Affiliate Program Terms and Conditions Template
The public terms a partner accepts when they sign up
Public-facing affiliate program terms covering eligibility, approval, prohibited promotion methods, the payment schedule, termination and how you change the terms later. Shorter and plainer than the agreement, because these are read at signup. A template, not legal advice.
This is a template, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review it before you rely on it.
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Affiliate Program Terms
1. Eligibility
Who may join. Keep it short and factual, this is read at signup by someone deciding whether to bother, not filed by a legal team.
You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding agreement in your country of residence. You must have a website, newsletter, social account or community through which you will promote [COMPANY]. We do not accept applications from sites that infringe intellectual property, publish adult or hateful material, or exist primarily to distribute discount codes. Employees of [COMPANY] and their immediate households are not eligible.
2. Application and approval
That approval is discretionary, and that it can be withdrawn. Say this plainly rather than implying acceptance is automatic, declining someone later is much harder if the terms read like an entitlement.
Applications are reviewed and approved at our discretion, normally within [NUMBER] working days. We may ask for more information about how you intend to promote [COMPANY] before deciding. Approval is not permanent: if the way you promote changes materially, or you breach these terms, we may suspend or end your participation under clause 6.
3. How you may and may not promote us
The operative clause, and the one worth being specific in. “No spam” is unenforceable; naming brand-term bidding and self-referrals is not, and affiliates routinely assume both are permitted.
You may promote [COMPANY] through your own website, newsletter, social channels, videos and community. You may not: bid on [COMPANY]'s brand name or close variants in paid search; refer yourself, your own household or accounts you control; send unsolicited email, SMS or direct messages; publish discount codes we have not issued; make income, performance or endorsement claims we have not made; represent yourself as an employee or agent of [COMPANY]; or use paid traffic that lands directly on [COMPANY]'s site without your own content in between. Commissions arising from any of these are void.
4. Commission and attribution
State the rate, the window and the attribution rule as numbers. This is the clause partners actually compare between programs, and vagueness here reads as evasiveness.
You earn [RATE] on each qualifying sale you refer. A sale is attributed to you when the customer arrives through your tracked link or uses your assigned code and purchases within [COOKIE WINDOW] days of that click. Attribution is last-click: where more than one affiliate's link was clicked inside the window, the most recent applies. A qualifying sale is one that has been paid for and not refunded, cancelled or charged back.
5. Payment
When money moves, the minimum balance, and what happens to a refund after you have already paid. The last of those is the one that causes disputes.
Commissions are paid [PAYMENT TERMS] after the end of the month in which the sale occurred, provided your balance is at least [MINIMUM PAYOUT]. Balances below that roll forward. Commissions are held for [HOLDING PERIOD] days before becoming payable, so that refunds within the return window can be accounted for. If a sale is refunded or charged back after payment, the amount is deducted from your next payment. You are responsible for supplying correct payment details and for any taxes due on what you earn.
6. Ending your participation
Notice both ways, and, the part most program terms omit, what happens to a balance that has been earned but not yet paid. Withholding it is only defensible if the terms said so.
You may leave the program at any time by closing your account. We may end your participation on [NOTICE PERIOD] days' notice, or immediately if you breach clause 3. If you leave or we end your participation for any reason other than a breach of clause 3, commissions already earned on qualifying sales remain payable in the ordinary course under clause 5. Where participation ends because of a breach of clause 3, commissions arising from the activity concerned are void. Please remove tracked links and our brand assets promptly once you leave.
7. Changes to these terms
How you change the deal. Reserving the right to change terms without notice is common and corrosive; committing to notice costs nothing and is the single most reassuring line here.
We may update these terms. We will give at least [NOTICE PERIOD] days' notice of any change that affects commission rates, the attribution window or payment timing, and the change will apply to sales referred after it takes effect, not retrospectively. Continued participation after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms. Minor clarifications that do not change what you earn may be made without notice.
Before you send it
What to change
The parts that are yours.
Keep it short, this one gets read
Skimmed at signup by someone deciding whether to bother. Length is the enemy.
Fill in seven numbers
Approval time, rate, window, payment terms, minimum, holding period, notice period.
Say approval is discretionary
Removing someone later is far harder if the terms read like an entitlement.
Decide the paid-traffic rule
Clause 3 stops you paying commission on people already searching for you.
Commit to notice on changes
Costs nothing, and it is the line partners are most reassured to find.
Put them in the signup flow
Terms nobody accepted are not terms. A Business-plan feature.
Write it once, then enforce it
Six of these seven clauses are settings
These terms describe how your program behaves. Almost all of that behaviour is configuration rather than promises.
In the document
The attribution rule in clause 4
In the product
Cookie duration and last-click attribution
60 days by default, configurable from days to a year. Last-click is how Referly attributes when several partners touched the same customer.
In the document
The payment schedule in clause 5
In the product
Payout terms, holding period, minimum threshold
NET_0 through NET_60 with a holding period so refunds settle before commissions become payable, and a minimum balance that rolls forward.
In the document
Self-referrals in clause 3
In the product
Fraud prevention
Email and IP matching, with the sale held for review or rejected automatically. On every plan.
In the document
Approval in clause 2
In the product
Manual approval and custom application questions
Review applications by hand and ask whatever you need to decide, how they plan to promote, where their audience is.
In the document
The terms themselves
In the product
Custom terms of service accepted at signup
Nobody joins without accepting, and acceptance is recorded with a date. A Business-plan feature.
Templates
The other templates
Free to read, free to copy, no account needed.
Affiliate agreement
The contract between you and each partner, covering commission, attribution and clawbacks.
Get the templateRecruitment email
A three-email sequence for approaching creators who have never heard of you.
Get the templateCommission structure
Four commission structures with worked numbers, and when each one fits.
Get the templateOnboarding sequence
Five emails for the two weeks after a partner joins.
Get the templateNeed to calculate something rather than send it? The free tools price a program, model a commission and search for creators.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
Direct answers, including the ones that do not favour us.
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In practice they overlap heavily and plenty of programs run one document. The useful distinction: the agreement is the contract between you and one partner, while these are the operational rules you publish for everyone. Keeping the changeable details, rates, schedule, approved creative, in program terms referenced by the agreement means you can update them without re-signing a contract.
This is a template, not legal advice. The governing-law field changes one clause, it does not localise the document, and there is no tax or 1099 guidance here. Spotted a problem with it? Tell us.