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What is an affiliate code?

An affiliate code is the unique identifier that tells a merchant which partner sent a sale. It comes in two forms: the code inside an affiliate's tracking link, and a coupon or discount code a customer types at checkout. Either one credits the right affiliate with the commission.

2 min read
Updated Sep 8, 2026

An affiliate code is a unique identifier a merchant assigns to each affiliate so that a sale can be credited to the person who referred it. It exists in two forms, and most programs use both.

The two forms

  1. The code inside a tracking link. Every affiliate gets a link that carries their code, for example yourproduct.com/?tc=SPRING&aff=maya or a short link such as linkjolt.io/l/maya-chen. When someone clicks it, the code is stored in their browser for the attribution window (30 days on LinkJolt) and passed to the payment processor at checkout, so the sale is confirmed by the processor's own webhook rather than by anything in the browser.
  2. A coupon or discount code. The affiliate shares a code such as MAYA15 that the customer types at checkout. The processor reports the code with the payment, and the affiliate software credits the affiliate who owns it. This is the form audiences on podcasts, video and social media use, because nobody clicks a link from a spoken mention.

How brands issue affiliate codes

Link codes exist for every affiliate as soon as they are in the program. Coupon codes take one more step: the discount has to exist in the billing system (Stripe, Paddle, or the App Store for iOS apps), then be registered against the affiliate. With LinkJolt, a merchant who has connected their Stripe account can have a code minted automatically for every affiliate they approve, named after the affiliate and the discount: Maya Chen at 15% becomes MAYA15.

What the code does when a sale comes in

The link code wins when it is present: it travels with the checkout and identifies the click, the affiliate and the campaign. When a payment arrives with no link code, the coupon code on that payment is the fallback. Either way the commission is calculated from the campaign's terms, and the affiliate sees the sale in their portal.

An affiliate code is not the same as a referral code in a customer referral program, which rewards an existing customer rather than a marketing partner. The difference is covered in ,[object Object],.

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