Apple Affiliates Get New Way To Be Paid

Apple has opened up a new payment option for the iTunes Affiliate Program, allowing commissions to be paid directly as iTunes Store credit.

According to news from 9to5Mac, instead of sending money directly to an iTunes affiliate’s bank account, payments can now be sent as redemption codes toward iTunes Store credit on an Apple ID account to buy apps, music, or pay for iCloud storage.

The iTunes Affiliate Program is available to registered partners, who earn a small percentage of iTunes revenue if customers buy through the special affiliate links. Once enough money accrues, partners get the money sent to their bank account via electronic transfer. But now they can be paid entirely in iTunes Store credit.

The Apple iTunes Store Credit payment option is currently only available for purchases made in USD or yen, so it only applies to commissions from the United States and Japanese storefronts. Partners can enable the payment method from their affiliate dashboard by going to Settings > Payment and changing their payment preferences in order to get the credit linked to their Apple ID account.

Affiliates can also set up a desired threshold at a minimum of USD$5 or ¥500. But it’s important to note that there are no financial perks in choosing to be paid this way.

Earlier this year, Apple cut affiliates’ commissions from 7 percent to 2.5 percent, which went into effect on May 1. This represented a 64 percent cut for websites, but the company said it would not have an impact on App Store users, and developers would maintain the 70 percent cut of each sale.