Affiliate Links on Instagram & TikTok: Setup, Commission Rates, Real Math

What affiliate links pay on Instagram and TikTok, where to put them, how to label them, and what 100,000 views can realistically turn into.

By Maya Lind, editor · Updated 2 November 2026

Affiliate links are one of the most accessible money methods on both apps: there is no brand pitch and no invoice, because the merchant pays you per sale. They are also the method where the math is least forgiving. A clip needs a lot of views to produce a handful of sales, and the commission on each sale is small. This guide gives you the rate tables, the four ways to place a link, the disclosure rules, and one worked example you can rerun with your own numbers.

What an affiliate link actually pays

You share a tracked link. Someone clicks, buys, and the merchant pays you a percentage of the sale. The percentage is set by the merchant or program, not by Instagram or TikTok. Both apps are just the place where the link lives.

This guide covers three programs: Amazon Associates (fixed category rates, mostly low), LTK (fashion, beauty and home, brand-set rates), and TikTok Shop's affiliate program (in-app, seller-set rates). All figures below are estimates or published rates with the source named. They are not a forecast of what you will make.

Commission rates compared

Amazon's page lists "All Other Categories" at 4% and gives no effective date. The LTK range comes from an article by archive.com, which also notes the commissions are separate from the platform fee brands pay. The TikTok Shop range is the widest allowed, not the typical one.

The takeaway: an Amazon link on a kitchen gadget pays about 4.5 cents per dollar; a skincare link from a brand on LTK or TikTok Shop can pay several times that. Pick products by commission, price and fit with your audience, in that order.

Link-in-bio vs Stories link sticker vs TikTok showcase

Link-in-bio, link sticker and product-tag details are from Shopify's Instagram affiliate guide; showcase details from Shopify's TikTok guide.

Check availability in your country

TikTok Shop affiliate is rolled out country by country, and each affiliate program has its own signup and payout rules. Check TikTok's current country list and the program's terms before you build a plan on either. Our guides on making money on TikTok and making money on Instagram cover the other methods.

Disclosure: what you must label

If you earn a commission, you have a relationship with the brand, and that has to be obvious. The rules come from four places.

• FTC (US): disclose any financial relationship, including free product. Use plain words such as "ad" or #ad. The FTC says to put it where it is hard to miss, inside the video or image itself, not only in the profile, at the end of a post, behind a "more" button, or mixed into a hashtag block. Avoid vague shorthand like "sp" or "collab". It also says not to rely only on a platform's built-in tool.
• ASA (UK): a post with affiliate links must be obviously an ad up front. Put "Ad" or #Ad at the start. "*affiliate" alone, "#collab", or a footer saying you "may" earn commission do not meet the guidance.
• Amazon Associates: the operating agreement requires the exact statement "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases" where you display Amazon links. It also makes you responsible for following disclosure law, including the FTC guides.
• Instagram: Shopify's guide points to the paid partnership label as a way to help meet the FTC requirement, and you should still add your own wording.

For EU audiences, the European Commission publishes an Influencer Legal Hub with guidance on when, where and how to place disclosures; the Dutch consumer authority ACM announced it at acm.nl. Wording rules differ by country, so the safe habit is the strictest one: an unmistakable "Ad" at the very start, in the content itself, plus the platform label.

Worked example: views to commission

Here is the chain for one Reel or TikTok. Every input is an assumption you can swap.

1. Views: 100,000 (assumed).
2. Click-through: 1-2% of viewers tap the link (assumed range; this is our planning figure, not a platform statistic). That gives 1,000 to 2,000 clicks.
3. Conversion: 2% of clickers buy (assumed). That gives 20 to 40 sales.
4. Order value: $40 average (assumed). That gives $800 to $1,600 in sales.
5. Commission: sales times rate.

Estimates from the assumptions above, not earnings data. Returns, cancelled orders and the cookie window will cut real numbers further.

Read it the other way: at 4% and $40 orders, one sale is worth $1.60. To reach $1,000 a month from Amazon alone you would need roughly 625 sales. Our follower calculator for $1,000 a month runs the same logic across income types.

What most creators actually earn

Influencer Marketing Hub's 2025 Creator Earnings Report, a NeoReach survey of more than 3,000 creators, found that more than half earn under $15,000 a year, up from 48% in 2023. Treat affiliate links as a way to add income on top of content you already make, not as the plan. A realistic first goal is a handful of sales from your best-performing post.

Setup checklist

1. Pick one program that matches your niche and country, and read its signup and payout rules.
2. Choose 5-10 products you have actually used, and check each one's category rate.
3. Put the links in one place: bio link page first, then the Stories sticker for time-limited pushes.
4. Write the disclosure first: "Ad" or #Ad at the start of the caption and on screen in the video, plus Amazon's required statement if you use Amazon links.
5. Turn on the paid partnership label on Instagram where it applies.
6. Say in the video where the link is ("link in my bio"), because viewers will not find it otherwise.
7. Track clicks and sales per post for four weeks, then drop the products that got none.
8. Rerun the worked example with your real click and sales numbers.

Views are the top of this funnel. If yours are low, start with how the Instagram algorithm ranks posts before optimizing links.

Common questions

Sources

• Amazon Associates: standard program fee rates
• Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement
• archive.com: LTK pricing and commissions
• FTC: Disclosures 101 for social media influencers
• ASA/CAP: affiliate marketing guidance
• Shopify: TikTok affiliate marketing
• Shopify: How to add a link to your TikTok bio
• Influencer Marketing Hub: Creator Earnings Report 2025

← Back to all guides