Affiliate Program Terms & Conditions, Guidelines & Rules
Version - Last modified in 07/08/2024 16:00 UTC
This Privacy Notice is dated 05/09/2024. These terms are regularly updated, and we reserve the right to entirely substitute them should circumstances demand. If there are changes to the Affiliate Program, its conclusion, or its integration into an existing Program, including our partner Programs, we might replace these terms completely. For substantial changes to this Affiliate Program Terms, we will use reasonable endeavors to provide notice thereof. The current version can be found on our website. If you require further assistance or have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our team at affiliates@patchstack.com.
1. Introduction
1.1. Patchstack operates an Affiliate Program with a specific focus on the WordPress ecosystem.
1.2. Patchstack retains the discretion to modify these rules at any time without prior notification.
1.3. This is an agreement between you (the “Affiliate” or the “Ambassador”) and us (“Patchstack”) to describe in detail how we will collaborate together and the legal parameters of our business agreement. By accepting these Terms and Conditions, you agree that you have read and understood these terms and agree to be legally responsible for each and every term and condition herein.
1.4 By clicking the button “Sign up” during registration on our Platform, you represent that you are over 18 years old and agree to the terms of our Privacy and Cookies Policy and this Agreement. If you are acting on behalf of a company when accepting this Agreement and the Privacy and Cookies Policy, you also hereby declare to be authorized to perform such legal actions on behalf of that company (herein the term “you” shall mean the relevant company).
2. Basic Definitions
2.1 In this Agreement, the following definitions will apply.
2.1.1 “Affiliate” or “Affiliates” are the individuals or entities that intend to participate in the Affiliate Program and who will legally be bound by the Terms and Conditions herein.
2.1.2 “Customers” are the individuals and legal entities that become the end users (new subscribers) of Patchstack online app by subscribing and confirming the purchase of our products and services.
2.1.3 “Affiliate Program” refers to the marketing Program created and operated by Patchstack, to which the Affiliates are enrolled and rewarded in the form of monetary compensation for referring new subscribers via their exclusive Affiliate links.
2.1.4 “Affiliate Link” is the personal exclusive link from a member participating in the Affiliate Program, used to track referrals and commissions. The link is located at the Affiliate’s website and promotional channels, and when clicked on by a potential customer, it directs to Patchstack website.
2.1.5 “Referral” stands for a potential customer who was led to Patchstack website with the use of the Affiliate link for one of the three levels of subscription: Community Plan, Developer Plan or Business Plan.
2.1.5 “Commission” means the monetary compensation as a reward that an Affiliate earns from Patchstack for each referral that converts into a sale.
2.1.6 “Abandoned Affiliate Account” means any Affiliate account where the Affiliate Dashboard has not been logged into for a period of 6 months, or has no Affiliate referrals posted during a period of 6 months.
3.Non-Exclusivity and Eligibility
3.1 This Agreement does not establish an exclusive arrangement between you and Patchstack. Both parties retain the right to endorse comparable products and services offered by third parties, as well as to collaborate with other entities regarding the development, marketing, installation, deployment, and utilization of similar services and products provided by third parties.
3.2 To be eligible to join the Affiliate Program, you must agree to the Affiliate Program terms and conditions: be at least 18 years old and have a functioning website.
4. Your obligations as an Affiliate Partner
4.1 The affiliate’s main role is to operate as a marketing promoter of Patchstack, and to introduce potential customers to the Patchstack website. The affiliate is allowed to use their affiliate link on their website, newsletters, social media channels or other relevant communication tools and refer potential customers to Patchstack..
4.2 Upon our invitation and the submission of your application to become an Affiliate, we will assess it and inform you of your acceptance to join the Affiliate Program.
4.3 In the application, you must provide basic information such as your full name, your website address, and any additional information asked. After signing up for the Program, we will review your application.
4.4 We reserve the right and sole discretion to reject your application, and re-evaluate your application at any point in time.
4.5 Upon acceptance into the Affiliate Program, the terms and conditions of this Agreement will apply until termination, as outlined below.
4.6 You are only allowed to create and use one affiliate account.
4.7 You will receive a confirmation of your participation when the application is approved. After approval, you have direct access to your affiliate dashboard and personal referral link.
4.8 As a participant in the program, you have the right to market and promote the products and services of Patchstack. To do this, you may use marketing materials from Patchstack, provided through your affiliate dashboard, such as available banners and guidebooks.
