MERMADE HAIR AFFILIATE PROGRAM - TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

Effective Date: 1st January 2019

These Affiliate Program Terms & Conditions (the "Agreement") govern the relationship between Mermade Hair ("Company," "we," "us," or "our") and you, the applicant or approved participant ("Affiliate," "you," or "your") in the Mermade Hair Affiliate Program (the "Program").

By submitting an application to the Program, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by all the terms and conditions of this Agreement. If you do not agree to these terms, you are not authorised to register for or participate in the Program.

1 - DEFINITIONS:

• Affiliate: An individual or entity approved by the Company to participate in the Program and promote Company Products/Services.

• Affiliate Link: A unique URL provided by the Company to the Affiliate for tracking referred customers and sales.

• Affiliate Account: The online portal or dashboard provided by the Company where the Affiliate can track their performance, commissions and access marketing materials.

• Company Products/Services: The goods or services offered by Mermade Hair that are eligible for affiliate commission.

• Commission: The percentage or fixed fee earned by the Affiliate for a Qualified Purchase.

• Cookie Duration: The period of time (e.g., 30 days) during which a cookie remains active on a referred customer's device, crediting the Affiliate for subsequent purchases.

• Intellectual Property (IP): All trademarks, copyrights, patents, designs, trade secrets and other proprietary rights owned by the Company.

• Qualified Purchase: A completed sale of a Company Product/Service made by a Referred Customer through an Affiliate Link that meets all the criteria for commission eligibility as defined in this Agreement.

• Referred Customer: A new and unique customer who completes a Qualified Purchase after clicking on the Affiliate's valid Affiliate Link.

2 - ENROLLMENT IN THE PROGRAM:

2.1. Application: To become an Affiliate, you must submit a complete and accurate application through our designated signup process.

2.2. Approval/Rejection: We reserve the right to approve or reject any application for any reason, in our sole and absolute discretion. We are not obligated to disclose the reason for rejection. Factors that may lead to rejection include, but are not limited to, websites or social media channels that:

• Promote sexually explicit materials.

• Promote violence or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.

• Promote illegal activities.

• Contain libelous, defamatory, obscene or otherwise objectionable content.

• Are otherwise deemed unsuitable by the Company.

• Do not align with our brand values.

2.3. Eligibility: You must be 18 years or older to participate in the Program. You must provide accurate and verifiable personal and payment information.

2.4. Multiple Accounts: One person or legal entity may not maintain more than one Affiliate Account.

2.5. Verification: You agree that we may conduct identity and verification checks as deemed necessary.

3 - AFFILIATE RESPONSIBILITIES:

3.1. Ethical Promotion: You agree to promote Company Products/Services in an ethical, responsible, and lawful manner. You will not engage in any deceptive, misleading or fraudulent marketing practices.

3.2. Compliance with Laws: You are solely responsible for ensuring your promotional activities comply with all applicable laws, regulations and industry guidelines in Australia, including but not limited to:

• Australian Consumer Law (ACL): You must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct. All claims about Company Products/Services must be accurate, substantiated and not exaggerated.

• Privacy Act 1988: If you collect any personal data from potential customers, you must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), including obtaining appropriate consent.

• Spam Act 2003: All electronic communications (e.g., emails, SMS) must be sent with recipient consent, clearly identify you as the sender and provide a clear opt-out mechanism.

• Australian Tax Laws: You are solely responsible for accurately declaring and paying all applicable taxes on commissions earned, including Goods and Services Tax (GST) if registered.

3.3. Disclosure Requirements: You must clearly and conspicuously disclose your affiliate relationship to your audience in all promotional content where an Affiliate Link is used. This is a legal requirement. Examples of acceptable disclosure include:

• Adding a clear statement like "I may earn a commission from purchases made through this link."

• Using hashtags such as #ad, #affiliatelink, #sponsored, or #partner on social media posts.

• Placing disclosures near the affiliate link itself. 

3.4. Approved Promotional Methods: You may only use promotional methods that are permitted by the Company. Prohibited methods are outlined in Section 5.

3.5. Content Accuracy: You are responsible for the accuracy, truth and appropriateness of all materials posted on your website, social media or other promotional channels related to Company Products/Services.

