Affiliate Program Terms and Conditions

Effective date: October 23, 2026

These terms and conditions ("terms") cover the Business Near Me affiliate program, operated by Advisors Marketing & SEO ("we", "us", "our"). They apply on top of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. If these terms and the Terms of Service disagree about the affiliate program, these terms win. By applying to the program, you ("you", "affiliate") agree to them.

1. Definitions

1.1 Link: any Business Near Me web address with your affiliate code added as ?ref=, for example https://businessnearme.info/?ref=yourcode.

1.2 Referral: a Business Near Me account created through your link, as section 4 describes.

1.3 Qualifying payment: a payment a referral makes for something listed in section 5, after discounts and credits, not counting sales tax or domain fees.

1.4 Commission: your share of a qualifying payment. Each commission has its own ID, such as C-00042. A refund reversal has an ID such as R-00043.

1.5 Payable balance: your commissions that are past the hold in section 8, less any reversals, not yet paid.

1.6 Payout: a payment from us to you. Each payout has its own ID, such as P-0007.

2. Who Can Join

2.1 You must be 18 or older and able to enter a contract.

2.2 One affiliate account per person or business. Give us accurate information and keep it current.

2.3 You need a US bank account in your own name, or your business's name, that can receive Zelle payments. We don't pay to banks outside the United States.

2.4 We review every application and approve them at our discretion. We can decline any application without giving a reason.

2.5 Your link earns commissions only after we approve you. Clicks before approval aren't tracked.

3. Your Relationship With Us

3.1 You're an independent contractor. You aren't our employee, agent, partner or franchisee, and nothing in these terms creates a joint venture.

3.2 You can't make promises, offer discounts, accept payments or sign anything on our behalf.

3.3 You pay your own costs of promoting your link. We don't reimburse expenses.

3.4 The program is not exclusive. You can promote other companies, and we can work with other affiliates.

4. How Referrals Are Tracked

4.1 When someone clicks your link, we save your code in a first-party cookie on their browser for 30 days from that click. If they click another affiliate's link within that time, the later link replaces yours ("last click wins").

4.2 A referral is decided once, when the visitor creates their Business Near Me account. If your code is on their browser at that moment, within 30 days of the click, the new account is your referral. This still works when they open our sign-in email on another device, such as their phone, because the email's link carries your code from the browser where they asked for it.

4.3 After the account is created, the referral never changes. Clicking another affiliate's link later doesn't move it, and an account that already existed before the click can't become a referral.

4.4 We can only credit what we can track. If a visitor blocks or clears cookies, signs up from a different browser or device than the one that clicked your link, or creates their account without clicking your link, we can't credit you. We don't add referrals by hand.

4.5 Our tracking records decide who gets credit for a referral.

5. What Earns a Commission

5.1 You earn 20% of each qualifying payment a referral makes for the following:

5.2 The 12-month limit: a Premium Profile subscription earns for 12 months from its first qualifying payment. Renewals after that don't earn. A yearly plan earns once, on its first yearly payment.

5.3 Only subscriptions your referral starts: a subscription the business already had before it became your referral doesn't earn, even if it renews later.

5.4 What a commission is based on: what the business actually pays, after discounts, promotion codes and account credits. Sales tax, domain registration fees and anything not in the table, including website hosting, never earn.

5.5 Prices can change. The amounts in the table use today's prices. If a price changes, you earn 20% of what the business actually pays.

6. Custom Websites

6.1 Fully custom websites are designed and sold by Advisors Marketing & SEO, outside the Business Near Me checkout. Brochure websites start at $3,200.

6.2 A custom website earns only if the business is already your referral on Business Near Me (section 4) when it signs the custom website agreement.

6.3 You earn 20% of the website design fee the business pays, once. Hosting, maintenance, SEO, advertising and other ongoing services don't earn.

6.4 If the fee is paid in parts, each part earns when it's paid. We record the commission in your dashboard after the payment arrives, and it then follows the hold and payout rules below like any other commission.

7. What Doesn't Earn

7.1 Your own account, your own business, or any business you own, manage, work for or share an account with.

7.2 Accounts that are fake, duplicated, or created only to earn a commission.

7.3 Referrals that come from anything section 12 doesn't allow.

7.4 Payments made after your affiliate account ends, except as section 15 says.

7.5 Paying or rewarding people to sign up through your link, such as cash back or gift cards, unless we agree to it in writing first.

7.6 If a commission was earned in a way these terms don't allow, we can reverse it, even after we've paid it.

8. Holds, Refunds and Chargebacks

8.1 Each commission waits 30 days after the payment it came from before it can be paid, so refunds settle first.

8.2 If we refund a payment, in full or in part, the same share of its commission is reversed. The same applies when a customer disputes a payment with their bank (a chargeback) and wins.

8.3 If the commission hasn't been paid yet, the reversal cancels it. If it has been paid, the reversal comes off your next payout. If your balance goes below zero, future commissions cover it first.

8.4 We can hold commissions while we look into suspected fraud or a breach of these terms. We'll tell you when we do.

9. Payouts

9.1 Minimum: we send a payout once your payable balance reaches $35.00. A smaller balance carries over to the next month.

9.2 When a referral finishes earning: once a referral has nothing more to earn, we pay whatever is payable, even under $35.00. That happens when its 12 months are up, when its subscription ends, or after a one-time purchase such as a website build.

