What Do Affiliate Agreements Cover?

A number of e-commerce sites have established affiliate or associate programs. These programs encourage other Web sites to send viewers and potential customers to the e-commerce site by paying commissions

Amazon.com's Associate Program allows its associates to offer books and other products on their site, through special links to Amazon. When customers come to your site and click a link referring to a book, for example, they end up on Amazon's site. If they purchase that product, Amazon commits to pay you a referral fee — generally 5 to 15 percent of the sale price, depending on the product. From Amazon's perspective, the program increases traffic to its site and increases sales. From the associate's perspective, it provides more products on its site and the potential of a revenue share on sales.