1. Who runs the programme
The WinHive Affiliate Programme is operated by Joseph Ryan trading as WinHive. Affiliate questions should be sent to hello@winhive.co.uk.
2. Eligibility and approval
You must be at least 18 years old to apply. Sending an application does not guarantee approval. WinHive may approve, decline, suspend or end an affiliate account where reasonably necessary to protect customers, the programme or the WinHive brand.
Approval creates a commercial affiliate arrangement only. It does not make you an employee, worker, agent, partner, franchisee or representative authorised to bind WinHive.
3. What an affiliate receives
Approved affiliates receive a unique tracking link and may create a unique signup code. A new customer who creates a WinHive account through a valid affiliate link or code receives £1 Hive Credit. Hive Credit is promotional account credit, is non-withdrawable and is subject to the normal WinHive customer terms.
4. When the £1 affiliate reward is earned
A signup by itself does not earn the affiliate £1. The referred customer must be a genuinely new customer, make a genuine real-money top-up and then complete a paid competition entry. Once those conditions are met, the affiliate receives a £1 cash affiliate earning.
Self-referrals, duplicate accounts, fake identities, automated registrations, refunded or disputed funding, accounts created only to generate commission, or any other artificial activity do not qualify.
5. 1% commission for the first 30 days
For the first 30 days after the referred customer creates their account, the affiliate earns 1% of eligible paid-entry spend. Eligible spend is capped by genuine real-money top-ups made by that customer. Free Hive Credit, affiliate welcome credit, promotional credit, manual credit, refunds and other non-cash credit do not create commission by themselves.
Commission is calculated in pence and may build over several entries before a whole penny becomes payable. WinHive may correct the ledger where an entry, top-up or payment is refunded, reversed, disputed, charged back or found to be invalid.
6. Attribution
Affiliate attribution is fixed when a brand-new WinHive customer account is created. The valid affiliate link or signup code used at registration determines the affiliate. Affiliate offers cannot be stacked with a separate WinHive signup promotion. Existing WinHive accounts cannot be retrospectively attached to an affiliate.
Tracking links are recorded when they are opened. Click figures are intended as useful programme reporting and may include repeat visitors. They are not a promise that every click represents a unique person.
7. Advertising disclosure
Affiliate content must be clearly identifiable as advertising wherever the commercial relationship would not otherwise be obvious. On social media, streams, videos, blogs and similar content, the disclosure must be clear and prominent before or at the point the affiliate promotion is seen. A hidden footer disclaimer or vague wording is not enough.
Use clear wording such as “Ad” or an equally clear platform-appropriate disclosure. If you use a WinHive affiliate link or signup code, do not present yourself as an independent customer with no commercial connection to WinHive.
8. Age and audience rules
WinHive competitions are for eligible adults aged 18+ in England, Scotland and Wales. Affiliate advertising must not be targeted at anyone under 18. Do not use children, youth-focused channels, school or college audiences, or content primarily designed to appeal to under-18s to promote WinHive.
9. Accuracy and responsible promotion
Affiliate advertising must be truthful, current and capable of being understood without misleading omissions. Do not:
- guarantee or imply that somebody will win;
- invent odds, winners, entry numbers, closing dates, prize values or availability;
- describe a prize as free if payment or another material condition applies;
- hide important eligibility, entry-price or closing information when it is material to the promotion;
- misrepresent the free postal-entry route or suggest that paid entries receive better winning odds than valid free entries;
- use fake testimonials, fake screenshots, fake account balances or fabricated WinHive results;
- encourage irresponsible spending, chasing losses, borrowing money, using credit to participate, or treating prize draws as a way to solve financial problems.
Where you promote a specific competition, use the current competition page as the source of truth and link viewers to the relevant WinHive terms.
10. Prohibited traffic and promotion methods
The following are not permitted without WinHive's prior written approval:
- spam email, unsolicited bulk messages or scraped contact lists;
- bots, click farms, automated traffic, forced clicks, pop-unders or misleading redirects;
- incentivising people to create accounts purely so the affiliate can earn commission;
- self-referrals, household account farming or arranging reciprocal referrals;
- cookie stuffing, attribution hijacking or interfering with another affiliate's tracking;
- paid search advertising that impersonates WinHive, uses misleading domains, or bids on WinHive brand terms in a way that could confuse customers;
- domains, profiles or usernames designed to look like an official WinHive account;
- promotion on a platform where the promotion breaches that platform's own rules;
- illegal, hateful, deceptive, adult-only or otherwise seriously harmful content.
11. Brand use
You may refer to WinHive and use materials WinHive makes available for affiliate promotion. Do not alter the WinHive logo in a misleading way, claim to be WinHive, register confusingly similar domains or social handles, or create advertising that appears to be an official WinHive statement when it is not.
12. Monitoring and evidence
WinHive may ask for links, screenshots or examples of affiliate advertising where reasonably required to check compliance. Affiliates must remove or correct non-compliant content promptly when asked. WinHive may withhold disputed earnings while suspected fraud or advertising breaches are investigated.
13. Cash balance and withdrawals
Affiliate earnings are cash earnings and are separate from customer Hive Credit. The minimum withdrawal is £20. A withdrawal can only be requested against the available affiliate balance and requires valid UK bank-account details.
Withdrawal requests are processed manually and may take up to 15 business days. A requested amount is reserved from the affiliate's available balance immediately. Completed payments are recorded with a payment reference.
14. Bank details and security
Bank details are collected only when needed for affiliate payouts and are encrypted before storage. Affiliates are responsible for keeping payout details accurate. WinHive may ask for reasonable verification before making or reissuing a payment.
15. Tax
Affiliate earnings are paid gross. The affiliate is responsible for determining and paying any tax, National Insurance or other liabilities that apply to their own earnings and circumstances. WinHive does not provide personal tax advice.
16. Refunds, chargebacks and invalid activity
If activity that generated an earning is later refunded, charged back, reversed, duplicated, fraudulent or otherwise invalid, WinHive may reverse or deduct the related affiliate earning from the current or future balance. Where money has already been paid, WinHive may offset the amount against future affiliate earnings or request repayment where appropriate.
17. Suspension and termination
WinHive may suspend new tracking immediately where there is suspected fraud, misleading advertising, unlawful marketing, abuse of the programme or a material breach of these terms. Confirmed valid earnings accrued before suspension remain subject to the normal validation, adjustment and withdrawal rules.
Either side may end the affiliate relationship. Once ended, the affiliate must stop presenting expired links, codes or promotions as current and remove advertising that could mislead customers into believing the commercial relationship continues.
18. Changes to the programme
WinHive may change commission rates, qualification rules, withdrawal requirements or these terms for future activity. Material changes will be shown in the affiliate dashboard or communicated by email. Earnings already validly accrued before a change will not be reduced simply because a future rate changes.
19. Data protection
Affiliate application, account, referral, payout and bank information is handled under the WinHive Privacy Policy. Affiliates must also comply with data-protection and direct-marketing rules when they collect or use personal information for their own promotional activity.
20. General
If part of these terms cannot be enforced, the remaining terms continue to apply. A delay in enforcing a term does not waive it. These terms are governed by the laws applicable to WinHive's operation in Great Britain, and nothing in them removes rights that cannot legally be excluded.
