Skip Affiliate Program Agreement
Effective Date: The date the Affiliate accepts this Agreement electronically.
This Affiliate Program Agreement (the “Agreement”) is between YoGovernment, Inc. DBA Skip (“Skip”), a Delaware corporation, and the individual or entity accepting this Agreement (“Affiliate”).
By applying to or participating in the Skip Affiliate Program, Affiliate agrees to the following terms.
1. Affiliate Program
Skip operates a software platform that provides tools, information, services, memberships, and other resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The Skip Affiliate Program allows approved Affiliates to refer individuals and businesses to Skip and, when applicable, earn referral credits or cash commissions for qualifying referrals.
Participation in the Affiliate Program does not guarantee any minimum level of referrals, commissions, credits, income, or other compensation.
2. Referral Tracking and Eligibility
Affiliate will receive a unique referral link, referral code, or other tracking mechanism provided by Skip.
A referral is eligible for Affiliate Credits or Affiliate Fees only when:
- the referral is successfully attributed to Affiliate through Skip's systems;
- the referred user satisfies Skip's then-current referral eligibility requirements; and
- any other requirements applicable to the particular referral reward or commission have been satisfied.
Skip's records and systems will control for purposes of determining referral attribution, eligibility, membership status, commissions, credits, and payouts.
Emails, notifications, screenshots, or other communications regarding a referral do not independently establish eligibility for compensation.
Skip may exclude referrals including, but not limited to:
- duplicate or previously existing accounts;
- self-referrals;
- fraudulent, automated, or invalid accounts;
- accounts that cannot be reasonably verified;
- canceled, refunded, disputed, or charged-back transactions;
- referrals that cannot reliably be attributed to Affiliate; and
- referrals that otherwise fail to satisfy the applicable Affiliate Program requirements.
Referral attribution is determined by Skip's tracking systems and attribution rules. Skip does not guarantee attribution where tracking is unavailable, interrupted, blocked, deleted, circumvented, or otherwise cannot reliably identify the referring Affiliate.
If multiple Affiliates claim the same referral, or another attribution dispute occurs, Skip will determine attribution in its reasonable discretion based on its records, and that determination will be final.
3. Affiliate Credits
Skip may provide Affiliate Credits for qualifying referrals.
Affiliate Credits may be used only toward eligible Skip products, memberships, or services and:
- have no cash value;
- are not transferable;
- cannot be redeemed for cash; and
- may be subject to additional eligibility, expiration, or redemption requirements displayed by Skip.
Skip may change the amount of Affiliate Credits or the requirements for earning them prospectively.
4. Cash Commissions
Skip may pay cash commissions (“Affiliate Fees”) when qualifying referred users become eligible paying Skip members or satisfy another commissionable event specified by Skip.
Current commission rates and qualification requirements will be displayed in the Skip Affiliate Program, Affiliate dashboard, or other official Skip materials.
For example, Skip may offer different commission amounts for Skip Plus, Skip Pro, or other memberships or products.
The applicable commission is the commission offered by Skip for the applicable qualifying event at the time that event occurs.
A referral signing up, starting a free trial, or creating a Skip account does not necessarily qualify Affiliate for a cash commission. Unless Skip expressly provides otherwise, a membership commission is earned only after the referred user becomes an eligible paying member and satisfies Skip's applicable commission requirements.
Affiliate may request eligible payouts through the methods provided by Skip. Payouts are subject to verification and validation.
5. Refunds, Chargebacks and Clawbacks
If Skip pays a commission for a transaction that is subsequently refunded, disputed, charged back, determined to be fraudulent, or otherwise becomes ineligible, Skip may:
- reverse or recover the commission;
- deduct the amount from Affiliate's current balance; or
- offset the amount against future commissions.
Affiliate authorizes Skip to make such adjustments when reasonably necessary to correct an ineligible payment.
6. Changes to the Affiliate Program
Skip may prospectively modify the Affiliate Program, including its:
- commission rates;
- credit amounts;
- qualifying products or memberships;
- referral eligibility requirements;
- attribution rules;
- payout requirements;
- promotional offers; and
- other program features or requirements.
Skip will provide reasonable notice of material changes through email, the Affiliate dashboard, the Affiliate Program website, or another reasonable method.
Changes will apply prospectively unless otherwise stated.
Continued participation in the Affiliate Program following the effective date of an updated Agreement constitutes acceptance of the updated Agreement to the extent permitted by applicable law.
