What Should Your Affiliate Program Terms Include? A Guide for Black-Owned Brands
Your affiliate program terms should cover eight things: what you pay and on what, how long the cookie window lasts, how sales are credited, when commissions are approved and paid, what happens on returns, where affiliates can promote you, what they must disclose and how you approve and remove affiliates. Clear terms attract better creators, cut disputes and protect your brand. Creators read them before they apply, so vague or missing terms cost you the affiliates you most want. This guide walks through each section so you can write terms that work for your business and for the people promoting it.
If you are still deciding whether to run a program at all, start with our guide to why Black-owned businesses should launch affiliate programs.
Why Do Affiliate Program Terms Matter?
Your terms are the agreement between your brand and every affiliate who promotes you. They set what you owe, when you owe it and what you expect in return. Good terms do three jobs at once.
- They attract the right affiliates. Experienced creators check the commission, the cookie window and the payout schedule before they apply. Our checklist for creators shows exactly what they look for.
- They prevent disputes. When a commission is reversed or an affiliate is removed, written terms explain why.
- They protect your brand. Rules on where and how affiliates promote you keep your name away from tactics you do not want attached to it.
What Commission Will You Pay, and on What?
State the rate and the base it is calculated on. Most brands pay a percentage of the order subtotal, which usually leaves out shipping, taxes and gift card purchases. Say plainly whether discounted or sale items earn the full rate, a lower rate or nothing.
Work the rate out from what each sale leaves you after product cost, shipping and fees, not from what other brands pay. Then say whether you pay a different rate for new and returning customers, and whether top performers can move to a higher tier. A worked example in the terms helps: "10% of a $60 order is $6" is clearer than a rate on its own.
How Long Is Your Cookie Window?
The cookie window is how long after a click a purchase still counts for the affiliate. Choose a window that matches how people buy from you. Everyday products are often bought on the spot. Considered purchases such as skincare routines, furniture or courses can take days or weeks of thinking, and a short window means creators will not be credited for many of the sales they inspire. Write the number of days into your terms so nobody has to guess.
How Will You Credit Sales Between Links and Codes?
Most programs use last click: the most recent affiliate click inside the cookie window takes the commission. If you also issue affiliate discount codes, say how a code credits a sale with no click, and what happens when a click and a code from different affiliates land on the same order. Creators who promote on podcasts, livestreams and in person rely on codes, so a clear rule here matters to them.
When Do Commissions Get Approved and Paid?
Set out the full path from sale to payment. A commission is pending when the order is placed, approved once your return window has closed and paid on your next payment run. Your terms should name:
- The pending period, usually your return window plus a few days to process returns.
- The payout threshold, the minimum approved balance before you send a payment.
- The payment schedule, such as monthly, and the payment method and currency.
Our guide to how affiliate payouts work explains each stage from the creator's side, which is a useful check that your terms read clearly.
What Happens on Returns and Cancellations?
Say that commission is reversed on returned, refunded and cancelled orders, and whether a partial return reverses part of the commission or all of it. List other reasons a commission can be rejected, such as self-purchases, duplicate orders or sales from a method your terms do not allow. Commit to showing rejected commissions in the affiliate's dashboard with a reason, so they can see what did not count and why.
Where Can Affiliates Promote You?
Tell affiliates which channels are welcome and which are not. Common rules cover:
- Paid search. Whether affiliates may bid on your brand name in search ads. Many brands prohibit it because it competes with their own ads.
- Coupon and deal sites. Whether codes may be posted publicly, and whether you pay commission on sales from them.
- Email and messaging. Whether affiliates may promote you by email, and on what terms.
- Claims. What affiliates may and may not say about your products, especially for beauty, health and food, where claims need backing.
Point affiliates to approved product images and a short brand guide so their content looks and sounds right.
What Must Affiliates Disclose?
Require every affiliate to disclose that they earn from promoting you, clearly and before the link or code. This protects your brand as well as theirs. In the US, the FTC's endorsement guides in 16 CFR Part 255 say advertisers can be held responsible when an endorser fails to disclose a material connection, and a commission is one. In the UK, the ASA says affiliate marketing must be obviously identifiable as advertising. Your terms should require disclosure and reserve the right to withhold commission when it is missing. Our guide on how to disclose affiliate links properly is a good page to share with new affiliates.
Who Can Join, and How Do You Approve Them?
Decide whether anyone can join instantly or whether you review applications. If you review them, say what you look for: an audience that fits your products, content that matches your values and promotion methods your terms allow. Set out when and why you can remove an affiliate, such as breaking the promotion rules or failing to disclose, and what happens to their pending commission when you do.
How Do You Change the Terms Later?
Your terms will change as your program grows. Say how much notice you give before a change takes effect, and that changes to rates apply to sales made after the change, not to commissions already earned. Affiliates are far more likely to stay with a brand that does not move the goalposts on work they have already done.
Where Should You Publish Your Terms?
Put your terms where creators look before they apply, alongside your commission rate, cookie window and approval rules. On Afrofiliate, an affiliate network built for Black-owned businesses, each program lists its commission, cookie window and approval rules up front, and creators track every click and sale from one dashboard. List your program on Afrofiliate to reach creators who already want to promote Black-owned brands.