Terms of Service

AFFILIATE PROGRAM AGREEMENT

This Agreement contains the complete terms and conditions that apply to your participation as a member of the Hostwinds Affiliate Program.

THIS IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND Hostwinds. BY CLICKING ON THE "ACCEPT" BUTTON AT THE END OF THIS DOCUMENT YOU ARE AFFIRMATIVELY STATING THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH HEREIN AND ARE AFFIRMATIVELY INDICATING YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS AFFILIATE PROGRAM AGREEMENT AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS HEREOF. YOU CANNOT BECOME A MEMBER OF THE AFFILIATE PROGRAM UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCEPTED EACH AND EVERY TERM HEREOF.

1. Enrollment in this Program. To begin the enrollment process, you will submit a completed Program Application through our website. Your account will be instantly active in our program. We will evaluate your account in good faith to ensure you comply with all our rules and agreements. We may reject your account if we determine that your site is unsuitable for the Program for any reason, including, but not limited to, if your site incorporates images or content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, harassing or otherwise objectionable, such as sites that facilitate illegal activity or promote violence or promote or assist others in promoting copyright infringement (collectively, "Content Restrictions").

2. Utilizing Links on Your Site. As an affiliate website of Hostwinds, you may use any form of promotion you choose, consistent with the terms of this Agreement. You may use banner advertisements, button links and/or text links to our site (the "Links"); however, you CANNOT SPAM. Any activity by you or on your behalf that we determine or reasonably suspect to be the result of an unsolicited bulk e-mail program will result in your immediate termination from the Program and your forfeiting of monies otherwise due you hereunder. Allowable promotional links may contain Hostwinds's trade names, service marks, and/or logos for display on your Affiliate Site (See below: Section 6). Subject to the terms and conditions hereof, you are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and download such Links and other designated promotional materials for placement on your Affiliate Site for the sole and exclusive purpose of promoting websites owned, operated or controlled by Hostwinds. In utilizing the Links, you agree that you will cooperate fully with us in order to establish and maintain such Link or Links. A Link may only be visually modified with our consent. In addition, wherever possible, you will not mask the referring URL information.

3. Commissions. We will pay you a commission based on the below structure:

Commission Rates:

1-6 a month $65
7-12 a month $85
13-19 a month $100
19+ a month $135

Incentivized commissions, and offering any form of incentive to obtain a sale is forbidden unless prior approval is given and cleared by a Hostwinds Affiliate Manager. To inquire on whether your incentive is acceptable, please e-mail affiliates [at] Hostwinds.com

The Commission Rate is subject to change from time to time, upon e-mail notice to you and commencing the 30-days following such notice. The commission rate/structure listed on our main and FAQ pages are only for the hosting plans listed on the main page of Hostwinds.com. Promotional deals or unique hosting plans may not be eligible for these commission rates.
If you are (1) referring clients to Hostwinds from a free hosting service that you run or (2) providing pre-populated scripts (sales/reselling programs), you are not eligible for the standard commission rate listed at http://affiliates.Hostwinds.com. Instead, you must contact our affiliates department to work out a special commission rate.

Service Exclusions The commission rate for our unmanaged services is set at $25, for referred signups that only order our unmanaged services the payout rate will be fixed at $25 regardless of how many total users were referred. This is due to the much lower operating margins associated with these products.

4. Commission Payment. Commissions deemed due and owed to you under the program will be paid to you directly by Hostwinds after any holding/review period, once the funds are eligible for payout, you must request payout by contacting affiliates@hostwinds.com and including your affiliate ID in the email. You must contact Hostwinds within 180 days of the original issue date to request re-issuance for any sent payment.