4.9 The affiliate is responsible for keeping Patchstack information on their website and in their promotions up to date. For example, if there is a change in pricing, package, or service at Patchstack, it's the affiliate’s sole responsibility that information is updated.
4.10 You are responsible for all content posted and activity that occurs under your account
5. Advertising and Marketing Guidelines
5.1 The Affiliate must adhere to the specific guidelines provided by Patchstack. The Affiliate must also follow and agree to good general advertising standards, including:
5.1.1 No spamming or unsolicited advertisement of any kind.
5.1.2 No illegal methods of promotion or illegal activities associated with promoting offers.
5.1.3 Ad claims must be truthful and devoid of deceptive or misleading content.
5.1.4 Trial offers must prominently display disclaimers specifying the trial period and subsequent full-price charges and can only be promoted with strict authorization from your Affiliate Manager.
5.1.5 The overall impression of the ad should effectively convey the terms of the offer while maintaining positive and uplifting language, avoiding negative terms or expressions.
5.1.6 Affiliates should familiarize themselves with traffic generation and anti-spam rules, and any doubts about permissibility should be addressed.
5.1.7 The use of negative words, or implications of winnings, incentivized traffic, or simple processes are prohibited.
5.1.8 False implications regarding government affiliations, or urgency are prohibited.
5.1.9 Ads should remain relevant to the advertised Patchstack subscription offer, and promotions through articles, videos, live streams, press releases or sponsored content.
5.1.10 Bait-and-switch tactics or celebrity mentions without written approval are prohibited.
5.1.11 Compliance with traffic rules, maintenance of truthfulness, and use of clear language and formatting for easy understanding of disclosures are essential.
5.1.12 Consider visibility, minimal scrolling, and device limitations when presenting disclosures.
5.1.13 The affiliate program website may provide you access to websites or services owned and operated by third parties. These third-party websites or services may have their own privacy policies and are not governed by this Privacy Notice. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any third-party websites or services.
5.1.14 You may not use the Affiliate Program to gain a discount on Patchstack products for your own use or that of any affiliate or company in the same group or with common ownership of any kind. All sales must be to entities on an arm’s length basis only. Failure to comply with this condition will make any affected sales commission repayable with immediate effect.
5.1.15 For the avoidance of doubt, Self-referrals will not count as a qualified “referral” and therefore will not be eligible for Commission.
5.2 The Affiliate may review Patchstack on his/her/their Blog, Email, Newsletter, Twitter (X), Twitch channel, YouTube channel, use display banners and share affiliate links with potential new clients and social media followers provided that the Affiliate complies at all times with the terms and conditions of any third party sites used for affiliate marketing.
5.3 Approved Affiliates will be solely responsible for the development, operation, and maintenance of their site in connection with the Program and for all materials that appear on such sites. By way of example, but not limited to, the Affiliate will be solely responsible for:
5.3.1 The technical operation of your site and all related equipment;
5.3.2 Ensuring the display of links to Patchstack products and services on your site do not violate any agreement between you and any third party (including, without limitation, any restrictions or requirements placed on you by a third party that hosts your site);
5.3.3 The accuracy, truth, and appropriateness of materials posted on your site (including, among other things, all service-related materials and any information you include within or associate with links to Patchstack);
5.3.4 Ensuring that materials posted on your site do not violate or infringe upon the rights of any third party (including, for example, copyrights, trademarks, privacy, or other personal or proprietary rights);
5.3.1 Ensuring that materials posted on your site are not libelous or otherwise illegal; and Ensuring that your site accurately and adequately discloses, either through a privacy policy or otherwise, how you collect, use, store, and disclose data collected from visitors, including, where applicable, that third parties (including advertisers) may serve content and/or advertisements and collect information directly from visitors and may place or recognize cookies on visitors’ browsers.
6. Tracking your sales and our Payment Policy
6.1 Remunerations depend on the tailored agreement approved by both parties as of the beginning of the activities and exclude VAT.
6.2 Patchstack monitors and records the referral links and new subscription activities or the confirmed purchases using Tapfiliate tool ("Tracking Tool"). Only the Tracking by Patchstack is decisive for the identification of the calculation of the remuneration. Patchstack shall provide the Tracking information monthly on the Tapfiliate Platform Dashboard (“Tracking Date”).
6.3 Commissions are paid to the affiliate for paying customers that were brought to the website with the affiliate link, and subscribed for our services within 90 days. 90 days is the duration of our affiliate cookie left on the potential customer’s device after clicking the affiliate link.
