The main ecommerce affiliate programs in 2026 are Amazon Associates (up to 10% on qualifying purchases, varying by category), Walmart's affiliate program for US shoppers, the eBay Partner Network, and Etsy's Affiliates and Creator Collective tracks. Regional marketplaces matter too: Flipkart pays up to 8% in India and noon pays up to 10% in the Middle East. If you can reach store owners rather than shoppers, the software side of ecommerce (Printful, Spocket, Sellfy, Shopify apps) pays recurring commission and usually earns more per referral.
That split is the whole article in one sentence. Sending shoppers to a marketplace is volume work with thin margins. Sending merchants to a tool is relationship work with fat ones. Most ecommerce publishers end up doing a bit of both, and the mistake is treating them the same.
Live table: marketplace and retail programs
These rows come from the PartnersWatch ecommerce directory and the retail directory. Rates are what each brand states on its own partner page. Check the program page before you commit a site to a number.
| Program | Partner types | Terms | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Affiliate | Up to 10% on qualifying purchases (varies by category) | One-time |
| Walmart | Affiliate | On request | — |
| eBay | Affiliate | On request | — |
| Etsy | Affiliate | Commission on approved sales (rate not published on page) | Revenue share |
| Flipkart | Affiliate | Category-based: 8% fashion & lifestyle, 5% books & general merchandise, 3% home/furniture/electronics, 2% grocery | Revenue share |
| noon | Affiliate | Up to 10% per order, varying by category | Revenue share |
| Purple | Affiliate | Competitive commission per sale; terms shared on approval | One-time |
| Earlybird | Affiliate | Up to 15% on sales | One-time |
Live table: programs for selling to store owners
| Program | Partner types | Terms | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Printful | Affiliate | 10% of referred sales for 12 months, plus $25 per Growth plan referral | Recurring |
| Printify | Affiliate | 5% commission for 12 months | Recurring |
| Spocket | Affiliate | Up to 50% commission, uncapped | Recurring |
| Sellfy | Affiliate | 25% lifetime commission on paid plans | Recurring |
| Fast Bundle | Affiliate, Referral partner | 25% lifetime recurring commission | Recurring |
| Alidrop | Affiliate | Tiered 25%-35% based on sales volume | Revenue share |
| Zendrop | Affiliate | $25 per signup | Flat fee / bounty |
| Tapstitch | Affiliate | 10% on referrals' sales for 12 months | Recurring |
Want the full list? Browse every affiliate listing or filter the directory by recurring commission.
Shopper programs vs merchant programs
Here's the maths that decides which side you should lean into.
A shopper clicks your link, buys a $40 kitchen gadget, and you earn a few percent of that one basket, once.
A merchant clicks your link, signs up for a print-on-demand or dropshipping tool, and keeps paying for it every month they run their store. Printful pays 10% of referred sales for 12 months. Sellfy pays 25% lifetime on paid plans. Fast Bundle pays 25% lifetime recurring on Shopify merchants you send. One merchant who sticks around can be worth more than a hundred one-off product sales.
So why does anyone bother with Amazon? Because the audience is enormous and the conversion rate is high. People already trust Amazon, already have their card saved, and buy things they didn't click for. A product review site with real traffic can make steady money on marketplaces. It just needs volume to do it.
My rule of thumb: if your readers are buying things, go marketplace. If your readers are selling things, go merchant tools. If you're not sure, look at your top ten pages and ask which of those two people searched for them.
Amazon Associates
Amazon Associates is the default for a reason. It pays up to 10% on qualifying purchases, with rates set by product category, and it runs across a long list of marketplaces including the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, India, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and more. You need a qualifying website or mobile app to join. Influencers who live on social platforms have a separate Influencer Program.
What the headline hides is the category spread. "Up to 10%" is the ceiling, not the average, and the categories that sell most volume often pay least. Before you build a site around Amazon, check the current rate for your specific category on Amazon's own commission page, not on a blog post from two years ago.
