What should your affiliate agreement say about codes, extensions and brand bidding?

Your affiliate programme terms were copied from the network's template the week you launched, and nobody has opened them since.

Then three things land in one fortnight. Your paid search lead sends a screenshot: an ad above yours on a search for your brand name plus "discount code", linking through your affiliate network. The code you made for one creator's followers turns up on a coupon site. And a content partner forwards an order they sent you that was credited to a cashback extension that appeared in the cart a minute before payment.

You open the terms. Paid search is "restricted", with no list of what's restricted. There's nothing about codes or software. The partner bidding on your name hasn't broken a rule you wrote down.

This guide covers the clauses that decide what you pay for: what each should say, where a network sets it, how you'd know it's broken, and the catch. It's part of a wider question, which affiliate partners to pay, and for what.

Which clauses decide what you pay for?#

Six do most of the work: which codes a partner may use, what its software may do, where it may advertise on search, how credit and returns are settled, who discloses what, and what evidence you can demand. They matter because a network pays by rule, not judgement. Almost 80% of respondents to the Performance Marketing Association's 2026 US brand survey still use last-click attribution [Performance Marketing Association, Jul 2026] (opens the source), which asks only whose valid click came last. Your terms are where you say which clicks aren't valid.

Those terms live in three places: the programme terms you publish on each network, the policies the network enforces on every publisher, and your direct contracts with creators and larger partners. On Awin, programme terms have sections for Commission, Search engine promotion, Preferred partner types and Deduplication, plus an Additional terms box, and changes need seven days' notice [Awin Help Center, Aug 2026] (opens the source).

Neither Google nor Chrome writes these rules for you, and the wording now gets read closely. In June 2026 a federal judge in California let creators' claims against PayPal over Honey go forward, and part of the argument turned on merchants' own affiliate contracts: PayPal pointed to a Dell clause listing "approved ad-supported software" as a marketing platform, and the judge wasn't persuaded at that early stage [US District Court, N.D. California, Jun 2026] (opens the source). No court has found Honey liable.

What should the agreement say about discount codes?#

That a partner may promote only the codes issued to it through your programme, within their dates, and never private, single-use, staff or another partner's codes. Awin's advice to advertisers is the same: codes should only be promoted if they were shared through the affiliate programme [Awin, Aug 2026] (opens the source).

Codes travel anyway, so the clause has to work with the network's crediting. Awin's Voucher Attribution credits an exclusive code's sales to the publisher you assign, even when someone else spreads it [Awin Help Center (developers), Apr 2026] (opens the source). On impact.com each tracking code belongs to one partner, with a Credit Policy of Always Credit, Credit If Involved or Credit If Winner [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source), and Promo Code Exception Lists can pay a different rate, including $0, on codes you choose [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source).

What to write. Partners use only codes issued to them, within their dates: nothing from staff, customer service, email, loyalty schemes or other partners, and nothing found elsewhere. Orders on a code the partner wasn't issued earn no commission.

Where it's set. The policy in the programme terms (on Awin, the Additional terms box); the crediting on each code.

How you'd know it's broken. Orders in the network's transaction report carrying a code that partner was never given.

The catch. The partner showing a leaked code often isn't the one who leaked it, and a rule about promotion doesn't stop codes travelling; unique and single-use codes do more of that. Always Credit also pays a creator when an extension applies their code, a trade-off the guide to creator codes and links covers.

What should it say about browser extensions and other software?#

That software stands down when another partner referred the shopper, acts only after the shopper does, and is declared and approved first.

Stand-down means the extension sees that another partner's link brought the shopper and stays quiet: no pop-up, no affiliate link of its own. impact.com adds afsrc=1 to partner traffic so extensions can detect it, on by default [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source), and CJ names the same flag [CJ, Aug 2022] (opens the source). Rakuten Advertising's policies, last updated 13 July 2026, require software to recognise its lsclick_mid cookie, stand down for the browser session without sliders or pop-ups, and pass compliance testing before launch [Rakuten Advertising, Jul 2026] (opens the source). Rakuten Rewards, which runs a cashback extension, has open-sourced a stand-down kit that bundles no network rules by default: each extension supplies its own, with sample rules in the repository [Rakuten Rewards (GitHub), Oct 2026] (opens the source). Awin makes any publisher running extensions a soft click by default, earning only when no ordinary click exists, though it grants exceptions case by case for models like cashback and loyalty [Awin, Aug 2025] (opens the source).

Chrome sets a floor. Since 10 June 2025 the Chrome Web Store has required a user action before an extension applies any affiliate link, code or cookie, and barred affiliate links when no discount is found [Chrome for Developers, Mar 2025] (opens the source). It says nothing about stand-down: an extension that finds a real code and gets a click is within Chrome's rules, even on an order another partner sent.