3.6. No Self-Referrals: You may not purchase Company Products/Services through your own Affiliate Link for your own personal use or the use of immediate family members. Such purchases will not be eligible for commission and may result in termination of your account.

3.7. Maintenance: You are responsible for the technical operation of your website and all related equipment and for ensuring the proper functioning of Affiliate Links.

3.8. Account Security: You are responsible for maintaining the security of your Affiliate Account login details and for all activity that occurs under your account.

4 - COMMISSIONS AND PAYMENTS:

4.1. Commission Rate: The current commission rate for Qualified Purchases is 15% of the net sale price (excluding taxes, shipping fees, discounts, and returns/refunds). The Company reserves the right to modify commission rates with prior notice.

4.2. Qualified Purchase Criteria: A Qualified Purchase is defined as:

• A sale initiated by a Referred Customer clicking on your valid Affiliate Link.

• The purchase must be completed within the specified Cookie Duration of 30 days from the last click on your Affiliate Link.

• The purchase must not be subject to a refund, chargeback or cancellation.

• The Referred Customer must be a new customer to Mermade Hair (i.e., not an existing customer in our database).

• The purchase must not be a self-referral.

• The purchase must pass any fraud detection measures implemented by the Company. 

4.3. Tracking: Commissions will only be paid on sales that are accurately tracked and reported by our affiliate system using your unique Affiliate Link. We are not responsible for tracking errors that may occur due to technical issues beyond our control or your failure to use correct Affiliate Links.

4.4. Payment Threshold: Payments will only be processed once your earned commission balance reaches a minimum of $100 AUD.

4.5. Payment Schedule: Commissions for Qualified Purchases will be validated and paid monthly on the last Friday of every month. Payments will be made via PayPal only. You are responsible for providing accurate payment details.

4.6. Adjustments for Refunds/Chargebacks: If a Qualified Purchase is subsequently refunded, returned, or subject to a chargeback, the corresponding commission will be deducted from your Affiliate Account. If a payment has already been made, the Company reserves the right to deduct the amount from future commission payments or seek direct repayment.

4.7. Inactive Accounts: Accounts that remain inactive (no Qualified Purchases) for a period of 6 months may be subject to review or termination and any accumulated commission below the payment threshold may be forfeited.

5 - PROMOTIONAL RESTRICTIONS AND PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES:

5.1. Prohibited Paid Advertising: Affiliates are strictly prohibited from utilizing paid advertising channels to promote Company Products/Services. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords)

• Meta Ads (Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads)

• Pinterest Ads

• TikTok Ads

• Snapchat Ads

• Any other pay-per-click (PPC) or paid search engine advertising.

5.2. Brand Bidding: You are expressly prohibited from bidding on, purchasing or otherwise using any of our brand names, trademarks or variations thereof “Mermade”, “Mermade Hair”, “Mermaid” or “Mermaid Hair” as keywords in any paid advertising campaigns. This also includes misspellings or variations intended to capture branded traffic.

5.3. Coupon/Discount Sites: You may not promote Company Products/Services on coupon or discount code websites unless specifically authorised in writing by the Company and provided with unique, trackable coupon codes for that purpose.

5.4. Misleading Promotions: You must not make false, misleading or exaggerated claims about Company Products/Services, their features, benefits or pricing.

5.5. Spamming: You are prohibited from sending unsolicited emails (spam) or engaging in any other form of unsolicited communication to promote Company Products/Services.

5.6. Illegal or Offensive Content: You will not promote Company Products/Services on websites or platforms that contain illegal, offensive, harmful, defamatory or otherwise inappropriate content.

5.7. Cookie Stuffing/Forced Clicks: You are strictly prohibited from using any methods that create forced clicks, cookie stuffing or other deceptive practices to generate commissions.

5.8. Impersonation: You must not impersonate Mermade Hair or any of its employees, partners or affiliates. Your promotional channels must clearly differentiate you as an independent affiliate.

5.9. Use of Company IP: You may only use Company Intellectual Property (logos, trademarks, product images, etc.) that are explicitly provided or approved by the Company within your Affiliate Account. Any use of Company IP must adhere to our branding guidelines. You are not permitted to alter, modify or create derivatives of our IP. You acknowledge that all IP rights remain with Mermade Hair.

