Commission Models
Part of Affiliate programme terms and publisher rules
Writing rules for coupon and voucher publishers
Set coupon-publisher rules for approved offers, display claims, exclusions, code use and affiliate credit.
Coupon and voucher rules should tell a publisher which offers it may display, what it may claim about them and when an order can earn commission. A code working at checkout does not establish that the publisher displaying it receives affiliate credit.
Separate the shopper offer from publisher credit
Keep the shopper-facing offer and the publisher arrangement clear. The offer covers the saving, eligible products and customers, minimum spend, dates, time zone, exclusions and combination with other discounts. The publisher arrangement covers authorised placements, any exclusivity claim, attribution and commission.
The controls behind the shopper-facing offer and the publisher arrangement can behave differently, so check each offer in both the checkout and the affiliate platform rather than assuming one reflects the other.
On impact.com, a coupon ad supplies promotional content, while a tracking promo code can apply separate crediting logic. Promo-code tracking must be enabled, and credit groups can take precedence over promo-code attribution. These examples do not establish how another merchant's checkout or affiliate account works.
Give publishers an offer brief
For each approved offer, provide:
- the exact code and public wording, if there is a code;
- eligible products, customers and markets, plus any minimum order condition;
- start and end times with the time zone;
- material exclusions and discount-combination rules;
- permitted pages and channels, and whether exclusivity may be claimed;
- the commission and credit treatment; and
- a contact for corrections, expiry or withdrawal.
If major products are excluded, do not headline the promotion as “sitewide” and hide those products in fine print. The ACCC accepts reports about possible false or misleading claims and can require businesses to back up the claims they make about their products or services.
State what may be displayed
Decide whether partners may publish only offers supplied through the approved programme channel or may also list public offers found elsewhere. State any commission restriction separately from checkout acceptance. Explain what evidence allows a publisher to call a code “exclusive”; a code assigned to one partner is not necessarily a distinct shopper saving.
Awin's Offers API allows publishers to retrieve details of promotions and voucher codes offered by advertisers in the Awin network, with filters that include region, status and an exclusive-only option. Provide a correction route so expired or inaccurate offers can be removed promptly, and give the publisher a current record to check.
Compliance & Transparency Requirements
- ACCC Oversight
- Accepts reports on false or misleading claims
- Exclusive Code Definition
- Code assigned to one partner ≠ guaranteed shopper exclusivity
- Awin Offers API Filter Options
- Region, status, exclusive-only
- Corrective Process Required
- Publishers must have a route to report expired or inaccurate offers
Cover copied codes fairly
Specify how the programme will treat a code copied onto another site, combined with a public sale or displayed after expiry. A copied code alone does not prove which publisher shared it. Distinguish a breach of distribution rules from attribution and from whether the shopper received a valid discount.
A concise rule should identify the approved offer source, permitted exclusivity claims, customer eligibility, affiliate credit treatment and correction contact. Reconcile those rules with the actual checkout and affiliate setup before publishers use them.
