RateMyThings Affiliate Program Terms

1. Program overview

The RateMyThings Affiliate Program allows approved partners ("you", "Affiliate") to earn cash commissions for referring paying customers to ratemythings.com ("Service", "we", "us"). These terms govern that relationship and supplement our main Privacy Policy.

2. Eligibility & application

• You must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your jurisdiction).
• You must apply through affiliates.ratemythings.com and be approved before earning commissions.
• We approve applications at our sole discretion. Rejected applicants may re-apply after 90 days with new context.
• You must keep the application information (audience, channels, PayPal email) accurate and up to date.

3. Commission structure

• 30% recurring commission on every successful payment made by a customer you referred, for as long as they remain subscribed.
• Applies to subscription renewals (monthly & annual) and one-off credit pack purchases.
• Commissions are calculated on the net amount we receive (after taxes, payment processor fees, and discounts).
• Tracking is first-touch: the first affiliate link clicked within the cookie window earns the commission.
• Tracking cookie duration: 90 days from click.

4. Payouts

• Commissions enter a 14-day hold upon being earned, to cover potential refunds and chargebacks.
• After the hold, commissions become "available" and count towards the next payout run.
• Payouts are processed monthly via PayPal when your available balance reaches the $25 minimum.
• You are responsible for keeping your PayPal email correct. We are not liable for funds sent to outdated addresses.
• You are responsible for any taxes due on commissions in your jurisdiction.

5. Promotional rules

RateMyThings does not run its own paid acquisition campaigns. That means our affiliates are the entire paid-marketing channel — and we treat you accordingly. We give you maximum freedom on how you bring traffic, in exchange for honesty about what you say.

Encouraged channels — promote however you can scale:

• Organic social posts on any platform (Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Threads, etc.).
• YouTube content, podcasts, livestreams, Twitch.
• Blog posts, articles, newsletters, SEO content, comparison & review pages.
• Paid ads on every major network. Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta (Facebook / Instagram), TikTok Ads, X Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Pinterest Ads, Reddit Ads, Snapchat, YouTube pre-roll & in-stream, native (Taboola / Outbrain), display, retargeting — all welcome.
• Brand-name PPC bidding is allowed. You may bid on "ratemythings", "rate my things", and brand variants on any search network. We do not run conflicting campaigns and will not compete against you on our own terms.
• Custom landing pages, microsites, and pre-sell content (you can build your own page that warms up the visitor before linking through).
• Influencer marketing, paid sponsorships, podcast spots, newsletter sponsorships.

Hard rules — these still apply because they're either illegal, fraudulent, or ruin trust:

• FTC / disclosure compliance. Every promotion must include a clear affiliate disclosure (e.g. "#ad", "affiliate link", or local equivalent). This is a legal requirement, not a courtesy.
• No brand impersonation. You may not pretend to be RateMyThings, claim to be official support, or imply employment / partnership beyond this affiliate relationship.
• No URL cloaking that hides the destination. Visitors must be able to see they're going to ratemythings.com (you may use shortened links and your own pre-sell pages, but not redirects designed to deceive Google or the user).
• No fake claims. Don't fabricate testimonials, invent statistics, misstate our pricing, or promise features we don't have. This includes false scarcity ("only 10 spots left!") and false price anchoring.
• No domain squatting. Do not register domains containing "ratemythings", "rate-my-things", or confusingly similar variants. Buying ad slots is fine; owning lookalike domains is not.
• No spam. Unsolicited cold email blasts, DM spray, comment spam, or messaging anyone who hasn't opted in to hear from you. Personal one-to-one outreach is fine; bulk is not.
• No incentivised traffic with no real intent. Paid-to-click farms, "earn money for signing up" sites, and traffic exchanges are out. We want real users who actually rate things.
• No bots, click farms, or sub-affiliate networks that obscure the real source of traffic.
• No self-referrals. No referring yourself, household members, employees, or alternate accounts you control.
• Stay within the law. You may not promote in any way that violates applicable law in your jurisdiction or in the destination market the visitor is in.

Quick sanity check: if a real person clicks your link, lands on ratemythings.com, and makes a purchase they're happy with — that commission is yours. Everything in the "hard rules" list above describes ways the visitor would have been deceived, the click was fake, or you'd be violating a law. As long as you stay on the right side of those, run any paid play you want.

6. Fraud, refunds & clawbacks

• If a referred customer requests a refund or initiates a chargeback within 30 days, the related commission is reversed.
• Any commission earned through fraud, abuse, or violation of Section 5 will be voided. Already-paid commissions may be deducted from future payouts.
• We reserve the right to manually review accounts and to suspend payouts pending investigation.
• We use email, IP, device fingerprinting, and behavioural signals to detect self-referrals and fraud rings.

7. Intellectual property

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, revocable licence to use the RateMyThings name, logo, and approved marketing assets solely for promoting the Service under these terms. The licence ends immediately on suspension or termination. You may not modify the logo, alter brand colours, or imply partnership beyond this affiliate relationship.

8. Privacy & FTC compliance

• You must comply with all applicable laws including the FTC Endorsement Guides, GDPR, CCPA, and your local equivalents.
• You must clearly disclose your affiliate relationship in every promotion (e.g. "#ad", "affiliate link", or equivalent local language).
• You may not collect personal data from referred users beyond what's strictly necessary for promotion.

9. Term & termination

The program is at-will for both parties. Either party may terminate at any time, with or without notice.

We may, at our sole and absolute discretion, suspend, restrict, or end your participation in the program at any time — without prior notice and without obligation to explain or justify the decision — if we determine, in good faith, that any of the following applies (this list is illustrative, not exhaustive):

• Your promotion methods, audience, or brand association may pose legal, regulatory, financial, or reputational risk to RateMyThings.
• Your conduct, on- or off-platform, conflicts with our brand values or the spirit of these terms, even if no specific rule is broken.
• We have reason to suspect fraud, abuse, manipulation of attribution, collusion, or any attempt to game the program.
• The traffic, signups, or revenue you generate is of materially low quality (high refund rate, high chargeback rate, low retention, suspicious geographic or behavioural patterns).
• You become unreachable, unresponsive, or inactive for an extended period.
• A change in our business, product, partners, or applicable law makes your continued participation impractical.
• Any other reason we deem reasonable in good faith — including reasons not enumerated above.

On termination, suspension, or restriction:

• Earned, validated commissions remain payable in the next normal payout cycle (subject to the minimum threshold and these terms).
• Pending commissions associated with conduct under review, rule violations, or suspected fraud are placed on hold and may be forfeited in full.
• Already-paid commissions earned through fraud, misrepresentation, or material rule violation may be deducted from future payouts or invoiced back.
• Your tracking links are disabled, your dashboard access is revoked, and your licence to use our brand assets ends immediately.
• We are not liable for any loss of expected future commissions, business opportunities, advertising spend, or other costs you may have incurred in anticipation of continued participation.

Termination by us is not a finding of wrongdoing and creates no admission, claim, or precedent. You waive any right to dispute the termination itself; however, you may dispute the calculation of commissions owed up to the date of termination.

10. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms at any time. Material changes — including changes to the commission rate, hold period, or minimum payout — will be communicated by email and become effective 30 days after notice. Continued participation after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our aggregate liability under the program is limited to commissions actually earned and unpaid. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or lost-profit damages.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Romania, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Bucharest, Romania.

13. Contact

Questions about the program: [email protected].