Shopify Affiliate Program Compliance Guidelines
Knowing our rules and how to avoid expiration
Introduction
As a Shopify Affiliate, your long-term success is our priority. To ensure a fair and transparent partnership, all Shopify Affiliates must adhere to our compliance guidelines outlined in our current program terms. Failure to comply may result in commission forfeiture or account termination, and we want to help you avoid that. This article covers some basic Shopify Affiliate Program compliance rules and best practices to set you up for success.
Compliance rules
Prohibited promotion methods
- Trademark bidding: Many affiliate marketers use PPC advertising via search engines & social networks. Bidding on our branded search terms is a direct violation of our Shopify Affiliate Program Terms (Part A, Sec. 6.3). We also do not allow the direct bidding on misspellings of our brand name. To avoid suspension in our program, we require that all affiliates add “Shopify” to their ‘negative keyword’ list.
- Ad hijacking: Shopify Affiliates do not have permission to mimic Shopify’s official ads, or pose as Shopify in any capacity. This is strictly prohibited in our Affiliate Program Terms (Part A, Sec. 6.3) and can result in immediate suspension from our program.
- Cookie stuffing: Shopify Affiliates are prohibited from using hidden cookie injections/unauthorized tracking methods (Part B, Sec. 7.1.5). Doing so can result in immediate removal from our program.
You may not use “Shopify” or a misspelling of it in your promotional domain. Instances of these are considered a violation of the trademark protections in the Terms.
Misleading the user
You should not interfere with, or try to inappropriately influence, the referral of any end user to Participating Sites and Content. You should not mislead or otherwise induce an end user to click a Link through deception. You should not send traffic through intermediary servers to hide or obscure your referral traffic source. Your Promotional Methods should not include misleading practices involving titles or page descriptions, search-engine manipulation, unlawful use of meta tags, or other deceptive conduct.
Operating as a sub-affiliate or sub-network
We are no longer working with sub-affiliate networks.
A sub-affiliate network is an affiliate who leverages a network of publisher sites or creators to promote a brand, often offering a commission split or link aggregation service to make it easier for a publisher to work with multiple brands. Per our Terms (Part B, Sec 7.1.4), no affiliate in our program is allowed to operate as a network or participate as an affiliate in one.
As of February 2026, we no longer permit any operation of a sub-affiliate network within our program. If you operate as a network, your account will be removed from the program when discovered.
Operating as a loyalty affiliate or browser extension
We have strict guidelines regarding how affiliates operate with loyalty and browser extension capabilities:
- No affiliate is allowed to promote Shopify through a browser extension without explicit written approval from Shopify. Affiliates found to be doing so will be subject to our compliance protocols, including but not limited to: commission reduction, commission forfeiture, and removal from the program.
- All loyalty and browser extensions are prohibited from promoting promotional codes or coupons. The Shopify platform does not allow a merchant to enter these when signing up.
- All loyalty and browser extension affiliates are required to “stand down” if an affiliate cookie is present in the user journey, with an affirmative click required by the user to trigger the notification from loyalty/browser extension. This means you are not allowed to automatically trigger/appear for a user if another affiliate cookie is already present.
- All loyalty and browser extensions are not permitted to circumvent the user already on Shopify back to Shopify with the affiliate cookie triggered.
- There is no permitting of automatic clicks or automatic redirects. The end user must proactively engage with your extension and cannot be redirected without an affirmative click.
Operating as a tool partner
All affiliates operating as a tool partner (store builders, apps, etc.) must disclose any and all traffic sources to the Shopify Affiliate Compliance Team to ensure transparency and consistency with our terms. Tool partners are not permitted to initiate the affiliate link until the end user is in the tool partner’s user flow. This should be after any information gathering (email, other contact info) with a CLEAR and DIRECT instruction to click the affiliate link to open their Shopify store, which then should redirect the user directly to a page to sign up for Shopify.
There should be no additional windows, tabs, or iframes created to activate the affiliate link. Any traffic seen being gathered outside of this approved method will be deemed non-compliant with our program.
Disclosure and advertising requirements
As part of this program, you are required to disclose that you are a Shopify Affiliate and may earn commission. To ensure compliance with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other global regulatory guidelines, all affiliate advertising must include proper disclosures about your relationship with Shopify. All of your ad copy and anywhere where your Shopify link is used must include a disclosure according to the guidelines below.
Required disclosures
You must clearly disclose:
- Your status as a Shopify Affiliate
- That you may earn commission from referrals
Compliant disclosure examples
Use clear, honest language such as:
- “As an affiliate, I may earn a commission when you sign up for Shopify through my link”
- “I’m a Shopify Affiliate and may receive compensation if you choose to create a store through my link”
- “When I help build your shop, I may earn a commission from Shopify as an affiliate”
Prohibited language
To maintain transparency and avoid misleading potential merchants, avoid language that implies:
- Direct employment or endorsement by Shopify
- That Shopify directly pays you to perform services as an affiliate
Do not state or imply that being an affiliate means you are employed by Shopify, and do not state in your content that Shopify pays you to build shops, deliver courses, or anything similar.
Examples of prohibited statements
Avoid any statements that suggest an incorrect relationship as an affiliate. These are not allowed, as they are a direct violation of the program terms.
- “Shopify pays me to build a store”
- “I get paid by Shopify to make your store”
- “Shopify hired me to help you”
For further clarification on acceptable language and practices, see our Shopify Affiliate Program FAQs.
Your traffic sources are your responsibility
It’s important that you also keep the following in mind when referring traffic to Shopify:
- Vet your traffic source: Ensuring you have vetted any paid or partnered traffic source is essential to ensure that source does not cause your account to become non-compliant.
- Avoid working with unverifiable traffic: If the traffic source cannot clearly verify how it will generate traffic, you should not engage. Remember, regardless of the traffic source, any traffic tied to your affiliate link is your responsibility and can lead to ramifications or removal from our program.
Now that you’re up to speed on how to avoid violating our terms and the corresponding ramifications, let’s get started! Check out our Shopify Affiliate Referral Guide that walks you through best practices to successfully refer your audience to Shopify!
If you have any questions about our program compliance or Terms of Service, please contact us at shopify-affiliate-compliance@shopify.com.