5. Valid commissions. Commissions are calculated based on the commission rates of the Affiliate for each valid purchase. Hostwinds reserves the right to only pay for referrals that are active. For Shared/Business/Reseller Hosting services, active is defined by clients with a website and domain name pointed to a Hostwinds server with user-generated/uploaded content. Commissions may only be earned per each new client referred through the unique affiliate link. The valid service that the referred client has ordered must be in an Active status for a minimum of 60 days from the date of the referral. Referrals are approved on the 1st of each month, the referred service must be in an active status upon the 1st when they are reviewed. Affiliates also may not advertise on referred clients sites. In the event that an Affiliate's Referred Customers to Hostwinds are determined to have an disproportionate cancellation rate, as determined by Hostwinds in its sole discretion, Hostwinds reserves the right to withhold or decline pending and future Commission Fees to such Affiliate.

A valid commission does NOT include the following:
- Purchases wherein the service has been Terminated
- Purchases by an existing Hostwinds Client
- Purchases by the Affiliate or anyone within the Affiliate's organization
- Purchases by referred customers who are not current on their service payments, or are subject to receiving a refund
- Purchases where the order was marked as fraud, due to the chargeback risk associated with the order
- Purchases that were not tracked by the Affiliate’s referral link
- Purchases by referred customers whose account is linked to another existing active Hostwinds account, which violates the duplicate accounts clause
- Purchases that were completed prior to the Affiliate joining the Affiliate Program or were not tracked
- Purchases made using crypto currencies




6. Responsibility for Your Site. You will be solely responsible for the development, operation, and maintenance of your site and for all materials that appear on your site. We shall have no responsibility for the development, operation, and maintenance of your site and for all materials that appear on your site. You shall also be responsible for ensuring that materials posted on your site do not violate or infringe upon any laws, including but not limited to 18 U.S.C. Section 2257, or the rights of any third party (including, for example, copyrights, trademarks, privacy, or other personal or proprietary rights), and ensuring that materials posted on your site are not libelous or otherwise illegal. You must have express permission to use another party's copyrighted or other proprietary material. We will not be responsible if you use another party's copyrighted or other proprietary material in violation of the law. In addition to the foregoing, we will immediately terminate your participation in the Program if we believe you have engaged in any of the following, but not limited to:

- Unsolicited mass e-mail solicitations, IRC postings or any other form of spamming, including but not limited to, newsgroups or AOL customers or otherwise violate the anti-spamming policies of Hostwinds or state law;
- Participating in Social Media under/using the Hostwinds brand, examples: Facebook pages, Google+, Twitter accounts
- Provide inaccurate or incomplete information to Hostwinds concerning your identity, address or other required information;
- Attempt to cheat, defraud or mislead us in any way;
- Misrepresent to the public the terms and conditions of our sites or your sites;
- Engage in pop-up advertisement network activities;
- IFrames may only be used on pages or sites in which the other content represented on the site is related to Hostwinds
- Cookie Stuffing
- Harvesting IPs (An example but not limited to is Traffic Exchange Sites)
- Any method where the user is unaware that they will be or already have visited the Hostwinds website with your link

7. Term of the Agreements. The term of this Agreement will begin upon our acceptance of your Affiliate Program Application and will end when terminated by either party. Either you or we may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, by giving the other party notice of termination. Notice by e-mail, to your e-mail address on our records, is considered sufficient notice to terminate this Agreement. If this Agreement is terminated because you have violated the terms of this Agreement you are not eligible to receive any commissions payments, even for commissions earned prior to the date of termination. If this Agreement is terminated for any other reason, you are only eligible to earn a commission on sales occurring during the term of the Agreement, and commissions earned through the date of termination will remain payable only if the related orders are not canceled or returned. We reserve the right to withhold your final payment for a reasonable time to ensure that the correct amount is paid.

8. Modification. We may modify any of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement, at any time and in our sole discretion. Notice of any change by e-mail, to your address on our records, or the posting on our site of a change notice of a new agreement, is considered sufficient notice for notifying you of a modification to the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Modifications may include but are not limited to, changes in the scope of available commission fees, commission schedules, payment procedures, and Affiliate Program rules. All such modifications shall take effect 48 hours after we serve notice as provided above unless we indicate otherwise. If any modification is unacceptable to you, your only recourse is to terminate this Agreement. Your continued participation in the Affiliate Program, following our posting of a change notice or new agreement on our site, will constitute binding acceptance of the change.