6.3.1 Patchstack will only credit the remunerations after the confirmed purchases have passed the Tracking as referred to in article 6.2.
6.3.2 In cases of lifetime commission, the Affiliate will receive commission for as long as the referred customer is a paid user.
6.4 These purchase conditions apply to all app subscriptions in connection with marketing campaigns as delivered by the Affiliate.
6.5 Patchstack shall pay the remunerations to the Affiliate within 30 calendar days of the Invoice Date.
6.6 Our minimum threshold is 50$ (Dollars). Credit invoices below 50$ (Dollars) will be added up until the threshold is reached. We pay commissions latest on the 15th of each month. This is for commission accumulated the month before. If payout for large amounts of commissions (over 1000 USD) is preferred via wire please, please contact our team at affiliates@patchstack.com to discuss the options.
6.8 Currencies allowed are: US Dollar and Euro.
6.9 Payment methods allowed: PayPal and Bank wire transfer. Any other payment method will be declined. It is the affiliate’s responsibility to have an accurate and working PayPal email address updated in their affiliate dashboard.
6.10 Patchstack does not accept fraud traffic. If Patchstack notices any kind of fraud traffic, Patchstack will block your account and will not pay for any subscription generated.
6.11 When an affiliate account is terminated by the affiliate, unpaid commission will be paid out. Any commissions pending under 50 USD will be converted into credits to be used in Patchstack website and online store.
6.12 In case of a refund, the Commission will not be payable, and if already paid, it will be adjusted from the next payout. If there is no next payout within the next 30 days, then the Affiliate will be liable to pay back the Commission immediately.
6.13 Failure to make payment of a Commission paid out in error will entitle us to terminate this Agreement and claim for damages. Patchstack also reserves the right to charge interest on owed payments to the maximum amount allowable by applicable law and engage debt collection agencies to retrieve such monies, the cost of which will be charged to you in addition to the debt and any accrued interest.
6.14 If a referred customer is a prior client of Patchstack, the payout of Commission will be subject to manual review and approval by us in our sole discretion. Please contact our team at affiliates@patchstack.com to discuss the situation.
7. Policies, Fraud Attempts and Forbidden Activities
7.1 As a condition to your participation in the affiliate program, you agree that while you are an affiliate at Patchstack, you will comply with all laws, ordinances, rules, regulations, orders, licenses, permits, judgments, decisions, or other requirements (collectively, “Laws”) of any governmental authority that has jurisdiction over you, including the European anti-spam law.
7.2 Affiliates undertakes to refrain from using media channels which contain content of illegal activities, violent, pornographic, erotic, pedophilia, religious, political or racist nature, misuse of brand names & brand logo's (except where indicated) and the like.
7.3 Patchstack may terminate your affiliate Agreement or suspend access to the affiliate program with immediate effect and without prior notice in the circumstances of fraud and abuse.
7.4 Abuse, gaming, and policy violations will result in having your account banned and any existing and future Commissions forfeited.
8. Termination and Limitation of Liability
8.1 Failure to meet these criteria of behavior, ethics or any of these terms will result in immediate termination of this Agreement, rendering you ineligible to participate further in the Affiliate Program. This is regardless of whether those Laws are now in effect or later come into effect during the time you are an Affiliate or participating in the affiliate program, including, without limitation, during the application process.
8.2 Patchstack provides no warranty or representation regarding the Affiliate Program, its availability, or the accuracy and completeness of the tracking and reporting systems. The Affiliate Program is provided on an "as is" basis.
8.3 In no event shall Patchstack be liable for any indirect, consequential, or special damages arising out of or in connection with the Program, including but not limited to lost profits or loss of business opportunities.
8.3 We reserve the right to remove abandoned Affiliate accounts from our system and terminate this Agreement with immediate effect if your balance is equal to or less than the minimum payout threshold, after a 6 month period of inactivity. Abandoned Affiliate accounts are defined as any Affiliate account whose Affiliate dashboard has not been logged into for a period of 6 months and/or has no transactions posted during a period of six months.
9. Confidentiality
9.1 The Affiliate shall not disclose third parties with any information (including but not limited to agreed remuneration) received in the context of the Affiliate Agreement, without Patchstack's written approval. The Affiliate shall act in Patchstack’s interest and in compliance with all relevant and applicable regulations and ethical standards.