Affiliates 101: Frequently asked questions in affiliate marketing
Avelon is the premium content publishers affiliate network. We do not work with cashback affiliates, promo or browser extensions – and primarily work with publishers, content creators and ambassadors.
Here is every question we’ve ever been asked from affiliates. It’s updated whenever we are asked a question – so it changes quite a lot!
Affiliates 101: Basic terminology in affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is, in theory, incredibly simple to understand – but the terminology around affiliate marketing can leave both sides of the table confused and flummoxed. In this section, we’ll pinpoint the key terminology you need to ensure you can speak the lingo.
Affiliate (publisher, content creator or ambassador)
An affiliate is a person or a company that agrees to promote a product from a company to their audience in exchange for commission on conversions that come through their promotion
Merchant (retailer or brand)
A merchant is the company who is selling the goods that an affiliate wants to promote. For example, if you agree to promote a product, then you are an affiliate working with a merchant.
Commission
Commission is the monetary value you will be paid for a successful conversion. Commissions can either be a percentage of the final sale price, otherwise known as a CPA (cost per acquisition) or as a flat rate such as £10.00 per sale.
Attribution window
The attribution window is the length of time that a merchant is willing to pay an affiliate between the first click and the conversion. For example, if an affiliate were to drive a click on the 1st March and the merchants attribution window was 30-days, then the affiliate would be awarded a sale if the consumer purchased before the 31st March.
Cookies
Cookies are what the affiliate industry uses to track potential consumers. A usual term is ‘cookie drop‘ – which means that when an affiliate link has been clicked, the affiliate network has started to track the potential consumer for as long as the attribution window allows.
Affiliate link
An affiliate link is not the same as a regular link. An affiliate link has tracking technology embedded within its structure to ensure that the person who clicks the link has a cookie dropped on them – which enables the network (Avelon) to track them for a finite amount of time.
Regular link: https://www.sigmasports.com
Affiliate link: https://sigmasports.avln.me/kw93e8fn
Questions about affiliate marketing in general
All the basic questions about the affiliate marketing industry.
An affiliate is someone that agrees to promote a brand or a brand’s products to their audience in exchange for commission on an orders that come through their promotion.
Promotions can take place across social media, Youtube, websites and even in person – but it’s totally up to the affiliate how they promote the brand.
Affiliates are provided affiliate tracking links and discount codes to track sales and incentivise the consumer to purchase.
All sales are directed through the brand website and the affiliate doesn’t need to worry about fulfilling any of the orders.
As long as a brand has a website that has a checkout or a lead form, any brand can use affiliates. The most popular type of brands are eCommerce driven, i.e are selling a physical product that will be delivered to the consumer.
B2B (business to business) companies also use affiliate marketing. They solely rely on lead generation affiliates, i.e websites and users who have a business focused audience.
No, you do not need to have a large social media following to become an affiliate.
Many affiliates use personal connections, websites or if they are part of a running/cycling club, will use the members of their club as their audience.
You can get as creative as you like as an affiliate.
We highly recommend you have a social media account or website, as otherwise brands will not be able to learn about you before deciding whether to work with you or not.
Saying that, if you know the brand directly and you have been invited via email to the platform, you can work with that brand.
There are many affiliates on Avelon who don’t have large social media followings. Some of them have podcasts, some are in-person affiliates and some even stick QR codes to their bicycle frames.
Sales are tracked through affiliate links, which drop a cookie on a user and track them for a finite amount of time (attribution window), or a promo code, which is assigned to your profile.
An attribution window is the period of time elapsed between a click and a sale that a merchant is happy to pay commission for.
Most merchants set a 30-day attribution window, meaning if you drive a consumer to click one of your links and they return 29-days later, you will be attributed a sale.
Last click attribution is a simple solution to determining who should be awarded a sale in the affiliate industry. We personally think it’s old, outdated and not conducive to the way consumers purchase anymore – but other networks are so embedded within this attribution metric that they simply cannot change.
Last click attribution plays in favour of discount code, cashback and browser extensions – who focus on driving sales by ‘click jacking’ the last click. It means that the content creator who has spent time generating the content and nurturing their audience does not get rewarded for a sale.
Over 70% of all sales on traditional affiliate networks get attributed to these types of affiliates.
Avelon does not use last click attribution. We use split level attribution, an algorithm we invented in 2023 that splits the commission between multiple affiliates in the purchase chain.
For example, if 2 x affiliates are promoting a merchant and a consumer clicks both links from the affiliates, the affiliates split the commission between them.
Avelon also does not work with cashback, browser extensions or voucher code sites. We ban them from our system and only work with premium content publishers, athletes, ambassadors and content creators.
Whilst there are no signed contracts, brands do provide terms and conditions you need to adhere to to ensure you’re legally promoting their products. These terms and conditions are outlined within a brands affiliate program profile which you can access once you join our platform.
