You join the YouTube Shopping affiliate program from the Earn tab in YouTube Studio once your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program, meets its subscriber threshold, is based in a country on YouTube's list, is not a music channel and is not set as made for kids. After you accept the affiliate terms, you can tag other brands' products in videos, Shorts and live streams and earn the commission each seller sets when viewers buy. Those requirements come from YouTube's Shopping affiliate program overview.
Most guides stop at the sign-up button. This one also covers which countries can join, why tags disappear, how long commissions take to reach AdSense and what each seller controls, then gives you an eligibility checklist and a product-tag plan to paste into a spreadsheet.
Eligibility checklist before you look for the Join button
YouTube calls these minimum requirements and notes that pilot programs can use different criteria. Missing any one of them keeps the program out of your Earn tab.
- Your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program. YouTube's March 2026 announcement opened the program to every Partner Program creator with at least 500 subscribers who meets the other eligibility guidelines.
- Your channel meets the Partner Program subscriber threshold. Every country on the affiliate list also appears on the expanded Partner Program list, so the lower fan funding route into the program is open wherever the affiliate program is.
- You are based in one of the program countries covered in the next section.
- Your channel is not a music channel or an Official Artist Channel, and is not associated with music partners such as labels, distributors, publishers or VEVO.
- Your channel audience is not set as made for kids, and the channel does not carry a significant number of made for kids videos. YouTube does not say what counts as significant; our guide to made for kids monetization rules shows how that setting affects every Shopping feature.
- Your channel has no active Community Guidelines strikes. This rule sits on YouTube's Get started with Shopping page rather than the affiliate overview, so treat it as live. Our explainer on Community Guidelines strikes and when they expire covers how long a strike stays active.
- If a content owner or network manages your channel, the content owner has to accept the affiliate agreement on your behalf, as the troubleshooting section of the overview explains.
Selling your own merchandise is a separate track. The same Get started page lets Official Artist Channels connect a store and bars channels that have received a hate speech strike, and YouTube's connect your store page lists the platforms and retailers you can link, some only in particular countries. Our map of every way to make money on YouTube shows where both kinds of Shopping sit.
Where the affiliate program is available
On October 1, 2026, the affiliate program overview named fourteen countries: Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Creators elsewhere can register interest through a form linked from that page, which YouTube says does not guarantee an invitation.
The official lists do not agree. The eligibility section of Get started with Shopping on YouTube still names twelve countries for tagging other brands' products and leaves out Argentina and Mexico. Coverage of the March expansion by PPC Land quoted that same shorter list, which suggests the two Latin American markets were added to the program page later. Treat the program overview as current, and confirm in your own Earn tab before you plan content around the program.
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the countries of the European Union appear on the expanded Partner Program list but on neither affiliate list, so creators based there cannot join yet. Viewers are a different matter: YouTube's Buy products on YouTube page lists a much longer set of countries where people can buy tagged products, including Australia and the United Kingdom. When someone in another country taps your tag, the tagging help page says YouTube may match it to the same product from a local participating merchant and pay you that merchant's rate.
Several affiliate tools carry their own, narrower availability:
| Feature | What it does | Where YouTube says it is available | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affiliate program | Tag other brands' products and earn the commission each seller sets | The countries named on the program overview | Program overview |
| YouTube Shopping Chrome extension | Save products to tag later and check commission rates while browsing | The United States, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, through the Chrome Web Store | Program overview |
| Amazon product tags | Tag Amazon items, with commissions paid alongside other affiliate earnings | Affiliate creators in the United States, Brazil or India | Tag Amazon products |
| Affiliate campaigns | Higher commission rates, a set bonus, or both, for featuring a seller's products | The United States and Korea | Affiliate campaigns |
| Affiliate partnerships boost | Lets sellers you have tagged use your videos in their own ads | A small group of creators, not available globally | Affiliate partnerships boost |
How to join, step by step
- On a computer, open YouTube Studio, choose Earn from the left menu and select Join Now under Programs. The overview also gives steps for the Studio mobile app, where the program appears as its own section of the Earn tab when you qualify.
- Read and accept the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program Terms of Service, and note the date you accepted, since incentives and terms can change later.
- If Join Now is missing, check that you are signed in to the right channel, that no content owner needs to accept for you, and that every item on the checklist holds. If all of that checks out, the overview points you to Creator Support.
- Open the affiliate hub, under Earn, then Shopping, then Explore affiliate offers, to browse participating sellers and their commission percentages. Sort by highest commission, and look for Special offer promotions, which is where custom rates for your channel appear.
- Decide on automatic tagging. YouTube's Shopping page for creators says you can turn it on under Settings, Channel, Advanced settings, and the Amazon tagging page says YouTube is experimenting with adding Amazon tags to recent uploads. Automatic tags still have to meet the tagging guidelines, so review what was added.
- Plan your first tags with the template further down, starting with uploads where the product is already on screen and named.
There is no leave button in Studio: the overview says you exit the program by contacting Creator Support.
How seller-set commissions work
YouTube does not set one affiliate rate. Its overview says each participating brand and retailer chooses the commission rate and attribution window for each product, and Studio shows the percentage beside every offer. Google's setup guide for Shopify merchants shows the seller's side: a default commission rate for all creators, a pending period during which a commission can be reversed for a return or cancellation, and an attribution period for crediting a sale to a creator's tag.
Three details change what you actually receive:
- The rate is the one in force on the day of purchase, not the day you tagged. YouTube's page on commission rates and earnings warns that a seller can change a rate between your tag and a viewer's purchase, so the percentage you saw while tagging is an estimate.
