Incipio Affiliate Terms & Conditions
Please read our affiliate terms and conditions carefully before you join our program or begin marketing our program. These terms and conditions are written in plain language intentionally avoiding legalese to ensure that they may be clearly understood and followed by affiliates. Each Affiliate is solely responsible for ensuring that its employees, agents and contractors comply with these terms and conditions. Affiliate terms and conditions are subject to change. Thank you.
DEFINITIONS
As used in these terms and conditions: (i) “We”, “us”, or “our” refers to Incipio and our website; (ii) “you” or “your” refers to the Affiliate; (iii) “our website” refers to the Incipio properties located at www.incipio.com or such other properties controlled, operated or otherwise managed by Incipio ; (iv) “your website” refers to any websites that you will link to our website; (v) “Program” refers to the Incipio Affiliate Program.
ENROLLMENT
After receiving your application, we will review your website and notify you of our acceptance or rejection into our Program. Please allow up to 48 hours for your application to be reviewed. We reserve the right to reject any application; however we encourage you to contact us if you feel we have made an incorrect decision. Including all of the websites that you use in your profile will help us make a better decision.
WEBSITE RESTRICTIONS
Your participating website(s) shall not do the following (as the list is non-exhaustive, it shall include but not limited to the following list):
1. Infringe on our or any anyone else’s intellectual property, publicity, privacy or other rights.
2. Violate any law, rule or regulation.
3. Subject us to any unfavorable regulatory action(s).
4. Contain any content that is threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, harmful to minors, or contain nudity, pornography or sexually explicit materials, implied or expressed.
5. Contain any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage, interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data, or personal information.
6. Contain software or use technology that attempts to intercept, divert or redirect Internet traffic to or from any other website, or that potentially enables the diversion of affiliate commissions from another website. This includes toolbars, browser plug-ins, extensions and add-ons.
LINKING TO OUR WEBSITE
Upon acceptance into the Program, links will be made available to you through the affiliate interface. Your acceptance in our program means you agree to and abide by the following:
1. You will only use linking code obtained from the affiliate interface without manipulation.
2. All domains that use your affiliate link must be listed in your affiliate profile.
3. Your Website will not in any way copy, resemble, or mirror the look and feel of our Website. You will also not use any means to create the impression that your Website is our Website or any part of our Website including, without limitation, framing of our Website in any manner.
4. You may not engage in cookie stuffing or include pop-ups, false or misleading links on your website. In addition, wherever possible, you will not attempt to mask the referring URL information (i.e. the page from where the click is originating).
5. Using redirects to bounce a click off of a domain from which the click did not originate in order to give the appearance that it came from that domain is prohibited.
6. You agree to abide by any legal requirements on data privacy and data collection e.g. General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in any jurisdiction that applies GDPR.
If you are found redirecting links to hide or manipulate their original source, your current and past commissions will be voided or your commission level will be set to 0%. This does not include using “out” redirects from the same domain where the affiliate link is placed.
MID-CHECKOUT COMMISSION REDUCTION & OVERWRITE RULE
Incipio uses a dynamic pixel system that may make changes to the standard commission in the case of a mid-checkout referral, which is defined as a cookie that is set within a set amount of time prior to the purchase. By reducing our commission on these types of referrals and by closely monitoring the quality of traffic we receive from each affiliate, we will be able to pay out higher commissions for driving new customers and traffic. This logic also gives full credit to the first referring affiliate in the case that a second affiliate enters within a set amount of time prior to the purchase. Mid-checkout commission and overwrite rules are subject to change without prior notice.
Pay Per Click (“PPC”) GUIDELINES
If you are enrolled in our Program and participate in PPC advertising, you must adhere to our PPC guidelines as follows:
1. You may not bid on any of our trademarked terms (which are identified below), including any variations or misspellings thereof for search or content based campaigns on Google, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook or any other network.
