Affiliate Program Terms

1. Acceptance

By submitting an application or accepting an invitation to the CardGrader Affiliate Program (the "Program"), you ("Affiliate") agree to these terms. CardGrader (Cardgrader LLC, "we," "us") may update these terms; we'll notify approved affiliates by email and post the new effective date here. Continued participation after a change constitutes acceptance.

2. Eligibility & Approval

Applications are approved automatically — your referral link is live as soon as the form clears. Approval is not an endorsement or a review of your channel, and we may suspend or terminate any account at any time, at our discretion, including after approval. You must be 18 or older, comply with applicable laws, and have the authority to enter this agreement. CardGrader employees and contractors are not eligible.

US only (for now). The current version of the Program is open to US persons only: payout eligibility requires valid US tax information (a completed Form W-9) and a PayPal account to receive payouts. One affiliate account per person. Participation from sanctioned jurisdictions is prohibited. International participation is planned for a future version of the Program.

3. Commission Structure

You earn 20% of the subscription price your referral pays, excluding taxes. We do not deduct app-store or payment-processing fees from your commission. You earn it every billing cycle for as long as that user maintains an active paid subscription.

"Subscription price" means what the subscriber is actually charged for the plan that cycle — after any discount or promotional pricing they used, and before sales tax or VAT. It's the same figure whether they pay through our website (Stripe), the App Store, or Google Play; we absorb the store's cut rather than passing it on to you. Refunded and charged-back payments are reversed under Section 6.

If a referred user upgrades or downgrades plans, your commission scales with the new amount. If they cancel and resubscribe later through your link within the attribution window, that's a new referral.

Commission rates are subject to change with 30 days' written notice. Existing referrals locked in at the prior rate continue at that rate until the subscriber churns.

4. Tracking & Attribution

Attribution uses a 30-day, last-click cookie. If a user clicks your referral link and signs up within 30 days, you get credit. If they click another affiliate's link after yours within that window, the most recent affiliate wins the attribution.

Tracking depends on the user's browser accepting cookies. Cross-device, incognito, or cookie-blocked sessions may not be attributed. We don't guarantee attribution in cases where tracking fails for reasons outside our control.

5. Payment Terms

• Frequency: Payouts are processed monthly, on or around the 1st of each month.
• Method: PayPal. You provide the PayPal address to pay when you apply, or from your dashboard at any time — nothing is payable until one is on file.
• Tax information required first: A completed Form W-9 must be on file before any payout is made. Balances accrue normally while your W-9 is outstanding, but nothing is paid until it's complete.
• Minimum payout: $25. Balances below the minimum roll forward.
• Hold period: Commissions are held for 30 days after the corresponding subscriber payment to cover refunds and chargebacks.
• Currency: All amounts are in USD.
• Taxes: You're responsible for reporting and paying any taxes on your commissions. As an independent contractor, you'll receive a Form 1099-NEC if required by law (under 2026 federal rules, US affiliates paid $2,000 or more in a calendar year; some states have lower thresholds). By joining the Program you consent to electronic delivery of tax forms.

6. Refund & Clawback Policy

If a referred subscriber refunds, charges back, or is reversed by their bank within 30 days of payment, the corresponding commission is reversed. If we've already paid you for a transaction that's later reversed, the amount is deducted from your next payout.

Excessive chargebacks attributable to your referrals (a refund rate above 15% over any rolling 90-day period) may result in suspension while we investigate.

7. FTC Disclosure Requirements

You must comply with the US Federal Trade Commission's Endorsement Guides and equivalent rules in your jurisdiction. In short:

• Disclose every time. Disclose your affiliate relationship every time you mention or link to CardGrader. Not just in a sidebar — in the post, video, or message itself.
• Disclose clearly. "I earn a commission if you sign up through my link" or "#ad" placed where viewers will see it. Tiny gray footer text doesn't count.
• Disclose close to the link. The closer the disclosure is to the recommendation, the better.
• Don't rely only on platform tags. Instagram's "paid partnership" label and similar platform features are not always sufficient on their own.
• Be truthful. Only endorse what you actually believe to be true. Only make claims about CardGrader that our own marketing materials make.

Approved disclosure language (use this or something equivalent):

• Short form (social posts): "#ad — I earn a commission if you subscribe through my link."
• Long form (blogs, video descriptions): "I'm a CardGrader affiliate: if you subscribe through my link, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Opinions are my own."

The FTC's enforcement penalties can reach tens of thousands of dollars per violation, and advertisers can be held liable for their affiliates' failures to disclose — which is why we take this seriously. Violations of disclosure rules are grounds for immediate termination from the Program and forfeiture of unpaid commissions.