5.10. Software/Toolbar Promotions: You are prohibited from promoting Company Products/Services through any downloadable software, browser extensions, toolbars or similar applications without prior written consent from the Company.

6 - INTERLECTUAL PROPERTY:

6.1. License Grant: Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use our trademarks, logos and other approved marketing materials solely for the purpose of promoting Company Products/Services within the scope of the Program.

6.2. Restrictions: You agree not to modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or create derivative works based on any Company IP or website content. You acknowledge that this Agreement does not grant you any ownership rights in our IP.

6.3. Content Ownership (Affiliate-Created): Any original content (e.g., blog posts, videos, social media updates) created by you to promote Company Products/Services remains your property. However, by participating in the Program, you grant Mermade Hair a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute and display such content in any media for marketing and promotional purposes related to the Program.

7 - CONFIDENTIALITY: 

7.1. Confidential Information: During your participation in the Program, you may be exposed to confidential and proprietary information belonging to Mermade Hair, including but not limited to business strategies, marketing plans, sales data, commission rates and technical information.

7.2. Obligation: You agree to keep all such confidential information strictly confidential and not to disclose it to any third party or use it for any purpose other than fulfilling your obligations under this Agreement.

7.3. Exceptions: This confidentiality obligation does not apply to information that is (a) publicly available without breach of this Agreement, (b) already known to you prior to disclosure by the Company, (c) independently developed by you without reference to Company's confidential information, or (d) required to be disclosed by law or a court order (provided you give us prompt notice of such requirement).

8 - TERM AND TERMINATION:

8.1. Term: This Agreement will commence upon your acceptance into the Program and will continue until terminated by either party.

8.2. Termination by Company: We may terminate this Agreement and your participation in the Program at any time, with or without cause, by providing written notice. Reasons for termination may include, but are not limited to: 

• Breach of any terms of this Agreement.

• Engagement in fraudulent or unethical practices.

• Failure to generate Qualified Purchases for an extended period.

• Any activity that, in our sole discretion, may harm our brand reputation.

8.3. Termination by Affiliate: You may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing written notice to the Company.

8.4. Effect of Termination:

• Upon termination, your Affiliate Account will be closed and you must immediately cease all promotional activities related to Company Products/Services.

• You must immediately remove all Affiliate Links and Company IP from your websites and other promotional channels.

• Any outstanding commissions earned for Qualified Purchases made prior to the effective date of termination (and not subject to refund/chargeback) will be paid out during the next payment cycle, provided the payment threshold is met.

• No further commissions will be earned after the termination date.

• Sections relating to Intellectual Property, Confidentiality, Disclaimers, Indemnification, Limitation of Liability, Governing Law and Dispute Resolution shall survive termination of this Agreement.

9. DISCLAIMERS:

9.1. Program "As Is": The Program, Company Products/Services and all associated materials are provided "as is" and "as available" without any warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement or course of performance.

9.2. No Guarantee of Earnings: We make no express or implied warranties or representations that the Program will generate any specific amount of income or traffic for you. Your success in the Program depends entirely on your marketing efforts and the demand for Company Products/Services.

9.3. Service Availability: We do not warrant that our website or the Program will be uninterrupted, error-free or free from harmful components. We are not liable for any interruptions or errors that may affect the tracking of sales or the availability of the Program.

10 - INDEMNIFICATION:

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Mermade Hair, its directors, officers, employees, agents and affiliates from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or in connection with:

• Your participation in the Program.

• Your breach of any term or condition of this Agreement.

• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation.

• Your misleading or deceptive conduct.

• Any claim of intellectual property infringement or other violation of third-party rights by your promotional materials or activities.

11 - LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Mermade Hair shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, including but not limited to lost profits, lost revenue, lost data or business interruption, arising out of or in connection with this Agreement or the Program, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Our total aggregate liability to you under this Agreement for any cause whatsoever, regardless of the form of action, will not exceed the total commissions paid to you by Mermade Hair in the three (3) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim.

12- GOVERNING LAW AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION:

12.1. Governing Law: This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Australia, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

12.2. Jurisdiction: You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Australia for the resolution of any disputes arising under or in connection with this Agreement.

