Affiliate approval rules: reduce fraud without killing signups (SaaS)

Affiliate approval is not bureaucracy. It is your fraud filter and your future support load. If you auto-approve everyone, you will eventually pay the wrong people. If you manually approve everyone, you will stop recruiting because it feels like homework.

This guide gives you a simple approval system you can run as a small SaaS: a default decision tree, clear red flags, and copy/paste rules you can publish.

Table of contents

• What ‘approval’ really controls
• Default decision tree (auto vs manual)
• Red flags (when to review)
• A practical approval checklist
• Copy/paste policy text
• FAQ
• Related pages

What approval really controls

An affiliate approval decision controls three things: (1) who gets access to your tracking links/coupons, (2) who can create a future payout liability, and (3) how many disputes you will need to handle later.

• Approving an affiliate is not a compliment — it’s a risk decision.
• Your goal is not ‘zero fraud’. Your goal is ‘fraud is rare and easy to detect’.
• The best approval system is one you will actually run every week.

Default decision tree (auto vs manual)

Use this simple rule: auto-approve low-risk applicants, manually review the rest. You do not need a complex score model to start.

Red flags (when to review)

• No verifiable audience/channel (no site, no social, no examples)
• Suspicious ‘promo method’ answers (copy/paste, vague, or mismatched to your product)
• Free email + mismatched name/company (e.g., random Gmail + ‘Marketing LLC’)
• Affiliate asks for a coupon immediately (before understanding your product)
• Affiliate wants to bid on your brand name in Google Ads (unless you explicitly allow it)
• Multiple signups from same IP/device or very similar profiles (if you can see it)

A practical approval checklist

A founder-friendly review takes 2–5 minutes. You are looking for intent + fit + basic legitimacy.

• Can I find their website/channel in under 60 seconds?
• Does their audience match my buyer (SaaS founders, agencies, Stripe users, etc.)?
• Do they understand what they are promoting (one sentence in their own words)?
• Do they want a coupon? If yes, do I want to allow coupons at all (and do I have a conflict rule)?
• Do I have a clear self-referral rule and do they acknowledge it?

Copy/paste policy text

Template 1: Approval + termination

Approval: We review affiliate applications to protect our customers and partners. We may approve or reject applications at our discretion. We may pause or terminate accounts that violate our promotion rules or create fraud risk.

Template 2: Prohibited promotion methods (starter)

• No self-referrals or commissions on your own purchases.
• No coupon/deal sites unless explicitly approved.
• No bidding on our brand name or trademarks unless explicitly allowed in writing.
• No misleading claims, fake reviews, or impersonation.

Template 3: Coupon rule (if you allow coupons)

Coupons: Coupon codes are issued only to named, approved affiliates. If a coupon is used, attribution follows our published rule (coupon owner unless a different affiliate link click occurred within the prior 24 hours).

FAQ

Should I auto-approve affiliates?

Yes — but only for low-risk applicants (recognizable customers, clearly legitimate creators). Auto-approval is fine when you also have clear rules and a refund-aware payout process.

Is manual approval enough to stop fraud?

It reduces it a lot, but fraud prevention is a system: approval rules + self-referral policy + payout delays until the refund window closes + an auditable ledger.

Related pages

• Affiliate management: how to prevent ghost affiliates
• Affiliate tracking without coupons (when coupons are a bad idea)
• Affiliate dashboard: what to show
• All tools
• Marginal revenue calculator