Set the rules for your affiliate program

Website terms usually regulate visitors and customers, not affiliates earning commission for promoting your products or services. Affiliate arrangements create different legal and commercial issues, including eligibility, approval rights, referral attribution, commission exclusions, refund clawbacks, brand use rules and prohibited marketing tactics. If those points are not clearly documented, problems often arise around unpaid commissions, misleading promotions or use of your trade marks in ways you did not approve. Separate affiliate program terms give you a clearer framework for managing the program and setting enforceable rules for participants.

Affiliate program terms commonly cover who can join, how approval works, referral tracking rules, commission rates, excluded sales, payment timing, and when commissions can be withheld, adjusted or cancelled. They often also deal with refunds, cancellations, chargebacks, disclosure obligations, use of logos and brand assets, ownership of affiliate content, confidentiality, suspension rights and termination. For New Zealand businesses, the drafting may also need to address advertising conduct and consumer law risk areas. If approval steps are relevant, we will explain what needs to be prepared and what sits outside the legal work. especially where promotions cross borders or use third-party platforms.

The drafting depends heavily on how your program works in practice. Key details include what counts as a valid referral, how long attribution lasts, whether commissions are fixed or percentage based, and whether affiliates can use paid search, discount codes, email campaigns or social content. It also matters whether you run the program through a third-party platform, whether affiliates are creators, agencies or customers, and how you handle refunds or disputed sales. Privacy wording works best when it is matched to your real collection, use, storage and disclosure practices.

Usually only for a very simple program. Free templates often assume basic referral mechanics and may not properly cover your actual commission triggers, approval process, refund treatment, keyword bidding restrictions, content ownership or brand controls. They can also miss practical issues created by platform rules, cross-border affiliates or different promotional channels. Tailored terms are particularly useful where affiliates create ads, use discount codes, or access marketing assets. The aim is to give you a clearer legal framework for the issue, with final risk settings depending on your operating model and follow-through.

No. The service covers drafting or reviewing the affiliate program terms document itself, including clauses around commissions, approvals, IP protection, prohibited conduct and program administration. It does not include building your affiliate portal, configuring tracking software, monitoring affiliate activity on an ongoing basis, or clearing each ad, post or landing page before publication. It also does not cover regulator approval or third-party platform decisions. If you need related documents, such as influencer agreements or brand partnership terms, those would usually be handled as separate work.

Submit an enquiry on this page or click 'Get started'. One of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to understand what you need.

Your consultant will then email you a fixed-fee quote setting out the cost, scope and timing. If you're happy with it, you can accept the quote and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you've accepted, one of our Australian-qualified lawyers will work with you to complete your project. They'll contact you by email or phone if they need anything.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Affiliate Program Terms service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We work online, so we can help wherever you are in New Zealand. Our team works remotely, mainly from Australia.

Your work is done by our Australian-qualified lawyers, who hold Australian practising certificates and specialise in business law. None of them are New Zealand lawyers or hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

Sprintlaw NZ Limited is a legal consultancy, not a law firm, and is not regulated by the New Zealand Law Society. We don't act in court or tribunal matters, conveyancing (including leases and business sales) or other reserved areas of work. Communications with Sprintlaw are unlikely to be protected by legal professional privilege. We still keep everything confidential under our engagement letter.