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Affiliate Link Policy

Effective date: October 09, 2025

Prepared for: The Education Story (an initiative of Scrollwell / Scrollwell EduTech LLP)

Contact: info@theeducationstory.com

1. Purpose

This Affiliate Link Policy explains how The Education Story (“TES”, “we”, “us”) manages affiliate and referral links across our digital properties (website, newsletters, social channels, and partner pages). It sets standards for transparency, editorial independence, technical implementation, revenue handling, and legal compliance.

2. Scope

Applies to:

  • All TES employees, contractors, contributors and partners who publish content on TES properties.
  • All affiliate, referral, or tracked links placed in TES editorial content, newsletters, paid placements, and promotional materials.

3. Definitions

  • Affiliate Link: Any URL that contains tracking parameters, referral codes, or identifiers that may generate a commission, referral fee, or other benefit to TES when a user takes a qualifying action.
  • Affiliate Partner / Merchant: A third-party company or platform that operates an affiliate program and rewards referrals.
  • Sponsored Content: Content produced in exchange for payment or other material consideration.
  • Editorial Content: Content produced by TES editorial staff intended to inform, educate, or review without being a paid advertisement.

4. Core Principles

  1. Transparency: Always disclose the presence of affiliate links clearly and prominently to users.
  2. Editorial independence: Affiliate relationships must not influence editorial judgement. Recommendations must be honest and based on merit.
  3. User-first experience: Affiliate links must add value to the user and not degrade trust or privacy.
  4. Compliance: Follow applicable advertising, consumer protection, and tax laws (e.g., FTC guidelines, Indian consumer law) and platform rules.

5. Disclosure Requirements

  • Every page, post, newsletter, or placement containing affiliate links must include a clear disclosure near the top or immediately before the first affiliate link. For example:”This page contains affiliate links. If you buy through these links, The Education Story may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.”
  • For short-form placements (e.g., tweets), include a concise disclosure such as “#affiliate” or “(affiliate)” in-line.
  • For email newsletters, include the disclosure at the top of the newsletter or immediately above the first affiliate link.
  • Disclosures must be written in plain language and must not be buried in fine print or hidden behind collapsible UI.

6. Technical & SEO Implementation

  • Mark affiliate links with the appropriate rel attribute: rel="sponsored". Optionally combine with nofollow when required: rel="nofollow sponsored".
  • When opening external affiliate links in a new tab use target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" to preserve security.
  • Avoid opaque link shorteners in editorial content unless editors can view the final destination during review; if used, reveal the destination in a hover preview or editorial note.
  • Preserve canonical URLs for editorial integrity — do not replace visible destination URLs with tracking-only redirects on public-facing pages where transparency would be harmed.

7. Editorial Rules & Approval

  • Affiliate links may be added only to content that meets editorial standards for relevance and quality.
  • The editorial team maintains final say over inclusion of affiliate links in editorial pieces.
  • Paid placements and sponsored content that include affiliate links must be clearly labeled as sponsored and follow the Sponsored Content approval workflow.
  • Contributors and guest authors must disclose any personal financial relationships with merchants and may be restricted from placing self-serving affiliate links.

8. Vetting & Approved Merchants

  • Marketing/Growth maintains an approved-merchant list. Merchants are vetted for reputation, security (HTTPS), business practices, product relevance, and compliance.
  • Prohibited merchant categories include (but are not limited to): illegal goods, unregulated high-risk medical treatments, exploitative services, and known scam domains.
  • New merchant relationships require review and documented approval before affiliate links are used in evergreen editorial content.

9. Newsletters & Social Media

  • Newsletter affiliate links must follow the same disclosure and technical requirements as website content and include the disclosure at the top or immediately before the first affiliate link.
  • Short-form social posts must include a concise disclosure (e.g., “#affiliate”). Where platform character limits apply, include a link to a fuller disclosure page.

10. Tracking, Analytics & Privacy

  • Tracking parameters should be limited to those required for affiliate attribution and campaign measurement. Avoid adding unnecessary tracking parameters that profile users beyond what is needed.
  • Update the Privacy Policy to describe the use of affiliate tracking where it materially affects personal data.
  • Respect user privacy signals (e.g., Do Not Track) where technically feasible; provide users with cookie/consent tools to manage tracking preferences.

11. Revenue, Accounting & Refunds

  • All affiliate revenue is managed by Growth/Finance and recorded according to the organisation’s accounting practices.
  • Editorial staff must not receive direct pay-per-click rewards from affiliate programs that could create a conflict of interest without prior disclosure to management.
  • Refunds, returns or chargebacks will be handled according to merchant policies; TES does not guarantee merchant fulfillment. Where revenue is reversed by the merchant, TES accounting will reconcile commissions accordingly.

12. Prohibited Practices

  • Do not cloak affiliate links or misrepresent link destinations.
  • Do not insert affiliate links into third-party user-generated content or comments without explicit moderator approval and disclosure.
  • Do not include affiliate links in content targeted at children or in contexts where affiliate relationships would be inappropriate (e.g., purely news reporting without clear promotional intent).

13. Record-Keeping & Audit

  • Maintain records of affiliate agreements, commission rates, and payouts for a minimum of 3 years.
  • Periodic audits (annually or on-demand) will verify disclosure compliance, merchant performance, and technical implementation.

14. Enforcement & Remediation

  • Violations of this policy may result in removal of affiliate links, content edits, retraining, or disciplinary action up to termination for serious or repeated violations.
  • If a merchant or link is found harmful or fraudulent, remove links immediately and investigate exposure. Notify Legal and Communications if remediation or public notice is required.

15. Templates & Examples

Editorial disclosure (short):

This article contains affiliate links. The Education Story may earn a commission if you make a purchase through these links.

Newsletter disclosure (top of email):

Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

HTML example:

<p>This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through these links, The Education Story may earn a commission.</p>
<a href="https://merchant.example.com/product?ref=tes-aff" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer sponsored">Enroll on Example Platform</a>

16. Contact

For questions about this policy or to request merchant approval, contact Growth/Partnerships at partnerships@theeducationstory.com or info@theeducationstory.com.

17. Review Cycle

This policy will be reviewed annually or sooner if required by legal, regulatory, or product changes.