Network testing has limits. In December 2025 researcher Benjamin Edelman reported Honey honouring stand-down for users it judged might be testers, such as new or low-points accounts, and ignoring it for established high-points users [Benjamin Edelman, Dec 2025] (opens the source); PayPal said that code predated its acquisition, affected less than 0.1% of Honey's traffic and was switched off [Hello Partner, Jan 2026] (opens the source). Awin's remediation terms for Honey included source-code access, advertiser control of codes and notice of stand-down changes [PPC Land, Jan 2026] (opens the source), rights worth asking for yourself.

What to write. Partners declare every extension, app or toolbar they or their sub-publishers run, and get written approval first. Software stands down for the session when another partner referred the shopper, acts only on the shopper's click, inserts no link when it finds no discount, shows only its own codes, and changes none of this without notice. And define the click: Dell's contract, as the court quoted it, pays on "the last link to the Dell Site that a visitor uses during a Session" [US District Court, N.D. California, Jun 2026] (opens the source), and the creators' complaint argues a click means following a link to the site, not anything the shopper does after arriving [PPC Land, Jan 2026] (opens the source).

Where it's set. The network's software policy, your Preferred partner types, Awin's soft click status and impact.com's stand-down setting, which should stay on.

How you'd know it's broken. Orders where a content partner clicked first and an extension won. A standard transaction report shows only the winner; journey reports, where your plan has them, show the rest.

The catch. Stand-down rules cover software. A coupon website the shopper clicks through to is an ordinary click, and Rakuten says its stand-down duties don't limit the attribution models the network runs for you [Rakuten Advertising, Jul 2026] (opens the source). And a compliance test sees what a tester sees.

Can you stop affiliates bidding on your brand name?#

Mostly by contract, and only if you check. Google doesn't restrict trademarks used as keywords; it restricts some uses in ad text, after the owner complains, against specific advertisers [Google Ads Advertising Policies Help, Oct 2026] (opens the source).

Some brands allow it on purpose: voucher publishers have long negotiated brand-bidding rights into tenancy deals, a Webgains director wrote [Webgains, Oct 2026] (opens the source). If you do, name the partner, the terms and the code its ads may carry.

A written rule also gives Google something to enforce. Its Unfair advantage policy, in the wording in effect since 14 April 2025, still lists affiliates advertising against their affiliate programme's rules as an example of what it prohibits [Google Ads Help, Mar 2025] (opens the source). The rules it means are the ones you write.

What to write. No bidding on your brand, product names or misspellings, alone or with words like code, coupon, voucher, discount or deal, on any search engine, by the partner or its sub-affiliates, with those terms on its negative keyword list, as one monitoring vendor advises [The Search Monitor (Lori Weiman, originally for Search Engine Land), May 2023] (opens the source). No direct linking from ads, no brand in ad text or display URLs, and no commission on orders from breaching ads. Amazon's Associates policies, which bar bidding on its trademarks and their misspellings, and HubSpot's affiliate agreement, which bars ads that compete with its own advertising, branded keywords included, are usable models [Amazon Associates, Apr 2026] (opens the source) [HubSpot, Feb 2026] (opens the source).

Where it's set. On Awin, the Search engine promotion section of your terms; on Webgains, a PPC policy of Open, Restricted or Closed [Webgains, Oct 2026] (opens the source). impact.com's Paid Search Monitoring checks for partners bidding on your trademarks up to 96 times a day, with a paid keyword bundle [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source).

How you'd know it's broken. Monitoring, or searching your own brand terms from the countries you sell in, in a clean browser.

The catch. A clause without monitoring does nothing, and monitoring costs money or time. Here's what going without can cost.

Your inputs will differ. The shape won't: most of the cost lands on orders you'd have had anyway.

How should the agreement settle credit, returns and new customers?#

By stating the cookie window, which click wins when two partners touch an order, how long you have to decline commission and why, and whether new customers earn a different rate. Each has a network setting that should match the words.

The cookie window. Awin calls 30 days the industry standard [Awin Help Center, Mar 2026] (opens the source). Last click isn't compulsory either: seven of the eight networks in the PMA's comparison say they can split one sale's commission between publishers [Performance Marketing Association, Jan 2026] (opens the source).

De-duplication. Say which click wins when two partners, or a partner and your own ads, touch one order; Awin's channel parameter exists so commission isn't paid to several traffic sources for one sale [Awin Help Center (developers), Apr 2026] (opens the source).

Validation and returns. On Awin, transactions you haven't reviewed approve themselves when the auto-validation period ends; it can't be switched off, runs up to 67 days on Access, and Awin suggests your returns window plus seven days [Awin Help Center, Jul 2026] (opens the source). impact.com locks actions after a period you set, up to 90 days when set in days [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source), and Shopify Collabs holds commission 30 days by default, cancelling it on cancelled or fully refunded orders [Shopify Help Center, Apr 2023] (opens the source). Write down what you decline for (returns, cancellations, test orders, duplicates, breaches) and check transactions against your own orders at least monthly, as IAB Australia's compliance guide advises [IAB Australia (Affiliate and Partnership Working Group), Nov 2025] (opens the source).