12.3. Informal Resolution: Before initiating any formal legal action, both parties agree to attempt to resolve any dispute informally through good-faith negotiations for a period of at least thirty (30) days.

13 - MODIFICATIONS:

We reserve the right to modify, amend or update these Terms & Conditions, commission rates, payment terms, or any other aspect of the Program at any time. Any changes will be communicated to Affiliates via email. Your continued participation in the Program after such modifications constitutes your acceptance of the updated terms. If you do not agree to the modified terms, you must terminate your participation in the Program.

14 - GENERAL PROVISIONS:

14.1. Entire Agreement: This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between you and Mermade Hair regarding the Program and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, and representations, whether oral or written.

14.2. Severability: If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

14.3. No Waiver: Our failure to enforce any right or provision of this Agreement will not be considered a waiver of those rights.

14.4. Relationship of Parties: You and Mermade Hair are independent contractors. Nothing in this Agreement creates any partnership, joint venture, agency, employment or franchise relationship between the parties. You have no authority to make or accept any offers or representations on our behalf.

14.5. Assignment: You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under this Agreement without our prior written consent. We may assign this Agreement without your consent.

Mermade Hair Pty Ltd

1/649 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley, WA, Australia 6050

When you visit the Site, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device. Additionally, as you browse the Site, we collect information about the individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Site, and information about how you interact with the Site. We refer to this automatically-collected information as “Device Information”.

We collect Device Information using the following technologies:
- “Cookies” are data files that are placed on your device or computer and often include an anonymous unique identifier. For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies, visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
- “Log files” track actions occurring on the Site, and collect data including your IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.
- “Web beacons”, “tags”, and “pixels” are electronic files used to record information about how you browse the Site.

Additionally when you make a purchase or attempt to make a purchase through the Site, we collect certain information from you, including your name, billing address, shipping address, payment information (including credit card numbers), email address, and phone number. We refer to this information as “Order Information”.

When we talk about “Personal Information” in this Privacy Policy, we are talking both about Device Information and Order Information.

We use the Order Information that we collect generally to fulfill any orders placed through the Site (including processing your payment information, arranging for shipping, and providing you with invoices and/or order confirmations). Additionally, we use this Order Information to:
- Communicate with you;
- Screen our orders for potential risk or fraud; and
- When in line with the preferences you have shared with us, provide you with information or advertising relating to our products or services.

We use the Device Information that we collect to help us screen for potential risk and fraud (in particular, your IP address), and more generally to improve and optimize our Site (for example, by generating analytics about how our customers browse and interact with the Site, and to assess the success of our marketing and advertising campaigns).

We share your Personal Information with third parties to help us use your Personal Information, as described above. For example, we use Shopify to power our online store--you can read more about how Shopify uses your Personal Information here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/privacy. We also use Google Analytics to help us understand how our customers use the Site -- you can read more about how Google uses your Personal Information here: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. You can also opt-out of Google Analytics here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Finally, we may also share your Personal Information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information we receive, or to otherwise protect our rights.

As described above, we use your Personal Information to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. For more information about how targeted advertising works, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s (“NAI”) educational page at http://www.networkadvertising.org/understanding-online-advertising/how-does-it-work.

You can opt out of targeted advertising by using the links below:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=ads
- Google: https://www.google.com/settings/ads/anonymous
- Bing: https://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/resources/policies/personalized-ads

Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal at: http://optout.aboutads.info/.

Please note that we do not alter our Site’s data collection and use practices when we see a Do Not Track signal from your browser.

If you are a European resident, you have the right to access personal information we hold about you and to ask that your personal information be corrected, updated, or deleted. If you would like to exercise this right, please contact us through the contact information below.

Additionally, if you are a European resident we note that we are processing your information in order to fulfill contracts we might have with you (for example if you make an order through the Site), or otherwise to pursue our legitimate business interests listed above. Additionally, please note that your information will be transferred outside of Europe, including to Canada and the United States.

When you place an order through the Site, we will maintain your Order Information for our records unless and until you ask us to delete this information.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons.

For more information about our privacy practices, if you have questions, or if you would like to make a complaint, please contact us by e‑mail at [email protected].