Affiliate program terms: what to include
Affiliate terms get written once, in a hurry, a day before launch. Then a refund arrives after commission was paid, or an affiliate bids on your brand name in search ads, and you find that the terms say nothing. Each clause below answers a question that will come up. For each one you will see the decision to make, a worked example where numbers help, and wording you can adapt.
You can generate a complete draft from a short form with the affiliate agreement builder. Last reviewed 2026-10-10.
1. State the commission on a defined base
"25% commission" is not a term until it says 25% of what. Define the base and the duration in one sentence:
We pay 25% of the net payment we receive for the Product from each referred customer, on every payment during the first 12 months after that customer's first paid subscription.
Three decisions hide in that sentence:
- Gross or net. Net means after taxes, refunds and chargebacks. It is the safer base because it cannot exceed what you kept.
- Recurring or one-time. Recurring pays while the customer pays. One-time is a percent of the first payment or a flat bounty.
- Duration. A set number of months caps your exposure and gives affiliates a figure to quote. Lifetime is simpler to describe. Check the rate against your numbers first with the commission affordability guide.
2. Define attribution: cookie window, clicks and existing customers
Attribution is where disputes start, so write the rules so a stranger could apply them.
- Cookie window. The time between a visitor's click and a purchase during which the referral still counts. Pick it from how long your buyers take to decide, not from a number you have seen elsewhere.
- Which click wins. If a visitor clicks two affiliates' links, one of them gets the commission. Last click is easiest to explain.
- Existing customers. Say that anyone who already paid you before the click is not a referral, otherwise affiliates can claim customers you already had.
Example: window 30 days, last click wins. A visitor clicks Affiliate A on 1 March, clicks Affiliate B on 20 March and buys on 25 March. B earns the commission. Had the purchase come on 25 April, no one would, because both clicks are outside the window.
3. Hold period and clawbacks
Refunds and chargebacks arrive after the payment. If you pay commission the day the payment lands, you will pay for revenue you then give back.
The fix is a hold: commission becomes payable only after the payment has stood for a set number of days. The same number can be the clawback window, meaning commission on a payment refunded inside that window is cancelled, and anything already paid can be deducted from future commission.
Example: hold 30 days. A $49 payment on 1 June with 25% commission creates $12.25 of commission that becomes payable on 1 July. If the customer is refunded on 20 June, the $12.25 is cancelled and nothing was ever paid. If the refund comes on 10 July, the clause lets you offset the $12.25 against what you owe next.
Say plainly which events cancel commission: refunds, chargebacks, and payments reversed for fraud. A one-line clause is enough.
4. Payout threshold and schedule
A threshold stops you sending a $3 transfer every month. A schedule tells affiliates when to expect money.
Example: threshold $50, payouts monthly. An affiliate's payable balance is $32 at the end of June, so nothing is sent and the $32 rolls into July. At the end of July it is $71, so $71 is sent. State three things: the threshold, the cadence, and that smaller balances roll over. Add that you may ask for tax details before paying, and that affiliates are responsible for their own taxes.
5. Prohibited practices
List the practices that void commission. These cover the usual problems:
| Practice | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Paid search ads on your company or product name | The affiliate captures customers who were already looking for you |
| Coupon, deal and cashback sites | Last-click attribution rewards the site that appears at checkout |
| Unsolicited email, messages or comment spam | It damages your reputation and may break the law |
| Fake reviews or false claims | Customers who buy on a false promise ask for refunds |
| Incentivized, bot or purchased traffic | The conversions are not real |
| Lookalike domains or handles | They confuse customers about who they are paying |
| Referring yourself | The affiliate earns a discount on their own purchase |
Pick the ones that fit your product. Do not copy a long list for show, because an unenforced list teaches affiliates the terms are decoration. End the clause with the consequence: commission earned through a prohibited practice is void and may be withheld.
6. Honest promotion and disclosure
Require affiliates to say they earn commission when they recommend you, in a place their audience will see it. Advertising rules in many countries expect that disclosure, and they differ from place to place, so tell affiliates to follow the rules where they publish. Also require them to describe the product accurately and not to promise results that you have not promised.
7. The relationship
Affiliates are independent. One short clause covers it: they are not your employee, agent or partner, cannot sign anything for you, and own their own content. If you will show their name or link in your program, say you have permission to do that.
8. Term, termination and changes
- Term. Open-ended is simplest: the terms continue until ended.
- Ending it. Either side can end with notice, such as 14 days. You may end immediately for a breach of the prohibited practices or honest promotion clauses.
- After the end. Say what happens to commission earned before the end date. A common rule is that it stays payable under the normal hold and threshold.
- Changes. Promise notice by email before a change affects commission not yet earned, and let affiliates leave if they disagree.
9. General terms
Add which law governs, that unenforceable parts do not cancel the rest, and that the terms are the whole agreement about the program. If your product is regulated or your affiliates are spread across many countries, have a lawyer read the draft before you publish it.
Where terms and tooling meet
Terms only help if your tracking applies them. The cookie window, hold period and clawbacks in your document should match the settings in the system that books commission. Write the numbers once, then configure them. Ambassly takes the same numbers and applies them to each Stripe payment, with a ledger entry for every decision.
Frequently asked questions
What are the minimum clauses for an affiliate program?
Who the parties are, how commission is calculated, how a referral is attributed, when and how you pay, what happens on a refund, which promotion methods are banned, and how either side ends the agreement.
Should the terms be a PDF or a web page?
A web page. It is easy to link from the sign-up form and from emails, easy to update, and easy for affiliates to find when they have a question. Keep the date of the last change on it.
How long should the cookie window be?
It should fit how long buyers take to decide. A product that people try the same day needs less time than one with a weeks-long evaluation. Review it after you see real time-to-purchase data.
Can I change the terms after affiliates join?
Yes, if the terms say so. Give notice by email before a change affects commission not yet earned, and let affiliates end the agreement if they disagree.
Do I need affiliates to sign?
Acceptance by joining and promoting is common, provided the sign-up form links to the terms and says that joining means agreement. Whether that is enough for your situation is a question for a lawyer.
What about affiliates in other countries?
The terms work in any country, but disclosure rules, tax treatment and payout methods vary. Keep the commission base in one currency and tell affiliates they handle their own taxes.