New customers and rate changes. Awin, impact.com and CJ can each pay a different rate for new customers if your tag sends the status [Awin Help Center (developers), Mar 2026] (opens the source) [Awin Help Center, Sep 2026] (opens the source) [impact.com Help Center, Oct 2026] (opens the source) [CJ, Dec 2019] (opens the source); the guide to commission rates by partner covers the rates. For cuts, Awin's own rule makes a sensible default in direct contracts: at most 20% at a time, once every 30 days, with seven days' notice [Awin, Apr 2026] (opens the source).

The catch. Long locks delay publishers' money: 47.3% of UK publishers in the 2025 survey by the APMA, the affiliate industry's trade body, reported a moderate or significant impact from slow commission payouts [Hello Partner (reporting the APMA's Voice of the Nation 2025), Dec 2025] (opens the source). A network also knows who's new only if your tag tells it.

Who is responsible for disclosure?#

You are, alongside the partner. Under the FTC's Endorsement Guides an advertiser can be liable for an endorser's missing disclosure, and should brief, monitor and correct its endorsers [US Federal Trade Commission, Jul 2023] (opens the source). FTC staff say "paid link" beside the link should be enough [US Federal Trade Commission, Oct 2026] (opens the source), and the FTC's reviews rule, in force since 21 October 2024, bans incentives conditioned on a review's sentiment [US Federal Trade Commission, Aug 2024] (opens the source). In the UK the ASA holds brand and affiliate both responsible under the CAP Code [Committee of Advertising Practice (AdviceOnline), Mar 2023] (opens the source), since 6 April 2025 the DMCC Act's consumer rules, which replaced the old unfair trading regulations, have covered brands' hidden advertising whether or not they control the content [Competition and Markets Authority, Sep 2025] (opens the source), and the CMA can fine up to £300,000 or 10% of turnover, whichever is higher [UK Parliament (legislation.gov.uk), Apr 2025] (opens the source).

What to write. The disclosure wording and where it goes, a right to require edits or removal, regular checks, termination for repeated breaches, and nothing conditioned on what the content says about you. This isn't legal advice: take the draft to your lawyer, and ask each network's compliance team what it already enforces for you.

How do you enforce terms once they're written?#

With three rights in the contract, and evidence gathered before you use them: to request click and order data on any partner's transactions (click time, referring page, sub-publisher, code used); to decline or reverse commission on orders that breach the terms; and to end the agreement for repeated breaches. Networks hold the same powers over publishers, up to reversing or clawing back paid commission [CJ, Aug 2022] (opens the source) [Rakuten Advertising, Jul 2026] (opens the source). A decline is simplest before the validation period ends, so look at new partners' orders early.

Your affiliate manager may object that Google won't stop brand bidding and the network can't watch every extension, so why write clauses nobody enforces? A clause without checks does nothing, it's true. But checks without a clause find nothing to act on: the partner bidding on your name hasn't broken a rule, and the network and Google have nothing to enforce. Write the clause, then decide what you'll check, how often and who does it.

What should you change this quarter?#

1. Export what you agreed to. The affiliate manager pulls each network's terms and settings and every direct contract. The catch: creator deals often live in email threads.
2. Draft, then review. The affiliate manager drafts from the sections above; your lawyer reviews. The catch: review takes weeks, and new terms should be live before peak season.
3. Make the settings match the words. Crediting on every code, stand-down on, the search policy set, validation matched to your returns window. The catch: some settings depend on your plan; Awin's voucher-code commission condition needs Accelerate or Advanced [Awin Help Center, Sep 2026] (opens the source).
4. Give notice. Publish through each network with the notice it requires, and tell your biggest partners why. The catch: partners who relied on what you're banning will push back, and some will leave.
5. Set up the checks. Brand search monitoring, a monthly comparison of network orders with your own, and a code review. At renewal, test whether the partner finds sales or just claims them. The catch: a check without an owner soon lapses.

How Benson gives you the evidence to enforce your terms#

Benson runs on your storefront and records what happens in each session, so the evidence these clauses depend on exists before a dispute starts.

Codes. With checkout code policies, only codes on your allowlist work in coupon-extension sessions; anything else gets a short message instead of a discount. Allow each partner's issued codes, leave staff, apology and private codes off, and your codes clause applies at checkout instead of in a dispute afterwards. Shoppers without an extension who type a creator's code still get their discount. On Shopify, no app can change what an extension shows inside checkout, so the control there works on codes.