9.3 How often: we pay what's due once a month.

9.4 How: by Zelle, in US dollars, to the email address or US mobile number in your affiliate dashboard. It must be the one your bank's Zelle is enrolled with. We never ask for your bank account or routing number, your password or your sign-in link.

9.5 Your details: keep your Zelle email or phone current. We aren't responsible for a payment sent to the Zelle email or phone you gave us. If a payment can't be delivered, we hold it until you give us working details.

9.6 Fees: we don't charge you a fee for payouts. Your bank's Zelle limits and terms apply to what you receive.

10. Your Records and Questions

10.1 Your affiliate dashboard shows every commission and reversal with its ID, date, amount and status, and every payout with its ID.

10.2 If you think a commission or payout is wrong, email us within 60 days of its date and include the ID. We'll look into it and reply. After 60 days, our records are final.

11. Telling People It's an Affiliate Link

11.1 US law (the FTC's Endorsement Guides) requires you to tell people you earn money when they sign up through your link. Do it every time you share it.

11.2 Say so in plain words, close to the link, for example: "I earn a commission if you sign up through my link." A note only on your profile or an About page isn't enough.

11.3 On video or audio, say it out loud as well as in the description.

11.4 Only say what's true about Business Near Me. Don't promise rankings, reviews, leads or results. A Premium Profile never affects reviews or ratings.

12. How You Can and Can't Promote

12.1 No spam: unsolicited email, texts, calls or messages, or posting your link where it isn't welcome. Follow anti-spam laws such as CAN-SPAM and the TCPA.

12.2 No paid search ads that bid on "Business Near Me", "BusinessNearMe.info" or close misspellings, or that use them in the ad text.

12.3 No domain names, social accounts or app names that include "Business Near Me" or something confusingly close.

12.4 Don't pretend to be us, or use our name or logo in a way that suggests you work for us.

12.5 No coupon or deal pages with offers we don't make.

12.6 Don't set the cookie without a real click, such as with hidden frames, pop-unders, automatic redirects or browser extensions.

12.7 Don't put your link on sites with illegal, hateful, violent or adult content.

12.8 Don't ask business owners for their Business Near Me sign-in links or account details, or sign up on their behalf.

12.9 You can use our name to describe Business Near Me accurately, and link to any page on the site. We can ask you to change or remove content that mentions us, and you agree to do so promptly.

13. Taxes

13.1 You're responsible for your own taxes on what we pay you.

13.2 When your earnings in a calendar year (paid plus waiting to be paid) reach $1,500.00, we ask you for a completed, signed IRS Form W-9. You upload it from your affiliate dashboard, and you can upload it earlier if you like. If your name, business, address or tax ID changes, upload a new one.

13.3 We don't send a payout that would bring what we've paid you in a calendar year to $2,000.00 or more until your W-9 is on file. Smaller payouts aren't affected.

13.4 We store your W-9 privately, and only we can see it. We keep it while you're an affiliate and for 4 years after our last payout to you, as IRS rules require, then delete it. If we decline your application, we delete it within 30 days.

13.5 If what we pay you in a calendar year reaches the IRS reporting threshold (currently $2,000.00), we send you and the IRS a Form 1099-NEC.

14. Privacy

14.1 Your dashboard shows the business names of your referrals and what they paid toward your commissions. You won't see their contact details or account information.

14.2 Use what you see only to track your commissions. Don't share it.

14.3 We handle your information as our Privacy Policy describes, including sharing what tax law requires with the IRS.

15. Leaving or Ending the Program

15.1 You can leave at any time by emailing us.

15.2 We can end your affiliate account at any time, with or without a reason. We can end it immediately if you break these terms.

15.3 When your account ends, your link stops earning. Payments your referrals make after that don't earn.

15.4 We pay your payable balance, even under $35.00, once its commissions are past the hold. The exception is an account we end because you broke these terms. In that case we can withhold commissions from the activity involved.

16. Changes to These Terms

16.1 We can change these terms, including commission rates, with 30 days' notice by email to your account email.

16.2 Changes apply to payments made after they take effect. Commissions already earned keep the terms they were earned under.

16.3 If you don't agree to a change, you can leave before it takes effect. Staying in the program after that means you accept it.

17. No Guarantee

17.1 We don't promise you'll earn any amount. We can change, pause or end the program, our prices or our products at any time.

17.2 We try to keep tracking and the website running, but they're provided "as is", and we aren't responsible for referrals lost to outages, technical problems or things outside our control.

18. Limitation of Liability

18.1 To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, or lost profits, from the program.

18.2 Our total liability to you under these terms is limited to the commissions we owed you in the 12 months before the claim.

19. Indemnity

19.1 You agree to cover us against claims, losses and costs, including reasonable legal fees, that come from how you promote your link, from content you publish, or from breaking these terms or the law.

20. Governing Law

20.1 These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Nevada.

20.2 Any dispute will be handled in the state or federal courts in Clark County, Nevada.

21. The Whole Agreement

21.1 These terms, together with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement about the affiliate program.

21.2 If any part is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a term right away, we can still enforce it later.

21.3 You can't transfer your affiliate account to anyone else without our written agreement.

22. Contact

22.1 Questions about the program, a commission or a payout: contact@businessnearme.info, or by mail to Advisors Marketing & SEO, 155 E. Galleria Dr. #3166, Henderson, NV 89011.