7. Independent Contractor Relationship
Affiliate participates in the Affiliate Program as an independent contractor.
Nothing in this Agreement creates an employment, agency, partnership, franchise, joint venture, or similar relationship between Affiliate and Skip.
Affiliate has no authority to bind Skip, enter into agreements on Skip's behalf, make commitments on Skip's behalf, or represent that Affiliate is an employee, agent, or authorized representative of Skip.
Affiliate is solely responsible for its own business expenses, taxes, licenses, insurance, employees, subcontractors, and other obligations arising from its activities.
Affiliate marketing must make clear, when reasonably necessary to avoid confusion, that Affiliate is independent from Skip.
8. Advertising and Marketing Requirements
Affiliate must market Skip accurately, lawfully, and in a manner consistent with Skip's brand and reputation.
Affiliate may not:
- make false, misleading, deceptive, or unsubstantiated statements about Skip;
- misrepresent Skip's products, memberships, pricing, trials, grants, services, or benefits;
- represent itself as Skip or as an employee or official representative of Skip;
- create advertisements, websites, social accounts, emails, or other materials that could reasonably cause someone to believe they are communicating directly with Skip when they are actually communicating with Affiliate;
- alter Skip's trademarks or logos without authorization;
- falsely imply that Skip endorses Affiliate, Affiliate's business, or Affiliate's products;
- use fake testimonials or endorsements;
- engage in spam or unlawful marketing practices; or
- violate applicable advertising, privacy, consumer-protection, or marketing laws.
Affiliate is responsible for complying with applicable Federal Trade Commission endorsement and disclosure requirements and clearly disclosing its affiliate relationship with Skip when required.
9. Grants and Funding Claims
Affiliate must accurately represent Skip's grants, funding opportunities, deadlines, eligibility requirements, award amounts, selection processes, and other grant-related information.
Affiliate may not claim or imply that:
- a person is guaranteed to receive a grant or funding;
- a person has been approved or selected for funding when they have not;
- Skip guarantees business funding or financial results;
- a Skip grant is a government grant unless Skip expressly identifies it as such;
- purchasing a Skip membership, product, or service guarantees a grant or other funding; or
- a person's chances of receiving a grant are increased by a purchase unless Skip expressly states that this applies to the particular program.
Affiliate should use current information provided by Skip when promoting specific grants, deadlines, award amounts, or program terms.
10. Paid Advertising and Search Marketing
Affiliate may engage in paid advertising subject to the following requirements:
Affiliate may not directly bid on or purchase search terms incorporating Skip's trademarks or brand terms, including:
Skip, Hello Skip, helloskip.com, TrySkip, Ryder at Skip, or confusingly similar variations or misspellings.
Affiliate may not:
- direct-link paid search advertisements to Skip unless expressly authorized by Skip;
- intentionally position paid advertisements in a manner designed to impersonate or displace Skip's official advertisements;
- use Skip trademarks in domain names or confusingly similar domain names;
- engage in typosquatting or domain spoofing;
- engage in clickjacking or linkjacking;
- engage in cookie or pixel stuffing;
- generate artificial referrals, clicks, accounts, or conversions; or
- use other deceptive or manipulative attribution methods.
Affiliate may use its own website, social media, content, email audience, or other legitimate marketing channels to refer users to Skip, subject to this Agreement.
11. AI-Generated and Manipulated Content
Affiliate may use AI and other content-creation tools when promoting Skip, provided the resulting content complies with this Agreement.
Affiliate may not create or distribute AI-generated, altered, synthetic, or manipulated content that falsely depicts or implies:
- statements or endorsements by Skip;
- statements or endorsements by Skip employees or representatives;
- communications from Skip;
- grant winners or results that did not occur;
- product capabilities Skip does not provide; or
- any other material fact about Skip that is false or misleading.
12. Self-Referrals and Manipulation
Self-referrals are prohibited unless Skip expressly authorizes them in writing.
Affiliate may not create or control accounts for the primary purpose of generating Affiliate Credits or commissions.
Affiliate may not encourage fraudulent accounts, duplicate accounts, artificial transactions, or other activity designed primarily to manipulate the Affiliate Program.
Skip may withhold, reverse, or forfeit compensation associated with prohibited activity.
13. Brand and Content Standards
Affiliate may use Skip-approved logos, images, links, descriptions, and other promotional materials to promote Skip in accordance with any brand guidelines provided by Skip.
