What should I agree with creators before paying them on results? A checklist to copy

Go through the questions with the creator or their agency and write the answers into your agreement. If you pay through your affiliate programme, its terms already answer some of them. Check they fit this campaign and fill in the rest. The labelling in point 6 follows the recommendations in the German media authorities’ guidelines as of May 2025. The list is there so nothing gets missed. It is not a contract.

Terms for [campaign] with [creator or agency], as of [date]

1. What counts as a result
[ ] What do we pay for: sales, clicks, views, watch time or reach? If several, how are they combined?
[ ] Does a sale count from the order, from payment, or only once the return period is over?
[ ] Do only first-time orders count, or all orders?
[ ] Which products are excluded, such as gift cards or sale items?

2. Who measures
[ ] Which number applies if the affiliate programme, the shop and the creator show different figures?
[ ] How many days after the click is a sale still credited?
[ ] What applies if another partner or an ad was also clicked before the sale?
[ ] Do sales with the discount code count without a click on the link?
[ ] Do sales in the app or in a physical store count?

3. What the commission is based on
[ ] Including or excluding VAT?
[ ] Including or excluding shipping, before or after discounts?
[ ] What happens with returns, partial returns, exchanges and cancellations?
[ ] When does a sale count as confirmed, for example [number] days after delivery?

4. Billing and payment
[ ] How often do we settle: monthly or after the campaign ends?
[ ] By when do we pay, and from which day does that period run?
[ ] Do we issue a self-billing credit note, or does the creator send an invoice?
[ ] Is the creator VAT-registered, a Kleinunternehmer (small business scheme) or based abroad? Tax number or VAT ID?
[ ] Which account do we pay into?

5. Budget, cap and incentive
[ ] Is there a maximum per creator, per month or for the whole campaign?
[ ] What happens once it is reached?
[ ] Is there a fixed fee on top that is paid even without sales, or a bonus above a threshold?

6. Labelling and content
[ ] How is the post labelled: “Werbung” or “Anzeige” (advertisement) as the first word of the caption, a label on every story slide, and in a video centred on the product a “Werbung” overlay for the whole video or ad sequence?
[ ] What goes next to links and codes: “Werbung” or “Anzeige” right beside them, plus * with an explanation for affiliate links?
[ ] Do we see the post before it goes live, and how quickly do we reply?
[ ] What happens if the label is missing, and by when is it fixed?
[ ] Which claims about the product are off limits?

7. Links, codes and shops
[ ] Where do the links go: our online shop, retail partners, Amazon?
[ ] Where may the discount code be shared, including coupon sites?
[ ] May the creator run search ads on our brand name?
[ ] What are the code’s terms: validity, minimum order value, exclusions?

8. Rights, term and end
[ ] May we reuse posts, for example as ads? If so: where, for how long, for what fee?
[ ] Is there exclusivity for a product category, and for how long?
[ ] How long does the agreement run, and with how much notice can it be ended?
[ ] Are sales through old links still paid after the end, and for how long?

Subject: [campaign]: terms to agree

Hi [name],

before we start, we’d like to put the terms in writing. Here’s our proposal:

1. We pay [rate or amount] for [sales, clicks, watch time or reach], counted via [source]. [On top, a fixed [amount] per post.]
2. A sale counts if it comes in within [number] days of someone clicking your link.
3. Commission is calculated on the [value of goods excluding VAT and shipping, after discounts, returns and cancellations].
4. A sale is confirmed [number] days after delivery. We settle [monthly] by [credit note or invoice] and pay by [deadline].
5. No more than [amount] per [month or campaign].
6. Labelling: “Werbung” as the first word of the caption and on every story slide, on screen for the whole video, “Werbung” right next to the link and the code, plus * with a short note on affiliate links.
7. The links go to [shop]. Your code [code] is meant for your own channels.
8. Runs until [date]. Sales through your links still count for [number] days after that.

For billing we still need your tax status (VAT-registered, Kleinunternehmer or based abroad), your tax number or VAT ID and your address.

Does that work for you, or should we change anything?

Best wishes
[name]

The checklist settles how you pay. It does not make anyone post. An affiliate programme, or a platform where creators can pick your products, brings no reach on its own. Many partners in a programme never become active, and the creators you most want rarely post without a reason. With commission on sales only, they also carry the risk: if a post sells nothing, the work goes unpaid.

So the real problem lies elsewhere: getting creators active, many of them in the same period, and then seeing who actually sells. In your terms, the points that give people a reason help here, such as a fixed time frame, a budget, a fixed fee or a bonus above a threshold (point 5). If you then look at results per creator, you know who is worth another round.

Say someone orders two items at €59.50 each through a creator’s link, including 19% German VAT (§ 12(1) UStG), uses a 10% discount code, pays €4.90 shipping and later sends one item back. The 10% rate is just an example as well. Depending on the base, you pay between €4.50 and €11.90 in commission on the same sale.

