take: Add a “Black Friday buyer” tag in your store before the sale, so December’s email can offer each one the product that comes next.
TOOLS OF THE WEEK
🛡️ Shopify Protect
Shopify now blocks risky payments and fights chargebacks for you, included with Shopify Payments, and lets you add your own fraud rules for the holiday rush.
🎥 AliExpress products in YouTube Shopping
Eligible US YouTube creators can now tag AliExpress products in videos, Shorts, and livestreams and earn commission, with no separate affiliate network to join.
Our Take: Add one Shopify Protect fraud rule before Black Friday orders land, and if you already post videos, apply for YouTube Shopping this week.
TODAY’S QUICK WINS
🧾 Shopify stops filing your sales tax after December 31
If Shopify has been filing your state returns for you, it still works out tax at checkout but stops sending returns and payments to the states. For sales from January on, that job falls to you or someone you hire.
🛍️ Etsy waives transaction fees on orders you bring in, through January 4
When a buyer arrives through your own Share & Save link, Etsy now refunds the full 6.5% transaction fee instead of 4%. Joining is free, and sellers already in the program get it automatically.
Our Take: Line up who files your Shopify sales tax before December 31, and share your Etsy Share & Save link everywhere through January 4.
FROM OMC
📝 The 3-Piece Setup That Earns Commissions From Search, Not Social Posts
Posting every day keeps you on a treadmill, and this post shows the setup that earns affiliate commissions from people already searching for an answer.
Our Take: Search keeps sending buyers for months after you hit publish, which beats starting from zero with every new post.
AI SPOTLIGHT
🤖 Meta’s new ad terms make you responsible for its AI edits
From October 30, the terms cover anything Meta’s AI adds or changes in your ads, even enhancements it switched on itself, and you agreed just by keeping ads running.
Our Take: Open your live Meta ads this week, expand every collapsed creative menu, and switch off any AI enhancement you didn’t choose yourself.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK…
Here’s your short list this week:
🔁 Add a Black Friday buyer tag in your store
🛡️ Set one Shopify Protect fraud rule
🧾 Decide who files your sales tax from January
🤖 Switch off Meta AI enhancements you didn’t pick
The tax and Meta changes happen whether you look or not, so start there.
Talk soon,
Aidan
P.S. Next Monday’s issue lands 11 days before Black Friday, with the last-minute moves still worth making.
