so, yes … affiliate web ads exist, but is there a big advertising clearinghouse to make this easy? amazon comes close, i guess, but it’s not quite what i want yet … tho getting there.

One area I would encourage you (or your readers) to check out is the idea of Affiliate Marketing. That is, precisely, what you are talking about: individuals with a Website can choose which products they want to promote on their properties and the owners of the products give the website owner a cut of the action if a purchase is made.

It is a world where the manufacturers of products do have to work hard to convince website owners that their products are good for the visitors and, like you said, even if they are good, if they don’t drive sales, it’s easy to cut it and find another one to take its place.

I love this kind of Marketing because the brand, products, quality and price all play a factor, and consumers have choices. The same choices you’re using to decided whether or not to include this kind of Marketing on your site.