- You can earn on the whole basket. The same page says that when a viewer taps your tag and then buys other items from that seller, each eligible item may earn commission at its own rate.
- Promotional rates come and go. Custom rates and campaigns lift commissions for a set window, and the affiliate campaigns page says a campaign bonus is paid once, for the first qualifying video, which must keep its video and tags public for 30 consecutive days.
The overview also describes a temporary incentive under which 100% of commissions from affiliate merchants go to creators, warns that rates may fall later, and promises at least 30 days' notice before the incentive ends. YouTube's viewer-facing page on Shopping products and commissions adds that YouTube may also earn a portion of commissions. Plan as if your share could change, and forecast with the rate Studio shows on the day you check rather than a figure from an old video or article.
When affiliate commissions reach AdSense
Commissions are paid through AdSense for YouTube, not by the seller. YouTube describes the timing on several pages, in slightly different words, so it helps to see the stages side by side.
| Stage | What YouTube says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated revenue | Shown in Studio Analytics as an estimate for the selected period, net of returns, and still subject to change | Affiliate metrics |
| Seller lock-in | A validation and return window set by each seller, typically 30 to 90 days | Affiliate metrics |
| Earned revenue | Commissions and bonuses the seller has confirmed; a month's earned revenue joins the next payment cycle, subject to AdSense thresholds | Affiliate metrics |
| Payment | Paid through AdSense for YouTube within 60 to 120 days after purchase, and reversed if the customer returns the product | Program overview |
| Amazon tags | Commissions lock monthly, so earnings that lock in January are paid in the March AdSense cycle; a negative balance rolls into the next month | Tag Amazon products |
| Campaign bonus | Added to the next monthly AdSense payout once the video has stayed in Completed status for 30 consecutive days | Affiliate campaigns |
Reconcile against AdSense, which the metrics page calls the source of truth for finalized payouts, not against Studio estimates. Read recent weeks for performance and older months for money, since approved commissions mostly come from earlier purchases. Sales of localized products to viewers abroad, the tagging page adds, are paid in your local currency under your location's tax withholding rules.
Tagging rules that keep your access
YouTube's tagging guidelines come down to four tests: the product is easy to identify and is mentioned aloud or in text, it relates meaningfully to the content, a viewer could reasonably want to learn more or buy it, and it is used as the manufacturer intended. Tags that fail can be removed, and repeated non-compliant tagging can cost you the program. To find removed tags, filter the Content page in Studio by Products, then Tagging violation.
Some situations block a tag outright. According to the same page, you cannot add one when:
- the video or Short is set as made for kids;
- it has a copyright claim, or uses a revenue-sharing track from Creator Music, both of which our guide to monetizing videos with copyrighted music explains;
- it is deemed limited or ineligible for monetization;
- a Short with a product sticker uses a sound that is not an eligible shopping sound.
Format limits shape the plan too. The tagging page allows up to 60 products per upload, uses the first tagged product as a Short's sticker, and limits product timestamps to long-form videos of at least a minute, each timestamp lasting 15 to 60 seconds. For streams, YouTube's live tagging page suggests finishing any rearranging at least 30 minutes before you go live, and hides tags on streams with claimed content; the rest of the money side is in our guide to monetizing YouTube live streams.
Product-tag plan template
Copy these fields into a spreadsheet and fill in one row per product before you tag. The plan turns the guidelines into checks you make in advance, and leaves a record if a tag is removed and you want Creator Support to review it.
| Field | What to record | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Upload | Title or working title, and whether it is long-form, a Short or a live stream | Timestamps work only on long-form videos; Shorts use a sticker |
| Product and seller | The exact product and the seller you tagged it from | Rates and attribution windows are set per product by each seller |
| Where it appears | When it is first on screen, and where it is named: aloud, on screen, title or description | The guidelines expect a prominent showing plus a mention |
| Why it fits | One line on how the product relates to the upload | Unrelated or bulk tags can be removed as spam |
| Rate seen | The commission Studio showed and the date you checked | Payouts use the rate on the purchase date |
| Campaign | Campaign name, deadline and bonus requirements, if any | The campaigns page requires the paid promotion disclosure, public visibility and live tags for 30 consecutive days |
| Disclosure | The paid promotion setting, plus the spoken or on-screen disclosure you used | Sponsored content needs it, and commissions are a financial relationship |
| Blockers | Made for kids setting, copyright claims, monetization icon and Shorts sound | Any one of these stops a tag being added or shown |
| Review date | When you will next confirm the tag is live and the product still sold | Sellers can remove products or change rates without your input |
Disclosure: what the commission changes
Earning when viewers buy is the kind of financial relationship the FTC's Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers says to disclose. That guide asks creators reaching US audiences to put the disclosure in the video itself rather than only in the description, to repeat it during live streams, and not to rely on a platform's disclosure tool alone.
YouTube adds its own layer: the FAQ on its Shopping page for creators says sponsored content in the program still needs the paid product placement disclosure, which the paid promotion help page explains alongside links to regulators such as the UK's Advertising Standards Authority. Pricing a sponsorship is a separate job, covered by our UGC creator rates worksheet and influencer media kit template.
Limitations of this guide
This guide reflects YouTube's help pages, blog and creator site as they stood on October 1, 2026. Country lists, eligibility rules and incentives belong to YouTube and change; the two lists that disagree today are a reminder to check the program page and your own Earn tab first. Pilot programs can use different criteria, and some tools reach only a small group of channels.
It gives no earnings estimates, because commission rates belong to each seller and the share passed on to you can change. Disclosure law and the tax treatment of commissions vary by country, and this is general information rather than legal or tax advice: for your own obligations, speak to a qualified lawyer or a registered tax professional where you live.