If you heard it the first time, an affiliate program allows you to earn a commission from the merchant by promoting their product or service on your website, email or any online platform using a unique affiliate link. The affiliate program only works online.

You can apply as an affiliate program by creating an account with us. Just fill out all the required information, and you're good to go! See this link for more info: Sign-up here.

You don't need to worry as there's no special requirement needed except on below:
If you're a US citizen, you need to include your US Social Security or Taxpayer ID Number, but if you're not, you need to enter "International" on the field.

None at all! We'll not charge you at any cost. Joining as an affiliate is completely free!

The products that you can promote vary in broad categories. You can choose from physical to digital products from Arts and Entertainment, Education, Games, Health and Fitness, Self-help, Sports and many more! You can see all these categories and specific products when you log in to your account.

Like what we've discussed earlier, we will be giving you a unique affiliate link on each product that you want to promote. 'Unique link' means, that link is never similar to any other links. When someone sees that link or banner and buy, that will be registered as your sale. We will be giving you commission in return for promoting the product.

None, but we recommend to limit the promotion on a specific or related niche or category. This means that if you choose the Health and Fitness niche, you'll keep on promoting related products to be successful.

The success of being an affiliate is to choose the niche that fits you and be consistent. You can dig deeper into categories that you're interested in. Do you love helping people to keep themselves healthy - then maybe you can choose health and fitness. What specific help do you want to give them for their health? Is it through being a vegetarian or losing weight?

In general, you need to:

• Choose your specific niche.
• Check whether if there's a competition or if people are spending on it. If yes, this means that they are willing to buy!
• Be consistent in promoting and content creation.

You can create your own website where you can promote your products, but this is not a requirement. Other ways of promoting your products is through online ads, email newsletters, or search engine advertising.

But please take note that building a website is always a plus because it helps build your brand and creates trust from your audience.

We don't recommend a free hosting website because you don't own it. Whatever you've built has no assurance and can be gone anytime! Instead, we recommend a self-hosted websites.

I know this can be the challenging part, but remember that you have two options in promoting your products.

One is through paid traffic like pay-per-click or banner advertising and free traffic such as organic search engines, use of social media platforms, blogging, and video marketing.

But beware of its pros and cons; the first can be a faster way but quite expensive while the latter has no payment at all but takes a longer time to build your audience or prospects!

All of your sales will reflect on your Affiliate personal account. You can see the number of transactions per month, what product, and the total amount you've generated. You can monitor everything here!

We've provided different options for you. You can receive your payment on below channels every 15th of the month:

• Check - we'll send the check directly at the comfort of your home. Just make sure that you provide your exact address including the zip code.
• Direct deposit - just let us know what country you are and your bank information.
• Wire Transfer - if your state does not allow direct deposit, then we can use Wire.
• Payoneer and Paypal - thesre are international money transfer service. You can create an account for both if you prefer.

We created a payment threshold or limits wherein you can only withdraw a minimum amount of $100. This means that if your account does not meet the minimum yet, you can't withdraw it.

Unfortunately, if the customer wants a refund, your commission will also be refunded. This is related to protecting the rights and providing quality customer service.

In case the sale was already funded to your account, you'll be charged on the following transactions.

If you no longer want to be part of our affiliate program, you can simply deactivate or delete your account by updating your account settings. Just remember that you can go back anytime!

The only thing you need to be a merchant is by signing up and entering the required information.

Upstream provides you an easy way to promote your existing products that you want to create. This will allow you to adapt the system wherein our affiliate members will promote it. Once your affiliate creates a sale, you'll be giving them a portion in return for helping your product.

You can sell different products from digital and physical, depending on your interest. We always recommend to create something related to what you love or your passion. In this case, you can easily translate it into a product that will sell.

There are no limits really.

There's no fee in opening an account with us, but there will be an activation charge upon approval of your product. This is a one-time fee only which means you don't need to pay in the following months.

Yes, we'll charge you with a specific percentage of the transaction - ranging from 5%-35%, deoending on the product or service offered.

Yes, you can always filter specific affiliates that you don't want to promote your product using the Blacklist Manager. You can see this inside your online portal. Just make sure that you know the specific affiliate name.

We know that you're worried with hundreds of merchants inside the platform, how are you going to be noticed? Here are some tips:

• Create a product that sells, a specific and a 'hot' niche
• Give a fair commision per product sale
• Have a low or reasonable refund rate as well
• Provide useful information that your affilate can use immediately in promoting. Information that's easy access makes them happy and encourage easier. This includes attractive banner ads on different sizes, targeted keywords that they can use on organic traffic, testimonials to let them know that your product is really great and many more!

If you don't have any products yet, then you need to start creating specially if you're interested in digital products. And if you're into selling physical products, you also need to choose one.

In any of the two, you need to create below basic requirements:

• A website where you'll post your product and where all your prospects will go when they want to buy, and your affiliate links will be lead.
• On your website, you need to create the following:
  • Sales funnel where you convince your customer to buy your product. This is where you'll discuss why they need and why your product is best for them.
  • Payment link which directs all your prospects and guide them on how to finally purchase. Here, you can create payment options like through Paypal, Payoneer or Direct Bank Deposit.

Just like with the affiliate members, you can also receive your sales every 15th of the month with below options:

• Check - we'll send the check directly at the comfort of your home. Just make sure that you provide your exact address including the zip code.
• Direct deposit - just let us know what country you are and your bank information.
• Wire Transfer -if your country does not allow direct deposit, then we can use wire.
• Payoneer and Paypal - this is an international money transfer service. You can create an account for both if you prefer.

As part of our quality customer service, we implement a refund policy within 30 days. So if your customer wants a return, the payment or your sale will be reversed as well.

Do you know why they want a refund so I can avoid it in the future?
To avoid further refunds or product return as well, you need to:

• Create an authentic product as much as possible
• Respond to your customers
• Ensure that all your website features are correct and working (example: test if your digital product is downloadable).
• Don't overpromote. Tell the truth about what your product is and what they'll get. Customers will be dissatisfied if you don't tell honestly and will never buy from you again.

Yes, by choosing the "deactivate your product" option, your product will be inactive on the master list. This means that your affiliate won't see it and in case you want to sell it again, you can reactivate it anytime you want.

You can delete your account by updating your account settings and confirming that you're closing it. However, any amount that's still available on your account upon closure will be forfeited.

Generally speaking, being a merchant is not an easy task. It takes a lot of effort and consistency to provide customer satisfaction but working with Upstream creates you a more accessible system to adapt. Here's our tip for you:

• Create or choose a product that sells, something that will help your customers and will magnet your affiliate partners.
• Create a sales funnel that also sells. Tell them the unique features of your product and let them know that yours is the best.
• Don't be afraid to change. If you think there's a need for a revision, then do it!
• Be consistent. Continue providing quality and fair agreement with your affiliate partners so they'll choose your interesting product.

You can contact us at affiliates@upstreamaffiliates.com or via online chat and we're more than happy to answer your queries!