9. Relationship of Parties. You and Hostwinds are independent contractors, and nothing in this Agreement will create any partnership, joint venture, agency franchise, sales representative, or employment relationship between the parties. You will have no authority to make or accept any offers or representations on our behalf. You will not make any statement, whether on your site or otherwise, that reasonably would contradict anything in this Section. You are not an agent of the Hostwinds and Hostwinds expressly disclaims responsibility for any conduct by you in violation of our terms of the agreement.

10. Limitation of Liability. We will not be liable for indirect, special, or consequential damages, or any loss of revenue, profits, or data, arising in connection with this Agreement or the Affiliate Program, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Further, our aggregate liability arising with respect to this Agreement and the Affiliate Program will not be in excess of 0 (zero) dollars. Hostwinds reserves the right to withhold affiliate commissions for any period of time and null/void the commissions for any reason.

11. Disclaimers. We make no express or implied warranties or representations with respect to the Affiliate Program or any COMPANY services or other items sold through the Program (including, without limitation, warranties of fitness, merchantability, non-infringement, or any implied warranties arising out of a course of performance, dealing, or trade usage). In addition, we make no representation that the operation of our site will be uninterrupted or error-free, and we will not be liable for the consequences of any interruptions or errors.

12. Representations and Warranties. You hereby represent and warrant to us that this Agreement has been duly and validly executed and delivered by you and constitutes your legal, valid and binding obligation, enforceable against you in accordance with its terms; and that the execution, delivery, and performance by you of this Agreement are within your legal capacity and power; have been duly authorized by all requisite action on your part; require the approval or consent of no other persons; and neither violate nor constitute a default under the (i) provision of any law, rule, regulation, order, judgment or decree to which you are subject or which is binding upon you, or (ii) the terms of any other agreement, document or instrument applicable to you or binding upon you. Should any law enforcement agency or Internet service provider provide Hostwinds with notice that you have engaged in transmission of unsolicited bulk e-mails or have otherwise engaged in unlawful conduct or conduct in violation of said service provider's terms of service, we reserve the right to cooperate in any investigation relating to your activities including disclosure of your account information in connection therewith.

13. Confidentiality. We may disclose to you certain information as a result of your participation as part of the Program, which information we consider to be confidential (herein referred to as "Confidential Information"). For purpose of this Agreement, the term "Confidential Information" shall include, but not be limited to, any modifications to the terms and provisions of this Affiliate Program Agreement made specifically for your site and not generally available to other members of the Affiliate Program, website, business and financial information relating to Hostwinds, customer and vendor lists relating to Hostwinds and any members of the Affiliate Program, other than you. Confidential Information shall also include any information that we designate as confidential during the term of this Agreement. You agree not to disclose any Confidential Information and that such Confidential Information shall also include any information that we designate as confidential during the term of this Agreement. You agree not to disclose any Confidential Information and that such Confidential Information shall remain strictly confidential and secret and shall not be utilized, directly or indirectly, by you for your own business purposes or for any other purpose except and solely to the extent that any such information is generally known or available to the public or if same is required by law or legal process. We make no warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to any information delivered hereunder, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or freedom from patent, trademark or copyright infringements, whether arising by law, custom or conduct, or as to the accuracy or completeness of the information and we shall not have any liability to you or to any other person resulting from your or such third person's use of the information.

14. Indemnification. You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Hostwinds, officers, directors, employees, agents, affiliates, successors and assigns, from and against any and all claims, losses, liabilities, damages or expense (including attorneys' fees and costs) of any nature whatsoever incurred or suffered by us (collectively the "Losses"), in so far as such Losses (or actions in respect thereof) arise out of or are based on (i) any claim or threatened claim that our use of the Affiliate Trademarks infringes on the rights of any third party; (ii) the breach of any promise, covenant, representation or warranty made by you herein; or (iii) or any claim related to your site.