Extensions and stand-down. Attribution integrity records the attribution a shopper arrives with (UTM tags, click ids, the ref parameter and the affiliate cookies you list) and every later change. When the credited source is overwritten after the shopper reached the cart, Benson shows the extension it detected in the same session and estimates the commission that moved, at your rates: the order your stand-down clause is about, first partner and winner side by side. A Block rule hides pop-ups on your storefront pages from extensions you don't pay, and lets your partners through.

Evidence for the network and the renewal. The network report and CSV list late-funnel overwrites by network, with rates and method stated and no shopper identities, for the network's compliance team to check against its own click logs. Record the extensions you pay, how and at what rate, and each partner's readout shows its orders, the commission at the rate you recorded and how often it joined after the shopper reached the cart.

Film 03 / 09You have a deal with an extensionWatch1:11

Attribution integrity, checkout code policies and Block are on the Stop plan and above; extension detection and observe mode are free on every plan. See Benson on your store before you rewrite a clause, or work through the partner-deal playbook.

Sources#

• Performance Marketing Association: 2026 US Brand Survey results (Jul 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Terms and conditions (Aug 2026)
• US District Court, N.D. California: In re PayPal Honey Browser Extension Litigation, order denying the motion to dismiss (Jun 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Protect your program against unauthorised voucher codes (Aug 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Voucher Attribution (Apr 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Create a promo code (Oct 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Promo codes FAQ (Oct 2026)
• Performance Marketing Association: Affiliate network DSP policies comparison (Jan 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Stand-down policy explained (Oct 2026)
• CJ: Software publisher policy (Aug 2022)
• Rakuten Advertising: Affiliate network policies (Jul 2026)
• Rakuten Rewards on GitHub: PublisherStandown-SDK (Oct 2026)
• Awin: Soft Click Policy, browser extensions, adware and toolbars (Aug 2025)
• Chrome for Developers: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy update (Mar 2025)
• Benjamin Edelman: Honey's Dieselgate, detecting and tricking testers (Dec 2025)
• Hello Partner: PayPal responds to Honey stand-down allegations (Jan 2026)
• PPC Land: Awin confirms Honey violated affiliate policies, suspends payments (Jan 2026)
• PPC Land: Influencers strike back with detailed contracts showing Honey violated terms (Jan 2026)
• Google Ads policy help: Trademarks (Oct 2026)
• BforeAI: The hidden risks of affiliate brand bidding (Oct 2026)
• Webgains: Voucher vertical PPC, are you doing it right? (Oct 2026)
• Google Ads policy help: Update to the Unfair advantage policy (Mar 2025)
• The Search Monitor: Affiliate agreements, PPC restrictions you need to include (May 2023)
• Amazon Associates: Associates Program Policies (Apr 2026)
• HubSpot: Affiliate Program Agreement (Feb 2026)
• Webgains Knowledge Hub: What is a PPC policy? (Oct 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Introduction to Paid Search Monitoring (Oct 2026)
• Awin: US advertiser pricing (Oct 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Understanding cookies in affiliate marketing (Mar 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Channel parameter (Apr 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Auto-validation (Jul 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Set action locking and payment scheduling periods (Oct 2026)
• Shopify Help Center: Pay creators on Collabs (Apr 2023)
• IAB Australia: Affiliate Program Compliance Guide 2025 (Nov 2025)
• Awin Help Center: Customer acquisition (Mar 2026)
• Awin Help Center: Commission flexibility (Sep 2026)
• impact.com Help Center: Configure customer status mapping (Oct 2026)
• CJ: Use Situational Commissioning to create data-driven affiliate strategies (Dec 2019)
• Awin Help Center: Best practices for setting commission rates (Apr 2026)
• Hello Partner: Affiliate marketing delivers £19bn, but still struggles for CMO recognition (Dec 2025)
• eCFR: 16 CFR Part 255, Guides concerning use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising (Jul 2023)
• FTC: Endorsement Guides, what people are asking (Oct 2026)
• eCFR: 16 CFR Part 465, Rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials (Aug 2024)
• ASA and CAP: Affiliate marketing (AdviceOnline) (Mar 2023)
• CMA: Who regulates hidden advertising? (Sep 2025)
• legislation.gov.uk: DMCC Act 2024, section 182 (Apr 2025)
• Shopify Community: Create a hidden discount code
• Shopify Community: Linksprf / Yieldkit affiliate traffic
• Shopify Community: Major increase in orders being flagged
• Benson guide: Which affiliate partners should you pay, and for what?
• Benson guide: Should each channel get a shared, unique or single-use discount code?
• Benson guide: Should your creators get a discount code, an affiliate link or both?
• Benson guide: How should you set affiliate commission rates for each partner?
• Benson guide: Is your cashback partner finding sales, or just claiming them?
• Benson playbook: Measure a coupon extension partnership before you renew