Terms of the affiliate program.

1. Purpose and acceptance

These terms govern the affiliate program (also called the "referral program") operated by ranksource SAS on the ranksource platform. They supplement the Terms of Service; in the event of a conflict relating to the program, these terms prevail.

Participation in the program is free and involves no commitment. It implies full and unreserved acceptance of these terms. Activating the affiliate link from the dashboard constitutes enrollment in the program.

2. Definitions

• Affiliate (or referrer): any ranksource user, advertiser or publisher, who shares their affiliate link or code.
• Referral: any person who creates a ranksource account attributed to an affiliate under the conditions of section 4.
• Affiliate link: the affiliate's personal URL; affiliate code: the associated code, which can be entered at sign-up.
• Welcome credit: the promotional credit reserved for the referral under the conditions of section 5.
• Commission: the affiliate's compensation, calculated on the referral's qualified activity and paid in advertiser credits or withdrawable earnings.
• Own spending: the amounts actually paid by the referral with their own money (completed wallet top-ups and card payments), excluding any free credit or bonus.

3. Eligibility

The program is open to any holder of an active ranksource account in good standing, whether advertiser, publisher or both. ranksource may make the payment of cash earnings conditional on the provision of accurate and up-to-date billing details (section 8).

The program may be unavailable in some countries where local regulations do not allow it. The affiliate is responsible for checking that their participation is lawful under the law that applies to them.

4. Referral attribution

• An account can be attributed to one affiliate only. Attribution takes place when the account is created and is final.
• Attribution happens either through the affiliate code entered at sign-up, or through the attribution cookie set when the affiliate link is clicked, valid for 60 days. A manually entered code takes precedence over the cookie.
• Self-referral is prohibited: an account cannot be attributed to its own holder, directly or indirectly.
• Existing accounts cannot be retroactively attached to an affiliate.

5. Referral welcome credit

A welcome credit of $150 (in the currency of the referral's wallet) is reserved for the referral when their account is created. This credit is unlocked automatically once the referral has reached at least $500 of own spending on the platform.

• Once unlocked, the credit is valid for 60 days, after which it expires and the unused portion is removed from the wallet.
• The credit can be used exclusively on advertiser orders; it is consumed first when paying by wallet.
• The credit is not withdrawable as cash, not transferable and not refundable, and is granted only once per person.
• The credit cannot fund orders involving media outlets owned by the referring affiliate, or by the referral themselves.
• The free credit does not count towards the referral's own spending.

6. Commissions

The affiliate earns a commission on each referral's qualified activity for 12 months from the creation of the referral's account. No commission accrues until the referral has reached at least $500 of own spending, free credit not included.

• Referral purchases (advertiser activity): the commission is calculated on the pre-tax amount actually paid.
• Referral sales (publisher activity): the commission is calculated on the ranksource service fees generated by the publication.
• Each commission is created when the related article is published, then becomes available after 30 days of publication monitoring.
• If the order is canceled or refunded, the corresponding commission is canceled; if it had already been validated or paid out, it is clawed back, where applicable by offsetting it against future earnings or withdrawals.
• Each commission is created in the currency of the referral's order.

7. Reward modes

The affiliate chooses their reward mode in their dashboard. A change of mode applies to future commissions only.

• Advertiser credits: 20%. Validated commissions are credited to the affiliate's ranksource wallet, in the currency of their wallet, and can be used on their advertiser orders. They cannot be withdrawn as cash.
• Withdrawable earnings: 10%. Validated commissions accrue and can be the subject of a withdrawal request under the conditions of section 8.

8. Withdrawing cash earnings

• Withdrawals are available from $50, by SEPA transfer or PayPal.
• Withdrawals are conditional on the provision of complete and accurate billing details (name or company, address, IBAN or PayPal account, VAT number where applicable).
• Each withdrawal covers one currency only; balances are tracked per currency.
• A self-billing invoice is issued automatically for each approved withdrawal.
• Validated earnings left unwithdrawn for 24 consecutive months are forfeited, after reminders are sent to the affiliate.
• ranksource may put a withdrawal on hold pending verification in the event of suspected fraud or anomaly.

9. Current parameters

The program's numerical parameters are as follows as of the date these terms were last updated. They may change under the conditions of section 14; the values in force are displayed at all times on the program page and in the dashboard.

10. Prohibited uses

The following, among others, are prohibited and trigger the application of section 11:

• self-referral, the creation of fake accounts or accounts controlled by the affiliate, and any scheme designed to artificially reach the qualification threshold;
• the use of fraudulent payment methods or inaccurate billing details;
• misuse of the welcome credit, in particular through orders on media outlets connected to the affiliate or the referral;
• misleading promotion: spam, promises of guaranteed earnings, misrepresentation of the program or of ranksource services;
• any communication suggesting that the affiliate acts on behalf of ranksource, as an agent, employee or official representative.

11. Monitoring, suspension and revocation

ranksource runs automated and manual checks on program activity (fraud signals, cross-checking of details, abnormal volumes). In the event of a breach of these terms or serious suspicion of fraud, ranksource may suspend or revoke a referral relationship, cancel pending commissions, claw back commissions paid unduly and, in the event of a serious breach, suspend the account under the conditions of the Terms of Service.

The affiliate is notified of the measure and may submit their observations by writing to [email protected].

12. Affiliate status and taxes

The affiliate takes part in the program as an independent party. The program does not create any relationship of subordination, mandate, agency or partnership between the affiliate and ranksource SAS.

The affiliate is solely responsible for declaring and paying all taxes, duties and contributions applicable to the amounts received under the program, according to their situation and jurisdiction.

13. Personal data

Referral identities are shown to the affiliate in anonymized form in the dashboard. IP addresses used for anti-fraud signals are stored in hashed form. The processing of personal data is described in the privacy policy.

14. Changes and termination of the program

ranksource may change the program's parameters (rates, amounts, thresholds, durations) or terminate the program at any time. Changes apply only to future commissions and referrals: commissions already validated remain acquired, except in the event of fraud.

These terms are governed by French law. For any question: [email protected].