15. Miscellaneous. Terminated accounts cannot later apply to the Program without our express written consent. This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Oklahoma, without reference to rules governing the choice of laws. Hostwinds reserves the right to institute a reserve fund holding commissions for a time period deemed necessary in situations where sales generated by an affiliate consistently have a high chargeback/cancellation ratio. Hostwinds will be the sole and final arbitrator for any and all disputes or claims related to the validity of sales. In order to facilitate accurate record-keeping, multiple Hostwinds affiliate accounts spanning multiple affiliate networks are strictly prohibited. If you have an account with the Hostwinds in-house affiliate program and also open a Hostwinds affiliate account with another network such as Commission Junction, both affiliate accounts will be terminated and all commissions will be forfeited. You may not assign this Agreement, by operation of law or otherwise, without our prior written consent. Subject to that restriction, this Agreement will be binding on, inure to the benefit of, and enforceable against the parties and their respective successors and assigns. Our failure to enforce your strict performance of any provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of our right to subsequently enforce such provision or any other provision of this Agreement.

16. Binding Arbitration. By participating in this affiliate program, you agree to binding arbitration for any disputes or claims that arise against Hostwinds LLC or its subsidiaries in conjunction with this program. An arbitration firm selected by Hostwinds LLC will be the sole and final arbitrator for any and all disputes or claims related or resulting from participation in this program. All decisions rendered are final. You also are responsible for any and all costs related to such arbitration.

17. Advertising. You may not advertise on keywords (or domains) that contain the trademark Hostwinds, variations, or misspellings. Some examples (without limitation) of prohibited keywords:

-Hostwinds
-Hostwinds.com
-www.Hostwinds.com


18. Acceptable Referrals. You may not refer to yourself or your family members through this affiliate program. Affiliate referrals cannot be funded/paid by the affiliate themselves. Each payment must come directly from the referred account holder to be eligible for a commission. You also may not refer customers who will be using the same payment method.

19. Missing Commissions. If for any reason a commission is missing from your account you must contact Hostwinds affiliates by e-mailing affiliates@Hostwinds.com before the payout cycle during which commission for such referral would be issued. The commission will be forfeit if Hostwinds is not contacted accordingly.

20. Coupon/"Deal" Sites. If you run a coupon site, you may not be eligible for the Affiliate program. Please make sure to contact us prior to becoming an affiliate.

21. Custom Codes. If you are using a custom coupon code you are not allowed to use the words “coupon”, “discount”, or similar terms, in your SEO terms or the title of the page without prior permission. Also without prior permission, these codes can only be placed on your site. Please make sure to contact us prior to participating.

22. Domain usage: You may not use domains that contain or are substantially similar to the Hostwinds Trademarks including but not limited to Hostwinds, Examples of domains: Hostwindsreview.com; hostwindscoupons.com; Hostwinds.org.

23. Information Disclosure: Hostwinds may request detailed information on your methods of sending referrals to Hostwinds. Failure to provide these details may lead to immediate termination from the Hostwinds Affiliate program. If such methods are reasonably found by Hostwinds to be in breach of the terms and conditions set forth in this agreement, you will automatically forfeit pending referrals.

24. Tax Form
In order for a payout to be issued by Hostwinds, you must submit a W8/W9 tax form (links for download of such forms provided below). This e-mailed to the affiliate department at affiliates@Hostwinds.com. Hostwinds will issue a 1099 Form to any Affiliate whose earnings meet or exceed the amount specified for the 1099 Form.

THIS IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND Hostwinds. BY CLICKING ON THE "ACCEPT" BUTTON AT THE END OF THIS AFFILIATE PROGRAM AGREEMENT YOU ARE AFFIRMATIVELY STATING THAT YOU HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE TERMS SET FORTH HEREIN AND ARE AFFIRMATIVELY INDICATING YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS AFFILIATE PROGRAM AGREEMENT AND YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS THEREOF.