One important step for any Affiliate looking to join a program is to read the Affiliate-Merchant Terms of Service Agreement. Essentially, a Terms of Service Agreement, often abbreviated TOS, should lay out the terms for an Affiliate. It may (should) include all aspects of the relationship for the Affiliate and merchant in regards to promoting and being compensated for sales or leads. Commission, pay per click policy, use of trademarks, restricted activities, cookie life, mediation of conflicts and many other items should be included in order to prevent misunderstanding and abuse by any party.

The next paragraph is designed to highlight some important information for merchants regarding their Terms of Service. Every merchant should read it completely, Affiliates can skip this step.

Every merchant should take the time to ensure that their Terms of Service are complete. Include all of your terms and conditions.1.It is highly suggested that you include information about the commission or compensation as well as the guidelines you expect Affiliates to adhere to. Include restricted activities. If you have a question about what you should include, a consultation is advised. Affiliate Advocacy offers merchants a very low cost consultation in this area.2.Another important part of your terms of service agreement is that Affiliates should be able to read it. Make sure you check the formatting. The biggest problem with many terms of service is that they cannot be easily read. Long documents of 500-3000 words with no use of paragraphs, bullets or line spacing makes a document almost unreadable.  This problem is more common at some networks than others. The format that appears to a merchant in the merchant interface of a network may not be what an Affiliate sees. Most experienced Affiliates will want to read the terms of service to ensure that they understand your terms and conditions. If it is a struggle to read, some Affiliates will move on to another merchant.3.Try to use numbered bullets to separate key points and have each bullet appear on a new line.4.Use a readable font and skip using italics for the whole paragraph.3.If you update your terms of service, or copy and paste terms from another program, be sure to check the numbering. If you notice there are 2 3’s in this paragraph and the second 3 comes after the first 4 and if you read further you will see that there is no number 5 but we do have a number 6 which follows the second 3 after the first 4 and also included is paragraph H to further add to the confusion. 6.Try to avoid long run on sentences. If you read the last sentence, you will have noticed it was a tad long. If you use legalese, try to include a simplified explanation as well, this is for the benefit of both Affiliate and merchant. While your lawyer or accountant may prefer the more complex wording, it can lead to confusion for some. Providing a simplified version or explanation will ensure a merchant that the meaning is clear and the Affiliate will have no question as to the terms.7.A clear and concise Terms of Service Agreement will help to eliminate confusion. If all parties understand the terms, some bigger problems can be avoided.H. Include at least one piece of contact information for Affiliates to use in case there is a question regarding TOS.8. The Terms of Service not only needs to be complete, it needs to be readable.

 For anyone who struggled or failed to read the above, the following points were included:

1. Provide complete Terms of Service Agreement.
2. Ensure that the TOS is readable and properly formatted.
3. To avoid confusion, use clear language and check for errors and missing information.
4. Include contact information.

Over the weekend I was looking to fill a couple of spots on an established website. I found four merchants who had the needed products. I passed on two of them because their TOS was completely unreadable. Perhaps when I have more time I will go back and try to decipher the TOS but for now I pass. Many Affiliates will not join a program without reading the TOS. While it does not provide an abundance of protection for an Affiliate, it does (hopefully) lay out the terms under which we will/should be compensated and indicates any restrictions.

Merchants with incomplete and or unreadable TOS are leaving themselves vulnerable to problems. In order to be able to comply, Affiliates need a complete TOS and, need to be able to read it.

It is a good merchant practice to have a complete and legible Terms of Service and, it is a good Affiliate practice to read and comply to the TOS.

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