You only know weeks later which items are kept. Anyone in Germany who orders online as a consumer can usually withdraw within 14 days of receiving the goods and then has another 14 days from the withdrawal to send them back (§ 312g(1), § 355(2) and (3), § 356(2) no. 1(a), § 357(1) BGB, the German Civil Code). If the parcel arrives on 3 November 2026 and the shopper withdraws on the last day, the goods can still be sent back on 1 December (§ 187(1), § 188(1) BGB).

If you only pay on goods that are kept, your agreement needs a day from which a sale counts as confirmed. If you voluntarily allow longer returns, add the longer period. For some goods there is no right of withdrawal at all, such as sealed hygiene products once the seal has been removed after delivery (§ 312g(2) no. 3 BGB). So the rule can differ by product group.

Clicks and sales come from links, the affiliate programme and your shop. Watch time, views and reach usually sit only in the creator’s stats. If you pay on them, agree beforehand what the proof looks like.

1. Write the metric into the agreement under the name the app uses, and name the post it applies to. Views, reach and watch time are different numbers, and “views” on its own is too vague.
2. Set a cut-off date, such as seven days after posting or the end of the campaign. The numbers can keep growing while the post is online, and without a cut-off each side reads them at a different time.
3. Set the format: a screenshot of the stats showing account, post, date and metric, or a short screen recording from the profile to the number. For several posts, a table with a link to each post helps.
4. Agree how to treat reach from running the post as a paid ad as well, and who pays for that ad.
5. Set a deadline for the proof and say what applies if it is missing or a post is deleted before the cut-off date.
6. Keep the proof, the settlement and screenshots of the published posts together. That way you can show later what you paid for.

If you pay creators directly, your agreement sets out who does the billing. When you pay on results, the confirmed sales are in your system, so a Gutschrift (self-billing credit note) often makes sense: an invoice that your company issues itself as the recipient of the service. This only works if you agreed on it in advance (§ 14(2) sentence 5 UStG, the German VAT Act), and the credit note stops counting as an invoice as soon as the creator objects (§ 14(2) sentence 6 UStG). So your terms should include the agreement on self-billing, the creator’s tax status and the details for the document, including name, address and tax number or VAT ID (§ 14(4) sentence 1 nos. 1 and 2 UStG; for a Kleinunternehmer, § 34a sentence 1 nos. 1 and 2 UStDV).

The creator’s tax status and location decide the format and content of the credit note. If your company and a VAT-registered creator are both based in Germany, the credit note generally has to be an e-invoice in a structured electronic format (§ 14(1) sentence 3, (2) sentence 2 no. 1 UStG). The transition rules for this end in late 2026, in some cases in late 2027 (§ 27(38) UStG). If the creator is a Kleinunternehmer (small business scheme), their sales are exempt (§ 19(1) UStG). The credit note then shows no VAT but a note on the small business exemption, and may be sent on paper or, if the creator agrees, as a PDF (§ 34a UStDV, § 14(1) sentence 5 UStG). If the creator is based abroad, your company usually owes the VAT. This is called reverse charge (§ 3a(2), § 13b(1), (2) no. 1 and (5) UStG).

German law also limits payment terms. A period of more than 60 days after receiving the service is only valid if it is expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the creator; if an invoice arrives later, the period runs from its receipt (§ 271a(1) BGB). If you use the same pre-written terms for many creators, they usually count as standard business terms (§ 305(1) BGB). Then even more than 30 days is presumed unreasonably long, even if the creators are businesses (§ 308 no. 1a, § 310(1) BGB). If you pay through an affiliate programme, its terms say who bills the creators.

With wyrld Boost you put your budget behind creators who feature your products, right away. You set the budget, products, time frame and KPIs, for example purchases, clicks, watch time or reach, and many creators can take part at once. Taking part is each creator’s own choice, so the number who join is up to them. You agree with wyrld before launch how the pool is split. wyrld measures clicks through the links, the shops report purchases, and creators upload watch time and reach from their own stats (points 1 and 2 of the checklist). You decide where people buy (point 7), and creators label their Boost campaign videos as advertising (point 6).

With the brand and shop subscription you see every day which creators feature your products and who actually sells. wyrld sets up separate terms with those creators, such as their own commission rates or bonuses (point 5), or plans a Boost campaign with you.

If your affiliate programme runs through one of the major affiliate networks, creators can usually already pick your products on wyrld. In the programme, wyrld then shows up as a single partner. Without a programme, you can talk to wyrld about a direct connection. You pay on your own terms per click, per sale or both, and wyrld settles with the creators itself, at the start of the following month by self-billing credit note (point 4). Creators’ commission is based on the net value of a sale, after VAT, shipping, discounts, returns and cancellations (point 3). Connection, subscription or Boost: you can talk to wyrld about what fits your brand, and prices for the subscription and Boost are available on request.