Affiliate FAQ
The questions we hear most, answered plainly
Getting started
Who can join the affiliate program?
Any Pendraic account holder, free or paid, who has a Stripe Connect Express account in a supported country. You don’t have to be on a paid plan yourself.
Does joining cost anything?
No. The program is free to enroll in. We handle the Stripe Connect fees on our side.
How long does enrollment take?
Accepting the terms is instant. Setting up Stripe Connect usually takes a couple of minutes once you have your bank details and ID ready.
Where do I pick my code?
From your affiliate dashboard. You can have up to 10 active codes so you can run separate campaigns on different channels.
Can I change my code later?
You can deactivate an old code and create a new one. Existing attributions tied to the old code aren't lost. If you want to keep the old one printed somewhere (a business card, a slide deck), leave it active; you pay nothing to hold a code.
Earnings and payouts
How much do I earn?
3.5% at the standard tier. It rises to 5% once 50 of your referrals are active, 7.5% at 150 and again at 1,000, and 10% if you hit 1,000 while you’re personally on a Premium plan.
When do I get paid?
On the 1st of each month if your available balance is at least $25. Below $25, the balance rolls forward. No manual request needed; the cron kicks off the transfer on schedule.
Why $25 minimum?
Stripe Transfer fees are low but not zero. Below $25 the overhead eats too much of the payout. We wait until there's enough money to make the transfer worthwhile.
Can I request a payout before the 1st?
Not right now. The monthly cadence matches Stripe’s own Connect payout norm and keeps accounting predictable. If you need something earlier for tax reasons, email us and we’ll look into it case by case.
What currency am I paid in?
USD right now. Multi-currency is on the roadmap. If you’re outside the US, Stripe converts from USD to your local currency on your side; the conversion rate is Stripe’s, not ours.
Why did my first referral’s first payment earn me nothing?
That payment is a “maturity” entry. It stamps the date we start counting for real, without generating a commission. This keeps refund fraud from abusing the 60-day refund window. From the second payment on, you earn as expected.
What happens if a referral gets refunded?
If the refund comes within 60 days of the payment, the pending commission gets reversed automatically. You didn’t actually earn money we clawed back; the commission simply never became payable. If a refund hits after a commission paid out, the reversal deducts from your next balance.
What counts as an “active referral”?
An account that (a) signed up through your link, (b) has paid at least one invoice past the 60-day maturity window, and (c) is currently on a paid plan. Free accounts don’t count. Cancelled or churned accounts don’t count.
If my referral downgrades to free, do I lose the commission I already got?
No. Past commissions are yours. Going forward, they no longer count toward your active-referral count, so your tier might drop on future accruals, but nothing you already earned is clawed back.
Taxes and compliance
Will you send me a tax form?
Stripe will, not us. If you’re a US taxpayer and earn enough across the year, Stripe issues a 1099-NEC. Outside the US, Stripe issues the local equivalent where one exists. We pay you gross; we don’t withhold.
Am I responsible for my own taxes?
Yes. Talk to a tax professional in your jurisdiction. Affiliate earnings are typically self-employment income.
Do I need to disclose the affiliate relationship?
Usually yes. The US FTC requires a clear disclosure when you endorse something and stand to earn on it. Most other jurisdictions have a similar rule. “As a Pendraic affiliate I earn on paid sign-ups” near your link is fine.
Can I use Pendraic’s logo?
For honest identification (“I use Pendraic”), yes. For mockups that imply Pendraic endorses you or has reviewed your content, no. Common sense applies. Don’t reshape the logo or change its colors.
Promotion rules
What counts as spam?
Unsolicited email, DMs, forum posts, and social comments that push the /r/ link to people who didn’t opt in to hear from you. Same for repurposed mailing lists without the permission of the list owner.
Can I run paid ads?
Yes, with limits. You can’t bid on Pendraic’s brand terms (“pendraic”, “pendraic login”, etc.) in ad auctions. You can’t send traffic through typosquat domains that pretend to be Pendraic. Beyond that, run ads however you like.
Can I make claims about what Pendraic does?
Only if they’re accurate. “Helps you outline faster” is fine. “Writes entire novels for you” is not, because that’s not what the product does. When in doubt, describe what you personally used it for.
Can I offer discounts or incentives to people who use my link?
If the incentive is yours and clearly yours (“I’ll send you my character-development template if you sign up through my link”), sure. You can’t offer fake Pendraic discounts; only we can set prices.
Can I buy my own subscription through my own link?
No. Self-referral is blocked at the database level. Even if you find a way around the block, our fraud detectors will catch it and we’ll reverse the commission.
Accounts and data
Can I see who signed up through my link?
No, and we won’t share that information. You see counts (clicks, signups, conversions) and earnings. Names and emails stay private to protect your referrals.
What data do you collect when someone clicks my link?
The code, the time, the referring page, and hashed versions of the IP and user agent. The hashes let us detect fraud patterns. We don’t store raw IPs or raw user-agent strings.
Can I have more than one affiliate account?
One affiliate account per person. One person with multiple Pendraic accounts is still one affiliate. If you’re running separate campaigns, use multiple codes under the same account.
What if my account gets suspended?
We review flags manually. If we find nothing wrong, we lift the hold and you get paid what you earned. If we find something (ring fraud, impersonation, terms-violating promotion), we explain what we found. Honest affiliates don’t get caught up in this.
Can I leave the program?
Yes, from your affiliate dashboard. Leaving doesn’t forfeit money you already earned. Pending commissions still mature and pay out on schedule; you just stop accruing new ones.
Attribution details
How long does the cookie last?
90 days. If the person signs up during that window, the attribution sticks.
What if someone clicks two different affiliate links?
Last click wins inside the 90-day window. Whoever they clicked most recently before signup is the one attributed.
What if a new user blocks cookies?
No attribution, no commission. There isn’t a workaround that would be fair to other affiliates, so we don’t try one.
Do clicks from bots count?
No. We detect common bot user-agents (Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.) and flag those clicks. They still land on the site; they just don’t become attributed commissions.
Does a visitor have to use the exact link I share?
The /r/<code> URL is what sets the cookie. If they go to pendraic.com directly afterward, the cookie is still there and the attribution will happen at signup. If they never visit a /r/ URL, there’s nothing to attribute.
Edge cases
What happens during a tier upgrade in the middle of a pay period?
Commissions accrued before the promotion stay at the old rate. Commissions accrued after it accrue at the new rate. The displayed tier on your dashboard is your current tier; each commission row carries the rate it was born at.
I think you miscounted my active referrals. What do I do?
Email help@pendraic.com with your referrer user id (visible on the dashboard) and describe the discrepancy. Our dashboard pulls from the same ledger the payout cron uses, so drift is rare; if you see it we want to know.
What if Pendraic shuts down?
Available balances are paid out as part of the wind-down; pending commissions past the maturity window at that point also pay out. We wouldn’t keep affiliate money that has cleared the refund window even if the product is sunsetting.
Something not answered here? Email help@pendraic.com. Full terms are on the affiliate terms page.