People searching "amazon partner" are often mixing up two things: Associates (the affiliate program, for publishers) and selling on Amazon (for merchants). This page is about the first. If you help brands sell on Amazon, you're an agency, and you want agency partner programs instead.
Walmart affiliate program
The Walmart affiliate program pays commission on purchases referred to Walmart.com, and it's US only. Walmart doesn't publish its rates on the program page, so you'll see them after you apply. What it does publish is speed: approval typically comes within about a day, which is fast for a retailer that size.
Affiliates get a member center for custom banners and links, product data feeds, a weekly newsletter with promotions, and a dedicated account team.
Walmart is the obvious second program for US product sites already on Amazon. Same readers, same intent, and you can link whichever retailer has the item in stock or cheaper that week.
eBay Partner Network
The eBay Partner Network is eBay's in-house program. It covers publishers, apps and creators who send buyers to eBay listings, of which there are about 2.5 billion, roughly 80% of them new items. eBay doesn't list a fixed rate on the page.
eBay suits niches Amazon handles badly: collectibles, used gear, parts, refurbished electronics, anything where buyers want a specific listing rather than a generic product. The reporting is detailed, which helps if you're testing which categories convert. There's also a separate eBay Ambassador track for social creators in the US and UK.
Etsy Affiliates and Creator Collective
Etsy runs two tracks. Affiliates is for bloggers, media and editorial sites. Creator Collective is for social media creators. Etsy sellers can join either one. The rate isn't published on the page.
One detail worth knowing: Etsy validates commissions about 30 days after the sale, to allow for returns. That's normal for retail, but it means your dashboard will show money you don't have yet. Plan cash flow accordingly.
Etsy works when your content is about gifts, home decor, weddings, crafts or anything handmade. Gift guides are the classic fit. They rank seasonally and convert hard in November and December.
Flipkart affiliate program (India)
The Flipkart affiliate program is one of the more transparent marketplace programs because it publishes its rates by category: 8% on fashion and lifestyle, 5% on books and general merchandise, 3% on home, furniture and electronics, and 2% on grocery. Affiliates get banners, widgets, APIs and real-time reports.
Look at that table and the strategy writes itself. If you can rank for fashion and lifestyle content in India, you earn four times what the same traffic earns on grocery. Electronics content is popular and competitive, but at 3% it needs a lot of volume.
noon affiliate program (Middle East)
The noon affiliate program pays up to 10% per order depending on category. It's one of the large marketplaces in the Middle East. Signup is free and needs only an email and phone number.
noon supports both tracking links and custom coupon codes. Coupon codes are useful if your audience is on social platforms or messaging apps where links get stripped or ignored. A creator who says "use my code" on a video often outperforms one who says "link in bio".
Brand programs: Purple and Earlybird
Not every ecommerce program is a marketplace. Single brands run their own too.
Purple, the sleep brand, runs separate tracks for individual creators and for publishers such as review sites and newsletters. It shares terms on approval and gives approved partners a dedicated account manager, with tracking through Impact.
Earlybird, a deals and lifetime-offer marketplace, pays up to 15% on sales from both new and existing customers, with a 30-day cookie and monthly payouts after the refund period. There's a $50 minimum payout.
Merchant tools: print-on-demand and dropshipping
This is where ecommerce affiliate money gets interesting.
- Printful: 10% of referred sales for 12 months, plus $25 per first-time Growth plan subscription. 30-day cookie. Applications reviewed in 2 to 5 business days.
- Printify: 5% for 12 months with a 90-day cookie, monthly PayPal payouts, and custom promo codes on request.
- Tapstitch: 10% on referrals' sales for 12 months. It wants an established audience in ecommerce or fashion.
- Spocket: up to 50% commission, uncapped, for referring dropshipping merchants.
- AliDrop: tiered 25% to 35% based on sales volume.
