Where to read the rules
Travelpayouts Affiliate Agreement is the main source of information. Also, you can find out more about admissible traffic types in our knowledge base on flight tickets/hotels and offers for affiliates.
At Travelpayouts, we feel that ignorance of the partnership rules doesn’t exempt you from the liability, and every affiliate is strongly recommended to carefully read our rules and terms. Disagreement arising in the implementation of this agreement shall be resolved by means of consultation between the parties.
We are flexible about inadvertent violations and don’t like to ban multiple accounts within our network. Don’t hesitate to contact us directly to discuss any new ideas and ask questions. For instance, if you are planning on launching an advertising campaign and need to be sure that your creative approach complies with our terms, contact our customer support team.
When you need pre-aligning traffic
We normally don’t require prior coordination of traffic that complies with the rules.
How to align traffic
If your traffic requires pre-aligning, kindly contact our customer support team well in advance and specify as many details as possible, for example:
- The URL-address of your website/blog/group on a social network
- Geolocation
- Traffic sources
- Where traffic is directed
- Examples of announcements
You’ll find more information about the traffic that requires pre-aligning for every affiliate program in your personal account on our website:
Some offers require additional information about their traffic sources prior to joining them. To do so, fill out this form on the offer page:
This information will be sent to the advertiser for review and approval.
Fraudulent traffic
Some of the most commonly committed types of fraud include:
- Click fraud — Imitation of real clicks aimed at increasing income on paid clicks. In some cases, income is generated for clicks, as well as purchases.
- Cookie stuffing — Substitution of cookies in the browser of a user (potential customer) without them actually following your affiliate link.
- Booking by means of carding — Carding is fraud with bank cards, when a booking is made without the consent of the card holder.
We face other types of affiliate rules violations. One of them is fraudulent traffic undermining the reputation of the affiliate program and advertisers. One such example is the use of computer viruses to attract customers.
Penalties
Penalties are determined by the agreement, which entitles us to:
Principal reserves a right to cancel the Agent’s account without payment of accrued commissions if the Agent engages in the abovementioned practices.
We apply penalties according to the fraud type. We always thoughtfully consider situations when partners have made inadvertent fraud without undermining the affiliate network.
How we monitor the violations
At Travelpayouts, we have a three-tier system of monitoring violations of the partnership agreement. We are able to see the percentage of fraudulent clicks for every affiliate.
In order to fight fraud and violations, we cooperate with other service providers, such as Booking.com, Agoda, Drimsim and others. As a result, there is almost no chance to earn profit from fraudulent actions.
Popular questions
Why it is forbidden to use the brand in context advertising?
Users normally look for a website of a particular company, and an advertisement points them to our competitor’s website. For this reason, the use of the brand in context advertising amounts to stealing traffic and income from the service provider.
I bought a database containing 300,000 email addresses. Am I permitted to send emails with your links?
SPAM (sending emails to users without their prior consent) is prohibited within the Travelpayouts network.
Why have you frozen assets on my account?
We don’t freeze assets without warning the affiliate first. In suspected cases, we are entitled to delay the payment pending further investigation on your account’s activity. In the event of a dispute, we always stay in contact with the affiliate implicated in the situation.
How do I know if there is an investigation on my account?
We will contact you to ask further questions and inform you on the investigation outcome. Here is an example of such notification:
Today is the 15th of this month, and I haven’t received money yet. Am I banned?
The payment for the previous month is made between the 11th to 20th of the following month, if the minimum amount is reached. We will send your commission to the bank account specified in the profile by the 9th of the month. If your bank details were properly indicated in the profile, has been verified prior to the 9th of the month, and the pending sum exceeds a specified minimum amount, but you still haven’t received the payment by the 20th of the month, kindly contact our support team.
How much time does an investigation take?
The average inspection takes up to two weeks, however it might last longer if we have to contact third parties to check on your bookings. We always stay in contact with the affiliate under investigation.
What is necessary to speed up the investigation?
You’ll need to clarify your traffic sources.
If I haven’t broken any rules, could your inspection affect my performance ?
An inspection won’t affect you. Even conscientious affiliates are being inspected, but if no violations are found, we’ll apologize for delaying the payment (in case there’s been one) and pay you on a priority basis. Our advertisers closely monitor the traffic of affiliates and might ask for additional checks on certain partners.
If you have been asked to specify the sources of your traffic, don’t worry. It is a standard procedure, and you’ll just need to provide us with the necessary information in a timely fashion.
Who can I contact if I’ve been unfairly banned?
You can contact our head of affiliate network directly. His email address is ib@travelpayouts.com.
