How affiliate marketing actually works.
Plain-language guides to running a partner program, getting paid, and tracking sales without discount codes. Built for US Health & Wellness brands and the athletes who represent them.
Affiliate attribution without discount codes
A brand's guide to crediting affiliate sales without a single coupon code, using a first-party ?ref= cart note attribute matched server-side.
Affiliate marketing 101 for athletes and creators
A plain-English guide to how athletes and creators earn commission on Harmonia: tracked links, brand-set commission, payouts, and why a commission can reverse.
Affiliate marketing for supplement and wellness brands
A practical guide to launching a performance-based affiliate program built for US health and wellness brands.
How athletes get paid on Harmonia
Paid daily through Stripe Connect once your brand's invoice clears, with a $25 minimum and an automatic year-end 1099-NEC.
Running a curated affiliate program | Harmonia
The full path to launching and running a curated, two-way-veto affiliate program with verified, quality-scored partners.
Why Premium Brands Shouldn't Discount to Run an Affiliate Program | Harmonia
You can run a full affiliate program with no discount code. First-party, server-side attribution credits each sale at full price, protecting your margin and pricing.
How affiliate sales are tracked without coupon codes
Affiliate sales are credited server-side from a ?ref= cart attribute, not a coupon, so you keep full margin and there is nothing for the shopper to enter.
How approvals and the two-way veto work | Harmonia
How brands triage applications, set net commission, and approve or decline, with the two-way veto and the insertion order that locks terms at approval.
How to Start an Affiliate Program for a Supplement or Wellness Brand | Harmonia
The step-by-step path to launch a supplement or wellness affiliate program: connect Stripe, install Shopify, set commission and windows, publish, and recruit verified athletes.
Launch an affiliate program step by step | Harmonia
The end-to-end path to launch a program: Stripe billing, the Shopify app, the self-test conversion, commission and windows, then publish.
Setting Up Stripe Connect Express for Affiliate Payouts (ID + Bank) | Harmonia
Complete Stripe Connect Express KYC once, on Stripe's own screens, and your payouts run on their own from then on.
The Affiliate Payout Timeline, Explained | Harmonia
The full affiliate payout schedule: how a sale moves from pending to paid, why you wait for the brand's invoice to clear, and where the $25 minimum and Dec 15 force-pay apply.
What affiliate marketing is and how athletes earn
A plain-English intro to affiliate marketing for athletes and creators: earn a commission per attributed sale, no upfront ad spend, no discount code, and you keep the full commission.
What Verification + LLM Quality Scoring Tell You About an Athlete | Harmonia
Read the three trust signals on every athlete: curation, Stripe-verified identity, and a quality score you sort by but never let decide for you.
Creating and sharing your tracking link | Harmonia
You get one per-program tracking link per brand you are approved for; it credits every sale you drive, and QR codes and anchor tags carry the same attribution.
Curated vs open affiliate marketplaces for wellness
Why a curated, verified, quality-scored partner model fits a premium wellness brand better than an open marketplace where anyone can promote anything.
Supplement Affiliate Commission Rates | Harmonia
How to set a supplement affiliate commission: choose a flat $ or flat %, anchor it to your margin, and keep the 20% platform fee separate and on top.
The Automatic 1099-NEC for Athletes | Harmonia
If you clear the IRS reporting threshold, Stripe issues your 1099-NEC automatically at year-end, with no W-9 to chase and your SSN and bank details never exposed.
Understanding Affiliate Earnings | Harmonia
How to read your earnings: rolled up per brand (which brand, how much, when paid), the full commission with the fee billed to the brand, and the path from pending to paid.
FTC Disclosure and Health-Claim Basics for Wellness Creators | Harmonia
How wellness athletes and brands disclose a commissioned relationship and stay clear of unsupported supplement health claims.
Recruiting and Vetting Wellness Athletes | Harmonia
Build a roster of curated, verified wellness athletes by browsing, inviting, and vetting with signals, not by mass recruiting.
Shopify cart-attribute attribution (?ref=) | Harmonia
A custom Shopify app writes ?ref= into the cart note attribute, then matches the order server-side from the orders/create webhook. No discount code, no third-party pixel.
The $25 Floor and Dec 15 Year-End Force-Pay, Explained | Harmonia
The minimum payout is $25; smaller balances roll forward, and a December 15 force-pay sends any positive balance before year-end.
Attribution Window vs Refund Window, Explained | Harmonia
The attribution window decides whether a click credits a sale; the refund window decides whether a credited commission later reverses, pro-rated.
Invite-Only Onboarding for the Launch Cohort | Harmonia
How to get in during the launch cohort: redeem your single-use invite, create your account, then browse and apply right away. Only getting paid is gated by identity verification.
Reading Your Traffic-Quality and Click-Quality Signals | Harmonia
What the platform watches in your affiliate traffic, how to read each signal, and why a flag never moves money on its own.
Why a commission can reverse and what to do | Harmonia
A refund inside the refund window reverses a commission, proportional to the amount returned. It only affects the refunded portion, and you can dispute a reversal that looks wrong.
First-party vs cookie-based affiliate tracking
Why third-party cookies miss sales, and how first-party server-side attribution credits the sale from your Shopify order data instead.
What brands pay: commission pool + 20% fee | Harmonia
Your total cost is the commission pool your athletes earned plus a 20% platform fee on top, billed monthly via Stripe, net-30.
Why Your Fee Is On Top, Never Deducted, Explained | Harmonia
The 20% platform fee is billed to the brand on top of the commission, so the athlete keeps 100% of the commission the brand sets.