Before a creator affiliate promotes your products, they need working tracking details, supported product claims, disclosure instructions, commission and payout rules, promotion boundaries, and a support contact. Finish onboarding by asking them to confirm receipt and demonstrate the parts that matter. Hold the first promotion if attribution, a claim, or payment terms remain unclear.
The seven-part checklist below is a recommended operating process. The disclosure guidance covers endorsements that affect U.S. consumers. Other jurisdictions and regulated product categories need their own review.
1. Give them their tracking details and explain credit
Send the assigned link and code, the destination product page, and the customer offer. Keep the customer discount separate from the creator's commission rate. Explain whether the program uses a link, a code, or both to credit sales.
For example, Shopify Collabs documents links and discount codes as ways to track referred purchases. That does not establish how every affiliate system handles competing referrals.
Your packet should answer:
- How long after a qualifying referral can an order receive credit?
- What happens when the buyer clicks one creator's link and uses another creator's code?
- Which products, customer types, territories, and orders qualify?
- Where can the creator see recorded sales and report missing credit?
- Which link changes are allowed, and which require another test?
Use your configured program rules. If nobody can explain a setting, resolve it before onboarding. Ask the creator to open the destination from the placement they intend to use. The program owner should confirm attribution through an authorized test and record the result. Follow the affiliate-link testing procedure for that separate check.
Receipt evidence: the creator identifies their assigned link or code, and the owner records a passed attribution test.
2. Supply facts they can use and claims they must question
Give the creator a dated product sheet containing specifications, use instructions, restrictions, and links to supporting material. Separate verified facts from personal opinions the creator can form only after using the product.
The FTC's influencer guidance says endorsers cannot describe an experience they have not had or make claims requiring proof the advertiser lacks. A brand-approved sentence still needs support.
For a hypothetical bag promotion, dimensions and materials could come from verified product specifications. A claim that the bag prevents back pain needs a different level of evidence and review. A creator should pause that claim rather than improvise a qualification.
State who answers product questions and where updated facts will appear. Include a short list of claims requiring review, such as health effects, comparative performance, or guaranteed results. For a fuller packet, use the guide to giving affiliates product facts without scripting their recommendations.
Receipt evidence: the creator locates the current fact sheet and flags any proposed claim it does not support.
3. Show the disclosure in the intended format
Give instructions that fit the planned post. For U.S.-directed endorsements, explain the financial connection where viewers encounter the recommendation. The FTC's affiliate-marketing FAQ warns that the words "affiliate link" may not tell readers that purchases pay the creator.
An illustrative disclosure is: "I earn a commission if you buy through this link." Add information about other relevant benefits, such as a free product or paid sponsorship, when applicable. Wording alone does not settle whether the placement is clear.
Apply these checks from the FTC's disclosure guidance:
| Format | Check before publishing |
|---|---|
| Written recommendation | Disclosure appears with the endorsement, without requiring readers to expand hidden text. |
| Story image | Disclosure is readable on the image for long enough to notice. |
| Video | Disclosure appears in the video. Match visual and spoken disclosures to the endorsement. |
| Livestream | Repeat the disclosure so viewers joining later can encounter it. |
Use the endorsement's language. Do not assume a platform label alone meets the requirement.
Receipt evidence: the creator supplies the proposed disclosure and its position in the first piece of content.
4. Explain what becomes payable
State the rate, eligible commission base, exclusions, refund treatment, hold, payment schedule, threshold, currency, and required payout setup. Distinguish a recorded sale, a pending commission, and money ready for payment.
In Shopify Collabs, a merchant sets a holding period between 1 and 90 days. A cancellation or full refund during that period automatically cancels the pending commission. Merchant payment and subsequent payout processing are separate steps. Do not promise payment on the day a hold expires.
Show a calculation using your own terms. The following order-level example is hypothetical and does not describe Shopify's calculation rules.
Assume a 10% rate on eligible merchandise after discounts and merchandise refunds. Exclude shipping and tax. Both orders qualify for attribution. Round each order's final commission to the nearest cent, with half-cents rounded up.
| Hypothetical order | Merchandise | Discount | Merchandise refund | Eligible base | Commission |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | $80.00 | $8.00 | $0.00 | $72.00 | $7.20 |
| B | $50.00 | $5.00 | $20.00 | $25.00 | $2.50 |
Eligible base = merchandise amount minus discount minus merchandise refund.
Commission = eligible base multiplied by 10%. The two final commissions total $9.70. Order B's commission before its partial refund would have been $4.50, so the adjustment is $2.00. Actual transfer timing still depends on the program's hold and payout rules.
Receipt evidence: the creator can explain the sample adjustment and find their payment schedule. Use the payout-schedule guide if those dates are still undefined.
5. State promotion boundaries
Write down the allowed channels, customer offer expiry, and any posting commitments already agreed. Identify whether paid advertising, coupon-site submissions, self-referrals, email promotion, or reuse of brand assets is allowed, prohibited, or subject to approval.
These are program choices. Do not present your restrictions as universal platform rules. Do not add posting obligations through a welcome email that contradict the agreed arrangement.
Give creators a way to check stock and offer changes before publishing. Name the person who can authorize an exception, and require a written answer before the exception is used.
Receipt evidence: the creator confirms the planned channel and asks about any activity outside the stated permissions.
6. Make support reachable
Provide a named program owner, a contact route, working hours with a time zone, and a response target your team can meet. Separate creator payment questions from customer delivery or return questions.
Explain what to send with a missing-sale report: the link or code used, approximate time, and an approved order reference if available. Direct customer account issues to the store's customer-support route. Avoid asking creators to collect customer payment details.
Modash's onboarding article treats ongoing communication as work beyond the welcome message. Put that into practice by telling creators how you announce offer changes and how to pause promotion during a tracking problem.
Receipt evidence: the creator knows whom to contact and the owner has confirmed that the route works.
7. Record acknowledgment and clear the first promotion
Keep one record containing the packet version, date sent, creator acknowledgment, test result, disclosure review, unresolved questions, and launch decision. An email-open event is weak evidence of understanding. Ask for a reply about the actual material.
This acknowledgment process is an editorial recommendation. It does not replace an agreement or discharge advertising responsibilities. The FTC's advertiser guidance calls for reasonable training and monitoring, plus action when questionable practices appear.
Clear the first promotion only when all seven parts have an owner and no unresolved issue affects that promotion. Review the published post too, because a draft approval does not show what viewers ultimately saw.
A welcome message to adapt
This example assumes you have supplied a complete, versioned packet and assigned links through your chosen secure route. Replace the descriptive references with the real documents when sending it.
Welcome to our creator affiliate program. Your onboarding packet contains your assigned link and code, product facts, disclosure instructions, promotion permissions, support contacts, and commission and payout terms.
Before your first promotion, please open your link from the placement you plan to use. Tell us if the product page or customer offer differs from the packet. We will confirm the attribution test separately.
Please reply to confirm you have read this packet version, can find your payment schedule, and understand the refund example. Include your planned channel and first-post disclosure, plus any questions or claims you want us to review.
Wait for our launch confirmation before publishing. You can reply here for onboarding help. Use the customer-support route in the packet for customer order issues.
Send the packet and message together. Record the creator's reply, resolve each open question, and name the person who will authorize the first promotion.