There are also Electronic Insertion Orders which brands have to adhere to – which protect you as an affiliate. They eliminate a brand refusing to pay for commissions for unjust reasons.
Affiliate commissions range greatly depending on many factors including profit margins, cost of marketing etc. The average affiliate commission on our platform is 14.1%, but across the entire industry it sits around 1.4%.
The reason Avelon is able to work with brands and provide much higher commissions is because of our unique revenue model and that we work on middle to upper funnel marketing channels.
We also work on split level attribution, not on last-click attribution. This stops coupon code websites, browser extensions or cashback sites ‘click jacking’ your traffic and commissions. Avelon is a totally closed affiliate ecosystem.
Affiliate marketing is regulated by the ASA (Advertising Standard Authority) and guided by other groups such as the APMA (Affiliate & Performance Marketing Association).
Whilst networks do not have to be part of either groups, they are highly recommended to join as part of task forces committed to improving data regulation and having one singular voice in the industry.
Avelon agrees to regulations from the ASA and is also a member of the APMA – joining meetings every quarter and ensuring we abide by their guidelines for a safe, fair affiliate industry.
Traditionally, the affiliate industry attributed over 70% of all sales to cashback, voucher codes and browser extensions – but Avelon is a new type of affiliate network that doesn’t work with these affiliate groups.
Avelon works solely with premium content publishers, ambassadors, athletes and content creators.
Questions about working with brands on Avelon, our affiliate network
Interested in how Avelon works as a network and how we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the industry?
To search for potential brands to work with, just go to Opportunities and use the filters to find brands that match your requirements.
To apply for a brands affiliate program, just click Apply for program on the brands program via the Opportunities tab. You will be asked to review and agree their terms and conditions before submitting your application.
Avelon has no say over who is accepted or denied access into a brands affiliate program.
When a brand denies an affiliate, it is optional whether a brand gives a reason.
Responses to applications can take anywhere from 5-minutes to a week, depending on how active a brand is and whether they are currently reviewing applications.
Yes, you can message a brand by clicking Chat on their profile.
You must be verified on the platform or accepted into their program to message them. We do this to reduce spam messages from unverified affiliates.
Once you’ve been accepted, Avelon will automatically generate your affiliate tracking link for you to start promoting that brand.
Some brands send discount codes out to affiliates to post to their audience, too. If you have been assigned a discount code, it will be emailed to you automatically from hello@avelonetwork.com stating you have a discount code from that brand.
If you have been messaged a discount code but you cannot find it within your Promo Codes section, then you need to request the brand to assign it to you. If a discount code is not assigned to your profile, we cannot track that discount code.
It’s totally up to the brand whether you get sent a product or not. We recommend reaching out to the brand to discuss your gifting requirements with them.
Negotiating commissions is totally up to you. We recommend working with a brand on their standard commission rate first, then you may negotiate the commission rate further down the line.
As with anything, it’s totally up to the brand whether they want to adjust their commission for you and we recommend proving how viable your community/reach is prior to negotiating any commissions.
The average commission across the entire network is 14.1% (Feb 2026) – but the commission varies across sub-sections of the industry.
For example, bicycles command around 4.5% commission due to their high AOV (average order value), whilst nutrition sits at 14% and clothing sits at 20%.
Commissions are negotiable on the platform and it’s down to your relationship and performance with the merchant to negotiate your commission terms.
We always recommend working with a program first, proving you can drive sales and then negotiating your commission rate.
Avelon is entirely independent from any other affiliate network, is classed as a ‘disruptor’ in the industry and is its own affiliate ecosystem with its own attribution algorithm.
We’re a small team of 3 people (Feb 2026) and are dedicated to building the best technology in the industry, making the industry as fair as possible and providing full transparency across everything we do.
It’s why we were voted Best Affiliate Network in 2024 by Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice – and we’re the highest rated network in the world.
Questions about affiliate links, discount codes and sales
Explore how affiliate links work, discount codes get tracked and sales get attributed.
Once you’ve been accepted into a program, our system will automatically generate a tracking link for you to post to your followers or share with your community.
This automatically generated link points to the brands home page, so if you’d like a link that goes to a product page, please read on:
You can also generate a link yourself by going to My Retailers and clicking Generate a link. You may enter whatever URL you like in this box, but it must go to a page on that brands domain.
Our system will not allow you to generate a link if it does not point to that brands domain.
Your links are stored on your main page of the Dashboard under My Links.
When an affiliate link is generated, we will email you immediately with the link and also store the link in My Links.
In My Links, you can test the link destination, copy the link, generate a QR code, create an anchor tag, assign a promo code and even cancel the link.
Affiliate tracking links have tracking technology embedded into them, meaning that when someone clicks the link, it drops a first-party cookie on that person.
