What to Include in an Affiliate Agreement (Template Outline)

An affiliate agreement is the contract between a company and a partner who promotes it for a commission.

It should settle 8 things in writing: how commission is calculated, the cookie window that decides which click earns credit, when and how you pay, which promotion methods are banned, how the partner discloses the relationship, who owns the brand assets, how either side ends the deal, and how personal data is handled.

Affiliate agreement vs. affiliate program terms and conditions

Programs call the same document an affiliate agreement, affiliate program terms and conditions, partner terms or program rules.

In a self-serve SaaS program the usual setup is one master text that every partner accepts with a checkbox at signup, plus a short addendum for a partner who negotiates a higher rate.

Amazon's Associates Program Operating Agreement, updated October 15, 2025, shows the model at scale: every associate accepts it without change, and it pulls in the program policies by reference.

The clauses an affiliate agreement needs

Commission and cookie figures are medians from TrackRev's benchmark tables, compiled from public Impact, PartnerStack and Awin research. The other settings are my own starting points.

Relationship and exclusivity

Say the partner is an independent contractor with no authority to make offers for you, as Section 12 of Amazon's agreement does, and free to promote competitors.

The Internal Revenue Service weighs behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship, and a written contract is one factor, so leave out terms that direct how a partner works.

Commission: rate, base and duration

Apply the rate to the net amount collected, excluding sales tax, VAT, refunds and chargebacks.

The benchmark medians are 20% for 12 months in B2B SaaS, 15% for 6 months in B2C SaaS, 30% in information products and 8% in eCommerce (commission benchmarks by category).

A trial earns nothing until the first paid charge, a plan change moves commission with the price, and only new customers count.

Cookie window and attribution

Name the number of days, the tiebreak when two partners touch one customer (last click wins), and the record that decides disputes: your tracking data.

Treat the window as a ceiling.

WebKit's Intelligent Tracking Prevention deletes script-set cookies after 7 days without user interaction with the site and caps those on decorated-link landing pages at 24 hours, so a 90-day promise can shrink to 7 days in Safari (the Safari ITP post covers what survives).

Give coupon codes their own sentence on whether a code credits its owner without a click.

Payment terms, holds and clawbacks

Four numbers go in this clause: payout frequency, minimum payout, hold and method. Match the hold to your refund window and say where it starts.

Counted from the close of a monthly period, a 30-day hold makes a January charge wait 30 to 58 days.

A hold covers refunds, but chargebacks arrive later. Stripe's dispute documentation says cards typically allow disputes for 120 days after payment (local payment methods such as Klarna and PayPal, up to 180).

You usually get 7 to 21 days to answer the issuer, the issuer takes 60 to 75 days to decide, and the whole process can run 2 to 3 months.

So reverse commission on a refunded or disputed charge even after payout and take it from the next payment (refund clawbacks covers the mechanics). Banks can bundle disputes: Stripe's example is three $50 charges disputed as one $150 dispute.

Tax forms and payee responsibility

Make payment conditional on a valid tax form and correct payout details, and state that the partner is responsible for their own taxes (how to pay affiliates compares payout methods).

Banned promotion methods

Google Ads' trademark policy says that when it reviews a trademark owner's complaint it will not restrict trademarks used as keywords, though it does restrict ads that use a trademark in a confusing or misleading way.

So the contract has to stop bidding on your name. Someone who typed your name was already looking for you, and a partner who bids on it collects commission on a sale you were getting anyway.

• Bidding on your name, product names, misspellings, or your name plus login, pricing or coupon; ads, pages, domains or social handles made to look like yours.
• Unsolicited email. The Federal Trade Commission's CAN-SPAM guide says both the promoted company and the sender may be held responsible, with penalties up to $53,088 per violating email.
• Fake or purchased reviews, and bought followers or views. 16 CFR Part 465, announced August 14, 2024, lets the FTC seek civil penalties against knowing violators.
• Cookie stuffing, forced clicks, incentivized clicks, and buying through your own link.
• Unpublished claims about results, prices or discounts, and recruiting sub-affiliates without written approval.

Amazon goes further in Section 2: after a violation it may stop all commission income otherwise payable, related or not.

I would forfeit only the sales a breach touched and end the agreement at once for a serious or repeated one (self-referral fraud and attribution fraud cover detection).

FTC disclosure

The Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR Part 255, revised in 2023, drive this clause.

Section 255.5 requires a clear and conspicuous disclosure of a connection that could affect the endorsement's weight and that the audience would not expect, and lists monetary payment as one.

The FTC's Endorsement Guides Q&A suggests the wording "I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post", wants it near the recommendation, and for video wants it in the video and in the description.

Amazon fixes the associate's disclosure sentence in its Section 5 and treats any violation as a material breach, which makes audits easy.

Section 255.1(d) tells advertisers to guide endorsers, monitor their compliance and act on non-compliance, and the FTC says monitoring should run a few months past the end of a contract.

So the clause needs the wording and placement, a right to demand edits or takedowns within 7 days, and a monitoring routine you run (the FTC and GDPR compliance post covers audits).

Other countries have their own rules, so require compliance with the law where the audience lives and keep the FTC wording as your minimum.

Brand license, confidentiality and customer ownership

Grant a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license to your name and approved assets, ban altered logos and wording that implies you endorse the partner, set a 7-day takedown, and let partners keep their own content.

Customers belong to you: Section 3 of Amazon's agreement says so outright, and the confidentiality clause in its Section 12 runs for the term plus 5 years.

Data protection

Usually you control the click and purchase data on your own domain, and the partner controls what they collect from their own audience.

Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation requires a contract when a processor handles personal data for a controller, and Article 26 requires joint controllers to settle their responsibilities in an arrangement.

Article 83(4) puts both in the tier of fines up to 10 million euros or 2% of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.

A partner who only sends visitors processes nothing for you, so the clause can stay short: no personal data in link parameters, no partner tracking code on your pages, no sharing of customer data (first-party tracking keeps it on your side).

Termination and unpaid commission

Amazon's Section 6 lets either side leave on 7 calendar days' notice, ends the agreement at once for fraud or a breach not cured within 7 days, may hold accrued commission afterward to account for cancellations or returns, and lists Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 as surviving termination.

A self-serve SaaS program can afford 14 days, long enough to swap links out of live content.

I would let recurring commission run out its 12-month term for a partner who leaves in good standing, since those customers were won under the terms they signed up to.

Clawbacks, confidentiality, the brand clause and takedowns should survive termination, because the FTC expects monitoring to outlast the contract.

Changes, liability and governing law

Amazon's Section 13 makes most changes effective no less than 2 business days after notice, and Section 8 caps its own liability at commission paid or payable in the previous 12 months.

I would copy the cap, give partners 30 days for changes, and apply changes only to later sales.

Add an indemnity for claims from the partner's content and name one governing law and forum: Schedule 2 of Amazon's agreement picks binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act and Washington law.

Affiliate agreement template outline

Sample values in brackets match the settings above. Change them to fit your refund policy and margins.

1AFFILIATE AGREEMENT2Between [Company] ("we") and [Partner] ("you")3Version [1.0], dated [date]. It applies from the day you accept it.4 51. Your role6You are an independent partner, not our employee, agent or franchisee.7You choose when, where and how you promote us. You may promote other8products. Neither of us can bind the other.9 102. Commission11We pay [20]% of the net amount each customer you refer pays us, for [12]12months from their first paid charge. "Net" excludes sales tax, VAT,13refunds and chargebacks. Only new customers earn commission. A trial14earns nothing until the first paid charge. If a customer changes plan,15commission follows the new price from the next charge.16 173. Which customers are yours18A customer counts as yours if they click your link and sign up within19[60] days, and yours was the last partner link they clicked. Our tracking20records decide. Buying through your own link, or through the link of a21business you own, earns nothing.22 234. Payment24Commission becomes payable [30] days after the payout period it was25earned in closes. We pay [monthly] once you are owed at least $[50], by26[PayPal or Wise], in [USD]. Before the first payment you must give us a27valid tax form ([W-9 or W-8BEN]) and correct payout details. You are28responsible for your own taxes.29 305. Refunds and chargebacks31If a customer's charge is refunded or disputed, we reverse the commission32on it. If we already paid that commission, we deduct it from your next33payout. If there is no next payout, you will repay it within [30] days of34our request.35 366. What you must not do37No bidding on our name, product names, their misspellings, or our name38plus words such as "login" or "pricing". No ads or pages that look like39they come from us. No domains or social handles containing our name. No40unsolicited email. No fake or purchased reviews, and no incentivized clicks. No41claims about results, prices or discounts we have not published. No42recruiting other partners without our written approval. Commission on any43sale caught up in a breach is forfeited.44 457. Disclosure46Wherever you promote us, say plainly and next to each link that you earn47a commission, for example: "I earn a commission if you buy through this48link." In a video, say it aloud and repeat it in the description. Follow49the advertising and consumer laws where your audience lives. If we ask50you to fix or remove content, you will do it within [7] days.51 528. Our brand53We give you a limited, non-exclusive, revocable license to use our name54and the assets at [URL] to promote us. Do not alter our logo or suggest55that we endorse you. You keep ownership of your own content.56 579. Customers, confidentiality and data58Customers belong to us, and you have no right to their data or future59purchases. Keep non-public information we share with you, such as60pre-release features and private pricing, confidential. Each of us61handles personal data under the law that applies to it. Do not put62personal data in link parameters, and do not add your own tracking code63to our pages.64 6510. Ending the agreement66Either of us may end this on [14] days' written notice, or at once if the67other breaches it. When it ends you remove our links and brand assets68within [7] days. We pay commission already earned, after the hold and69less reversals. [We keep paying on customers you referred until their70[12] months end, unless we ended the agreement for breach.] Sections 5, 7,718 and 9 continue after it ends.72 7311. Changes74We may change this agreement by emailing you [30] days before the change75applies. Changes apply to sales after that date. If you disagree, end the76agreement before then.77 7812. Liability and disputes79[Liability cap.] [Governing law.] [Where disputes are heard.]80 8113. Acceptance82You accept this agreement by [ticking the box / signing]. We record the83date and the version you accepted.

What TrackRev enforces and what stays in the contract

In TrackRev's Affiliate Program, each program sets its own commission rate and recurring rule, cookie window (default 60 days, 1 to 3,650 allowed), hold (0 to 180 days after a payout period closes, default 0) and payout schedule (weekly, every 2 weeks, monthly, quarterly or manual).

A refunded or disputed charge reverses its commission, partners upload a W-9 or W-8 form in the partner portal, and you pay from one PayPal or Wise CSV export, then mark each payout paid.

Because the hold defaults to 0, a 30-day hold in your agreement needs a matching setting on the program.

TrackRev does not draft agreements, collect signatures or store contract text, so host the agreement on your own site and keep the acceptance log in a signing tool or form.

Affiliate programs run on the paid plans from Starter at $39 a month (pricing); the free plan covers link tracking only, with 50 links and 1,000 tracked events a month.

How to create an affiliate program covers the steps around the agreement.