2. You may not use our trademarked terms in sequence with any other keywords (i.e. Incipio Coupons).
3. You may not use our trademarked terms in your ad title, ad copy, display name or as the displayed URL.
4. You may not direct link to our website from any PPC ad or use redirects that yield the same result. Affiliate links must be directed to an actual page on your website.
If you automate your PPC campaigns, it is your responsibility to exclude our trademarked terms from your program and we strongly suggest you add our trademarked terms as negative keywords. We have a strict no tolerance policy on PPC trademark bidding. In the event of breach, we will forfeit all your commissions for a minimum of the past 30 days and your commission will be set to 0% without warning if you engage in PPC trademark bidding that uses our trademarked terms. For avoidance of doubt, the forfeiture of your commissions shall not: (a) restrict us from perusing other remedies or reliefs legally available to us; or (b) prejudice any rights that have accrued and/or breaches that have arisen prior to such breach and which will remain fully reserved by us.
Trademarked Terms: “Incipio” (including capitalized variations thereof, the “Incipio Keywords”) are trademark-protected marks of Incipio. The use of these Incipio Keywords for bidding purposes or otherwise are strictly prohibited as the promotion of competing products from the use or association with Incipio Keywords is likely to cause customer confusion and violates Incipio's rights in its mark.
COUPON GUIDELINES
If you are enrolled in our Program and your Website promotes coupon codes, you must adhere to our Coupon Guidelines as follows:
1. You may ONLY advertise coupon codes that are provided to you through the affiliate program.
2. Posting any information about how to work around the requirements of a coupon/promotion (i.e. first time customers only) will result in removal from the program.
3. Coupons must be displayed in their entirety with the full offer, valid expiration date and code.
4. You may NOT use any technology that covers up the coupon code and generates the affiliate click by revealing the code(s).
5. You may NOT advertise coupon codes obtained from any non-affiliate marketing channel, including coupon codes from our email, paid search or any other non-affiliate advertising campaigns.
6. You may NOT give the appearance that any ongoing offer requires clicking from your website in order to redeem. For example, if all items on the site have free shipping over $100, you may not turn this into an offer that infers that the customer must click from your site to get this deal.
Additionally, if your website ranks on the first page of Google for terms related to our website or company name(s) combined with the words coupon, coupons, coupon code, promo code, etc. and/or your conversion rate exceeds 25%, you may be offered a lower commission than our standard rate to offset the reduced profitability of orders. The current rate is 0%.
COUPON ATTRIBUTION & AUTHENTICATION
Affiliates whose primary business is posting coupons, who are viewed by the program as being a coupon site, and/or who are tagged as coupon in our system, may not be paid commissions for sales generated without a corresponding valid coupon code. Valid codes are defined as codes that are made available to the affiliate channel in general, through newsletters or the Deals Database in Performance Horizon, and directly or privately to affiliates. Coupon codes that are not real, expired, not specific (i.e. up to 40% off sale items) or are long-term sitewide offers that do not require a code may not be considered as valid codes and the affiliate will not be given commission on these orders.
SUB-AFFILIATE NETWORKS
PromotingIncipiothrough a sub-affiliate network is permitted, however you must be completely transparent with regards to where traffic from your sub-affiliates originated. Sub-affiliate networks must ensure that all sub-affiliates promoting the Incipio program adhere to our program terms and conditions. This includes restrictions on advertising through toolbars, browser extensions, and through any paid placements such as a pay-per-click campaigns. Sub-affiliate networks must also receive approval prior to allowing any type of coupon sub-affiliate to promote the Incipio program.
Failure to comply with our sub-affiliate network terms may result in a loss and/or reduction of commission from sales made through any sub-affiliate that does not comply with our program terms.
DOMAIN NAMES
Use of any of our trademarked terms as part of the domain or sub-domain for your website is strictly prohibited i.e.Incipio.website.com, www. Incipio-coupons.com or the like.