For a cookie to be dropped, we have to instate a redirect to our server to track and store that cookie.
Links from Avelon will traditionally have the merchants ID first, followed by ‘avln.me’ and then a trailing slash with a sequence of numbers and letters.
Yes, you can click the QR code icon next to the link you’d like to generate a QR code for under My Links. This will open up a new page with your QR code.
These QR codes are generated in .jpg but we are working on developing them with transparent backgrounds.
The length of time we track a user before they make a purchase all depends on what the merchant sets as their Attribution Window.
The average length of an attribution window is 30-days, but their higher the AOV (average order value), the longer the attribution window usually is.
For example, Sigma Sports’ attribution window is 65-days because their AOV is over £200.00. This means that consumers typically take longer to make a purchasing decision and as the merchant understands this, they are happy to provide a longer attribution window.
If a user clicks one of your affiliate links and then comes back to the merchants website within the attribution window, you will be awarded the sale.
If a user clicks one of your affiliate links and then comes back to the merchants website outside of the attribution window, you will NOT be awarded the sale.
Your Dashboard shows all the clicks and sales you have driven through your links and discount codes.
Your Dashboard is updated in real time, so you will see clicks and sales update immediately within your Dashboard.
We developed our own anti-fraud technology within clicks that restricts clicks to report on one user. This means that if you click your own link multiple times within a 24-hour period, it will only show as one click.
This eliminates any CPC (cost per click) fraud that may occur, or any issues when sending affiliate links and ISP (internet service providers) or anti-bot technology in email providers, when opening or checking the links destination for harmful content.
You can post your affiliate link anywhere you like: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, TikTok, emails, newsletters, websites – it’s totally up to you.
The most popular place that social media/content creators post their affiliate links and promo codes are Instagram stories and Youtube descriptions – commanding 62% of all sales.
The most popular place that publisher post their affiliate links are their websites. For example, Cycling Weekly and Cyclingnews use price comparison tools within reviews and buying guides to drive a vast majority of their sales.
Yes, you can post your link inside your Instagram links section of your Instagram. You can also use Link in Bio, which can host multiple links and acts as a microsite.
Your discount codes are stored in the Promo codes section of your profile.
If you have been messaged a discount code but you cannot find it within your Promo Codes section, then you need to request the brand to assign it to you.
If a discount code is not assigned to your profile, we cannot track that discount code.
Your discount codes are stored in the Promo codes section of your profile.
If you have been messaged a discount code but you cannot find it within your Promo Codes section, then you need to request the brand to assign it to you. If a discount code is not assigned to your profile, we cannot track that discount code.
Yes, you will be emailed at 09:00 the following day notifying you of the previous days sales.
You can also access the Dashboard at any time to check if you have driven any sales throughout the day.
Avelon works on realtime attribution, so you can see sales update immediately within your Dashboard.
Brands have the opportunity between the first and last day of each month to amend any of the previous months commissions. This is because orders may be cancelled/refunded/part-refunded and we give brands to opportunity to amend orders.
If this does happen, you will be notified via email from one of our team with a reasoning for the change.
Questions about getting paid for affiliate commissions
Understand how often commissions get paid in the affiliate industry, how wallets work on Avelon and what can effect your commission payouts.
Commissions are paid directly into your account on the last day of the following month that the commission was earned.
For example, if you drove a sale worth £100.00 in June and earned £20.00 of commission, you would be paid your £20.00 commission on the 15th of August.
The reason there is a delay in payments and you are not paid immediately for affiliate commissions – is that affiliate programs have a confirmation period on their sales.
This confirmation period takes into account any refunds, returns, cancellations or issues with tracking, such as incorrectly tracked sales prices, and then allows the program manager to submit changes.
When these changes are submitted, they become ‘locked’ and that’s when you know exactly how much commission you have earned.
Avelon works on a 6-week commission payment cycle.
For example, if you earn £100.00 of commission from sales in June, you will be paid on the 15th August – directly into your bank account.
You will be paid in the currency your bank account is held in.
Avelon is the UK based company and our platform converts all currencies to GBP in realtime exchange rates, but commissions are paid in your local currency.
For example, if your bank account is based in the United States, you will be paid in USD.
We transfer funds across the world in the majority of currencies. The most popular currencies include GBP, USD, Euro and CAD – but we can transfer funds into any currency.
You can see this list here.
Unfortunately, you cannot work with Avelon if you do not have a bank account.
Avelon is a digital business and has no office or ability to send cheques to affiliates for commissions.
Please contact Avelon directly if you accidentally selected the wrong country at sign up.
Your country selection correlates to your bank setup, so if the two do not match then we cannot make payment to you.
Avelon has strict anti-fraud and anti money laundering policies. For this reason, your affiliate name must match your bank account.
Of course. As long as you have a bank account and a valid address, you can get paid into your account.