- Zendrop: a flat $25 per signup, through Impact.
- Sellfy: 25% lifetime on paid plans, with higher tiers at 6+ monthly sales.
- Fast Bundle: 25% lifetime recurring on Shopify merchants.
Notice something about Printful and Printify: they pay on the merchant's sales, not on a subscription. If you refer a store that takes off, your commission grows with it for a year. If you refer someone who never sells a shirt, you earn nothing. So the quality of who you send matters more here than almost anywhere else. A YouTube tutorial aimed at people already running stores beats a "make money online" video aimed at dreamers.
For the platform side, the Shopify Partner Program covers app developers, theme creators, agencies and affiliates. Shopify doesn't publish affiliate rates on its partner page, but it says it paid partners $1.3B in 2025. Wix Studio pays agencies a 20%+ revenue share on every Premium site they build, and Squarespace Circle gives professional site builders discounts, extended trials and referral payments.
How to pick
- Product review or deals site, US audience: Amazon plus Walmart, with eBay for used and collectible items.
- Gift guides and lifestyle: Etsy plus Amazon.
- India or Middle East audience: Flipkart or noon first. Local marketplaces convert better than global ones.
- Audience of store owners or would-be sellers: Printful, Printify, Spocket, Sellfy. Recurring or 12-month deals beat one-off product commissions.
- Agency building stores for clients: Shopify, Wix Studio, Squarespace Circle.
If recurring income is what you're after, read recurring vs one-time commission before you choose. It changes how you value every program on this page.
Mistakes I see constantly
Building on one marketplace. Amazon has changed its rates before. Any single program can. Two retailers per niche is cheap insurance.
Ignoring the returns window. Retail commissions get reversed when products come back. Fashion has high return rates. Your real earnings will be lower than your dashboard's first number.
Coupon spam. Some programs restrict coupon sites, and many forbid bidding on their brand name in search ads. Read the terms before you promote. Our guide to affiliate brand bidding rules covers what to look for.
How we built this list
PartnersWatch lists open partner programs from each brand's own public partner page, with the date we last checked it. We're not affiliated with these brands, and any brand can claim, correct or remove its listing. Terms change without notice, so confirm the current rate on the program page before you rely on it. See how the directory works.
FAQ
What is the best ecommerce affiliate program?
For most product review sites, Amazon Associates is the starting point because of its reach and conversion rate, paying up to 10% depending on category. If your audience runs online stores, merchant tools such as Printful (10% of referred sales for 12 months) or Sellfy (25% lifetime) usually earn more per referral.
How much does Amazon Associates pay?
Amazon Associates pays up to 10% on qualifying purchases, with the rate set by product category. Many high-volume categories pay less than the maximum, so check the current category rate on Amazon's own page.
Is the Walmart affiliate program worth it?
For US audiences, yes as a second retailer next to Amazon. Walmart approves new partners in about a day and offers product feeds and a dedicated account team. It doesn't publish rates on its program page; you see them after applying.
What commission does the Flipkart affiliate program pay?
Flipkart pays by category: 8% on fashion and lifestyle, 5% on books and general merchandise, 3% on home, furniture and electronics, and 2% on grocery.
Does Etsy have an affiliate program?
Yes. Etsy runs an Affiliates program for bloggers and editorial sites and a Creator Collective for social creators. Commissions are validated about 30 days after each sale to allow for returns.
Which ecommerce affiliate programs pay recurring commission?
Printful (10% for 12 months), Printify (5% for 12 months), Tapstitch (10% for 12 months), Sellfy (25% lifetime) and Fast Bundle (25% lifetime) all pay on an ongoing basis. They pay for referring merchants, not shoppers.
Can I join ecommerce affiliate programs without a website?
Some, yes. Etsy's Creator Collective and eBay's Ambassador track are built for social creators, and noon supports coupon codes you can share anywhere. Amazon Associates requires a qualifying website or mobile app.