Affiliate may not materially alter Skip's trademarks or present them in a misleading manner.
Affiliate may not promote Skip on websites, accounts, or content primarily involving unlawful, hateful, sexually explicit, fraudulent, or otherwise materially harmful content.
Skip may require Affiliate to remove or modify marketing materials that violate this Agreement or materially misrepresent Skip. Affiliate agrees to comply with such a request promptly.
14. Confidentiality
Affiliate may receive non-public information about Skip in connection with the Affiliate Program.
Confidential Information includes non-public business, financial, operational, product, marketing, customer, pricing, technical, strategic, and other proprietary information that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential.
Affiliate will:
- protect Confidential Information from unauthorized disclosure;
- use it only as necessary to participate in the Affiliate Program; and
- not disclose it to third parties without Skip's authorization except where required by law.
These confidentiality obligations survive termination of this Agreement.
15. Protection of Skip Relationships and Information
Affiliate may not use Skip's confidential information, non-public customer information, proprietary data, or access obtained through the Affiliate Program to intentionally interfere with Skip's customer or business relationships or improperly solicit Skip customers on behalf of a competing business.
Nothing in this Section is intended to prevent Affiliate from operating its ordinary business, creating general public content, or recommending other products and services to its audience, provided Affiliate does not misuse Skip's confidential or proprietary information.
16. Termination
Either Affiliate or Skip may terminate Affiliate's participation in the Affiliate Program at any time.
Skip may immediately suspend or terminate Affiliate for violations of this Agreement, suspected fraud, abuse of the Affiliate Program, misleading marketing, manipulation of referrals, unlawful conduct, or conduct that creates material risk to Skip or its users.
Upon termination, Affiliate must stop representing itself as a Skip Affiliate and discontinue any unauthorized use of Skip's trademarks and confidential information.
Valid, undisputed commissions earned before termination will remain payable, subject to the terms of this Agreement, including provisions relating to refunds, chargebacks, fraud, prohibited activity, attribution, and clawbacks.
Commissions or credits resulting from fraudulent, prohibited, or otherwise ineligible activity may be withheld or forfeited.
17. Indemnification
Affiliate will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Skip, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from claims, damages, liabilities, losses, and reasonable expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising from Affiliate's:
- breach of this Agreement;
- violation of applicable law;
- negligent or willful misconduct;
- advertising or marketing activities; or
- false, misleading, or unauthorized representations concerning Skip.
Skip will provide reasonable notice of covered claims and reasonable cooperation in their defense.
Affiliate may not settle a claim in a manner that imposes liability, obligations, or admissions upon Skip without Skip's prior written consent.
18. Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
Skip does not guarantee that the Affiliate Program will be continuously available, error-free, or produce any particular number of referrals, conversions, commissions, or other results.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Skip will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from Affiliate's participation in the Affiliate Program, including lost profits or lost business opportunities.
19. Taxes
Affiliate is responsible for all taxes arising from payments received through the Affiliate Program.
Affiliate agrees to provide any tax forms, identification, or other information reasonably required by Skip or its payment providers before receiving payouts.
Skip may withhold payments where required by law or until required payment or tax information has been provided.
20. Entire Agreement
This Agreement, together with any applicable Affiliate Program rules, commission schedules, policies, and terms expressly incorporated into it, constitutes the agreement between Affiliate and Skip regarding participation in the Affiliate Program.
If a specific promotional campaign contains additional written terms, those terms will apply to that campaign.
Failure by Skip to enforce a provision of this Agreement does not waive Skip's right to enforce that provision later.
21. Severability
If any provision of this Agreement is found invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect.
To the extent permitted by law, an invalid or unenforceable provision will be interpreted or limited as necessary to make it enforceable while preserving its intended purpose.
22. Governing Law and Venue
This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles.
Any legal action arising from this Agreement will be brought in the applicable state or federal courts located in New York, New York, and the Parties consent to the jurisdiction and venue of those courts.
The prevailing party in an action arising from this Agreement will be entitled to recover reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to the extent permitted by law.
23. Electronic Acceptance
Affiliate accepts this Agreement electronically by checking the applicable acceptance box and submitting an application to or otherwise enrolling in the Skip Affiliate Program.
Electronic acceptance has the same effect as a physical signature.
Skip may maintain electronic records showing Affiliate's acceptance, including the date of acceptance and version of the Agreement accepted.