Choosing a program comes after choosing a niche and before creating the first affiliate Pin. The program decides what you can recommend, how long a click counts and, above all, whether its links may appear where you plan to put them. This guide compares programs from their own pages and is part of our map of routes to earning with Pinterest (opens in a new tab). It expands step 4 of the seven step plan for affiliate beginners (opens in a new tab).
Does Pinterest have its own affiliate program?
Pinterest’s creator page describes affiliate links as something you bring from outside. It says you can tag Pins using affiliate links to earn commission when people click through and shop, that you’ll first need to join an affiliate program before using the tags, and that Pinterest isn’t part of the affiliate agreements, so your commission depends on the terms you set up with external merchants or programs. The same page says Pinterest does not facilitate payment for monetization programs like product tagging, affiliate links or brand partnerships.
So the program you join, not Pinterest, sets the commission, the cookie period and the rules on where its links may go. Pinterest sets the rules for the Pins themselves.
Direct programs and affiliate networks
The programs read for this guide come in two kinds.
A direct program is run by the merchant. Amazon Associates is one: its Operating Agreement sets the terms of the program and says the Associates Program permits you to monetize your website, social media user-generated content, online software application, or Alexa skill.
An affiliate network connects publishers to many brands from one account. Awin’s page for content creators says you can create and share unique affiliate links across all your content formats, including blogs, social posts, videos and newsletters. CJ’s publisher page says you can join programs with a single click and use its Deep Link Generator tool to create tracking links directly from a brand site. Rakuten Advertising’s publisher page says you can partner with consumer brands across verticals including Luxury, Retail, Finance and Travel.
Some merchants use a network to run their own program. Etsy’s help page names Rakuten as Etsy’s third-party partner: you agree to Rakuten’s terms when you join, and you are paid through your Rakuten account.
Programs compared from their own pages
| Program | Kind | What its pages say that matters on Pinterest |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Associates | Direct | You must identify your Sites. The social networks it accepts are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Twitch; Pinterest is not on that list. |
| Etsy Affiliates program | Direct, run with Rakuten | Designed for bloggers, media and editorial publications. Cookie period of 30 days. |
| Etsy Creator Collective | Direct, run with Rakuten | Designed for social media content creators, with a minimum of 500 followers on at least one authorized channel. Cookie period of 7 days. |
| Awin | Network | Its page says you can promote brands on any social network. Each brand you join has its own program. |
Our guides to Amazon’s rules for Pinterest affiliates (opens in a new tab) and to Etsy’s two affiliate programs (opens in a new tab) go through each one in detail.
The table shows why this guide gives no single ranking of the best affiliate programs for Pinterest. Amazon’s pages point a Pinterest user toward linking Pins to a website, while Awin’s page allows any social network. Which one is better depends on whether you have a blog and on what your niche sells.
Five checks before you pin a program’s links
Read the program’s terms for these five points before you create the first affiliate Pin:
- Sites: whether you must declare your website or your Pinterest profile.
- Where links may go: on your website, on social platforms, or both.
- Disclosure: the wording the program asks for.
- Cookie period and payment: how long a click counts and when you are paid.
- Link format: tagged links, and whether shorteners are allowed.
Each check has a real example on the pages read. Amazon’s Program Policies say you must identify your Site(s) in your application and will not display tagged links on a site that is not your Site. Amazon’s Operating Agreement asks for the sentence “As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.” Etsy’s help page gives cookie periods of 30 days for affiliates and 7 days for creators. Amazon’s policies say you will not use a link shortening service in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site.
Pinterest’s rules for any program
Whatever program you join, Pinterest’s affiliate guidelines apply to the Pins. They ask you to:
- Follow the paid partnership guidelines, which give the use of #ad as an example of a clear disclosure.
- In general, operate only one Pinterest account, your authentic presence on Pinterest.
- Make affiliate content original, adding unique value for Pinners.
- Be transparent about the commercial nature of your content and about your links and their behavior.
- Avoid fake accounts, quid pro quo saves and affiliate Pins created repetitively or in large volumes.
The same guidelines say some shortener services are not currently supported on Pinterest. Pinterest’s Community Guidelines add the “no surprises” principle for links. How these rules apply to a single Pin, with disclosure wording, is in our guide to affiliate links and disclosure on Pinterest (opens in a new tab).
A prompt to turn program terms into a checklist
Terms of use are long. An AI assistant can sort them into the five checks above, as long as you paste the text yourself and read the clauses it points to. The prompt works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any AI assistant.
Below are the terms of an affiliate program I want to use with Pinterest.
Program name: [program name].
How I plan to use it: [for example "Pins that link to my blog posts"].
Read the terms and answer five questions, quoting the exact sentence for each answer:
1. Which Sites must I declare, and is a Pinterest profile accepted?
2. Where may the links be posted?
3. What disclosure wording is required?
4. What is the cookie period, and when is commission paid?
5. Are link shorteners or other link formats restricted?
If the terms do not answer a question, write "not stated". Do not guess.
Terms: [paste the terms]Open each quoted sentence in the original terms before you rely on it.
Right after
- Pick one program that fits your niche and read its terms with the five checks.
- If you choose Amazon, set up the website route described in our Amazon guide before your first Pin.
- Draft your first affiliate Pins from the sample affiliate Pins in four formats (opens in a new tab).