Every MemberArea customer can recommend MemberArea and earn a share of what the referred businesses pay, for as long as they stay. This article is about that program. It is not about the affiliate program you can run for your own members and products, which lives under Payments.
What you earn
- 40 percent of every payment a referred business makes to MemberArea, on every plan and for the whole lifetime of that customer, not only the first year. The commission is calculated on the net amount, without VAT. 40 percent is the standard rate. Individual partners can have a different rate.
- Your referrals get 20 percent off their first 3 months when they use your partner code, so recommending MemberArea gives them something too.
- Commissions ripen for 30 days before they count as payable, 60 days for high-ticket payments. That window covers refunds and chargebacks. A refund or a lost chargeback takes the commission back.
- Payouts run monthly on the 10th, once your payable balance reaches 50 EUR. Smaller balances stay in your account and go out with the next run.
- The referral cookie lasts 45 days, so a click today still counts when the business signs up next month.
Where you find it
The partner portal is part of your admin area and has its own address:
Joining takes one click on Join the partner program. There is no application and no minimum audience. Above the button, under Choose your referral code, you can pick your code. Leave it empty and MemberArea picks one for you.
The tabs
- Overview shows your clicks, sign-ups and commissions at a glance.
- Referral link holds your personal referral link. Anyone who signs up after clicking it is attributed to you.
- Materials gives you ready-made banners in several sizes, short texts in English and German and your partner code, all with your link already inside.
- Sign-ups lists the businesses you brought in with their status: Paying, Trial or Free. A business that no longer pays shows as Free.
- Commissions lists every payment that earned you something, with the date it becomes payable.
- Payouts is where you connect how you want to be paid: Stripe, SEPA bank transfer or PayPal. Every payout is listed there with its Credit note as a PDF.
Your partner code
Your partner code is a discount code your readers can enter at checkout. It gives them 20 percent off for 3 months and attributes them to you, even if they never clicked your link. It works once per new business, on monthly and yearly plans. You choose the code when you join, so pick something people can remember and say out loud, for example on a podcast.
The rules that matter
- No self-referrals. When the user account behind your partner account clicks your link and creates a workspace, or orders with your code, that business is not attributed to you and earns no commission. This also applies to client workspaces you create or order yourself.
- No paid ads on the MemberArea brand. Bidding on the brand name competes with the platform's own ads and can end the partnership.
- Be honest about what MemberArea does. The comparison pages and the pricing page are always up to date, link to them rather than quoting old numbers.
Taxes
The commission is income for you. In months with activity, MemberArea sends you a statement by email, and every payout comes with a credit note in Payouts that you can hand to your accountant. Whether you have to add VAT depends on where you are and how you are registered, so check with your accountant once.