ADVERTISING & PUBLICITY
You shall not create, publish, distribute, or print any written material that makes reference to us, our Program or our Trademark without first submitting that material to us and receiving our prior written consent. If you intend to promote our Program via e-mail campaign, you must adhere to all personal data protection laws in all relevant jurisdictions as well as the following:
1. Abide by the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Public Law No. 108-187) with respect to our Program.
2. E-mail must be sent on your behalf and must not imply that the e-mail is being sent on behalf of Incipio.
3. E-mails must first be submitted to us for approval prior to being sent.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Promotion on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms is permitted following these general guidelines:
1. You ARE allowed to promote offers to your own lists; more specifically, you’re welcome to use your affiliate links on your own Facebook, Twitter, etc. pages. For example: You may post, “25% off sale at Incipio through Wednesday with code Incipio25.”
2. You ARE PROHIBITED from posting your affiliate links on Incipio Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. company pages in an attempt to turn those links into affiliate sales.
3. You ARE PROHIBITED from running Facebook ads with Incipio trademarked company name.
4. You ARE PROHIBITED from creating a social media account that includes Incipio trademark in the page name and/or username.
OPERATIONS OUTSIDE UNITED STATES
If you are conducting business in or taking orders from persons in other countries, you will follow the laws of those countries. For example, you will comply with the European Union’s Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive, and GDPR if you are conducting business in or taking orders from persons in one or more of the European Union countries.
REVERSAL & COMMUNICATION POLICY
Incipio takes pride in its very low reversal rate, which we attribute to open communication with our affiliates. However, we reserve the right to reverse orders due to order cancellations, duplicate tracking, returns, disputed charges, and program violations as outlined in these terms and conditions.
Additionally, if we ask you for clarification or more information on any orders or clicks that we suspect may be in violation of our terms and conditions, we expect that you will respond in a timely and honest manner. Below are violations of our communications policy.
1. You are not forthcoming, intentionally vague or are found to be lying.
2. You are not responsive within a reasonable time period and after multiple attempts to contact with information listed in your network profile.
3. You cannot substantiate or validate the source of your traffic to our program with clear and demonstrable proof.
If any of the above apply, then we reserve the absolute right to reverse orders, set your commission to 0% or suspend you from the program for the period or orders in question. We know that many violations are a result of automated processes; however it is incumbent upon each affiliate to ensure that it has the appropriate checks and balances in place to pro-actively address these issues and adhere to our program rules. For the avoidance of doubt, the forfeiture of your commissions or suspension of your participation from the program shall not: (a) restrict us from perusing other remedies or reliefs legally available to us; or (b) prejudice any rights that have accrued and/or breaches that have arisen prior to such breach and which will remain fully reserved by us.
FTC DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS
You must include a disclosure statement within any and all pages, blog/posts, or social media posts where affiliate links for our affiliate program are posted as an endorsement or review, and where it is not clear that the link is a paid advertisement. This disclosure statement should be clear and concise, stating that we are compensating you for your review or endorsement. If you received the product for free from us or from the affiliate management team for review, this also must be clearly stated in your disclosure.
• Disclosures must be made at the beginning of the claims and may not appear solely in a “Terms of Use”, “Legal”, “About Us” or other linked page.
• Disclosures should be placed above the fold; scrolling should not be necessary to find the disclosure. (e.g. disclosure should be visible before the jump).
• Pop-up, hover state and button disclosures are prohibited.
• Disclosure policy applies to all social media, even when space is restricted (e.g., tweets)
• Disclosures should be made in the same medium as the claim (e.g. video, text)
For more information about FTC disclosure requirements, please review the FTC's "Dot Com Disclosures" Guidelines at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2013/03/130312dotcomdisclosures.pdf (example 21) and the FTC's Endorsement Guidelines at http://business.ftc.gov/advertising-and-marketing/endorsements
If you engage in so called “native advertising”, you further agree to comply with the FTC’s Enforcement Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted Advertisements at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/896923/151222deceptiveenforcement.pdf and the related guidelines.