8. Prohibited Promotional Methods

You will not, directly or indirectly:

• Self-refer. No commissions on your own subscriptions or on accounts you control (same person, household, payment method, or device). No signing yourself up through your own link, and no incentivized signups without our prior written approval.
• Bid on our brand keywords in Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, or any paid search/social platform. This includes "cardgrader," "card grader," "cardgrader.ai," common misspellings, and any variation. Add our brand terms as negative keywords on any paid search campaigns you run.
• Spam. No unsolicited email, no Discord/Reddit drops in unrelated channels, no comment-section flooding, no automated DM blasts. Any email marketing you run that mentions CardGrader must comply with CAN-SPAM (and TCPA for texts): accurate sender info, truthful subject lines, a physical address, and a working unsubscribe you honor promptly.
• Use misleading or deceptive claims. Don't promise specific PSA grades, guaranteed values, or any outcome we don't promise. Don't claim CardGrader is owned by, endorsed by, or affiliated with PSA, Beckett, SGC, or any other grading authority.
• Misuse our trademarks. Don't register domain names, social handles, or app names containing "cardgrader" or confusingly similar variants. Don't suggest your channel/site is an official CardGrader property.
• Incentivize clicks artificially. No paid-to-click traffic, no offering rewards solely for clicking your link, no coupon-stacking sites that hijack the cookie.
• Cookie-stuff or auto-redirect. No setting our cookie without an intentional click from the user.
• Promote on inappropriate platforms. No adult, hate, illegal, or content that violates the policies of the platform it's on.
• Generate fake reviews. No fabricated testimonials, no AI-generated reviews you didn't write yourself, no purchased reviews on third-party sites.

Violation of any item above results in immediate forfeiture of pending commissions for the violating activity, suspension of your account pending review, and (depending on severity) permanent termination.

9. Intellectual Property

We grant you a non-exclusive, revocable, royalty-free license to use the CardGrader name, logo, and approved marketing assets solely for the purpose of promoting CardGrader through the Program. You may:

• Use our logo and screenshots in your videos, posts, and articles, unmodified.
• Use copy from this site, our toolkit, or our public marketing materials.
• Take screenshots of the app in your own account.

You may not:

• Modify, recolor, or distort the logo.
• Use the logo or name in a way that suggests official endorsement of your other products or services.
• Sublicense, sell, or transfer the license to anyone else.

This license terminates immediately upon termination of your participation in the Program. You agree to remove all CardGrader branding from your channels within 30 days of termination, except for content where the reference is incidental and historical.

10. Independent Contractor Status

You are an independent contractor. Nothing in these terms creates an employment, agency, joint venture, partnership, or franchise relationship between you and CardGrader. You are not authorized to make any statement, commitment, or representation on behalf of CardGrader.

11. Confidentiality

Information you receive through the Program that's not publicly available — including aggregate program statistics, internal payout schedules, and pre-release feature information — is confidential. Don't share it externally without written permission.

12. Termination

Either party may terminate participation at any time, for any reason, with written notice (email is sufficient). On termination:

• Pending commissions in good standing (i.e., not from prohibited activity) will be paid out on the next regularly scheduled payout date, subject to the $25 minimum.
• Commissions earned through prohibited activity are forfeited.
• Your referral link is deactivated. Subscribers already attributed to you continue earning you commission only if termination was without cause; otherwise, the recurring commission stream stops.
• Your obligations under sections 9 (IP), 11 (Confidentiality), 13 (Indemnification), and 15 (Liability) survive termination.

13. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless CardGrader, its officers, employees, and contractors from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from: (a) your breach of these terms; (b) your promotional content, claims, or methods; (c) your violation of any law or third-party right; or (d) any tax obligation arising from your commission income.

14. Disclaimers

The Program is provided "as is." We make no warranty about projected earnings, conversion rates, or the continued operation of the Program. Earnings examples on the program landing page are illustrative, not guaranteed. Past performance of other affiliates does not predict your results.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, CardGrader's aggregate liability to you under or in connection with the Program is limited to the total commissions paid or payable to you in the 6 months preceding the claim. CardGrader is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages — including lost profits, lost opportunity, or reputational harm — even if advised of the possibility.

16. Non-Disparagement

You agree not to publicly disparage CardGrader, its products, its employees, or its other affiliates in a way that damages our reputation or business. Honest reviews, criticism, and constructive feedback are not disparagement — bad-faith attacks are.

17. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated to active affiliates by email at least 14 days before they take effect. Continued participation after the effective date constitutes acceptance. The current version is always posted at this URL with the effective date at the top.

18. Governing Law & Disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising under these terms will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Florida. The parties consent to personal jurisdiction and venue there.

19. Contact

Questions about these terms or the Program: affiliates@cardgrader.ai