Affiliate Program Terms of Service

Effective Date: May 24, 2026
Last Updated: May 24, 2026

This Affiliate Program Terms of Service (the “Agreement”) is a binding legal agreement between you (the “Affiliate,” “you,” or “your”) and Darktides Research LLC, a Nevada limited liability company (“Darktides Research,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By submitting an affiliate application, clicking to accept these terms, or participating in the Darktides Research Affiliate Program (the “Program”), you agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree, do not apply for or participate in the Program.

1. Eligibility

To participate in the Program, you must (a) be at least 18 years of age and legally able to enter into binding contracts under the laws of your jurisdiction; (b) provide accurate, current, and complete information in your application and keep that information up to date; (c) maintain only one affiliate account per person or legal entity unless we provide prior written consent for additional accounts; and (d) not be a resident of any country or jurisdiction subject to comprehensive United States economic sanctions.

We reserve the right to accept or reject any application at our sole discretion, with or without cause, and to terminate any affiliate account at any time as described in Section 13.

2. Affiliate Account and Referral Links

Once approved, you will receive access to an affiliate dashboard where you can generate unique referral links and, where enabled, select a custom referral slug. You are responsible for safeguarding the credentials to your account and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us promptly of any unauthorized use of your account.

If you select a custom referral slug, the slug must not (a) be vulgar, obscene, defamatory, or offensive; (b) infringe upon any third party’s trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights; (c) impersonate any person, brand, or entity; (d) imply an official or sponsored relationship with Darktides Research beyond your role as an independent affiliate; or (e) suggest medical, therapeutic, or regulatory endorsement. We reserve the right to reject, modify, or revoke any slug at our discretion.

3. Permitted Promotional Activities

You may promote Darktides Research products and services using your referral link through the following channels, subject to the restrictions in this Agreement: your own website, blog, or newsletter; social media profiles and posts that you own or control; video content on platforms such as YouTube; podcasts; and direct communications with people who have opted in to receive content from you.

If you intend to run paid advertising campaigns (including but not limited to Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, or comparable platforms) that reference Darktides Research, our brand name, our product names, or any of our trademarks, you must notify us in advance at the contact address in Section 18 and obtain our written approval before launching the campaign. Approval will not be unreasonably withheld, but we require visibility into paid campaigns that use our brand assets to protect brand integrity and prevent conflicts between affiliates.

4. Prohibited Conduct

You agree that you will NOT:

Send unsolicited email, SMS, or messages (“spam”) promoting Darktides Research, or violate the CAN-SPAM Act, TCPA, GDPR, CASL, or any other applicable anti-spam or communications law.
Engage in cookie stuffing, forced clicks, hidden iframes, pop-unders that load referral links without user awareness, or any other technique that drops a referral cookie without the user’s affirmative action.
Publish fake reviews, fabricated testimonials, or before-and-after content that misrepresents results.
Bid on, register, or use domain names, social media handles, or app names that are confusingly similar to “Darktides Research,” any Darktides product name, or any common misspellings thereof.
Place referral links on websites that contain or promote illegal content, hate speech, harassment, sexually explicit material, gambling, firearms, controlled substances, or any content that would reasonably be considered to damage the Darktides Research brand.
Use bots, scripts, or automated means to generate clicks, visits, registrations, or purchases.
Purchase products through your own referral link, the referral link of an affiliate you control, or in coordination with another affiliate for the purpose of generating commissions (“self-referrals”).
Combine your referral link with an unauthorized discount code, stacking, or coupon-leak site that has not been expressly approved.
Misrepresent yourself as an employee, agent, or official representative of Darktides Research.
Modify, distort, or alter the logos, product images, marketing copy, or other creative assets we provide, except for resizing or cropping for layout purposes.

5. Health, Research, and Regulatory Claims

This section is critically important. Darktides Research products are sold for research purposes only and have not been evaluated, approved, or endorsed by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any comparable regulatory body for human or veterinary use. As a condition of participating in the Program, you agree that you will NOT make, publish, suggest, or imply any of the following in connection with Darktides Research products:

Claims that any product diagnoses, treats, cures, prevents, or mitigates any disease, condition, or symptom.
Claims that any product is intended for human or animal consumption, ingestion, injection, inhalation, or other in-vivo use.
Claims of FDA approval, FDA clearance, FDA endorsement, or any other regulatory endorsement.
Comparative medical claims relative to pharmaceuticals or other regulated therapeutic products.
Personal anecdotes or testimonials describing the use of Darktides Research products in or on a human or animal body.
Dosage instructions, administration instructions, or any “how to use” content that implies in-vivo use.
Photographs, videos, or other content depicting Darktides Research products being used on or in a human or animal body.

You must include, in every piece of promotional content where you describe a Darktides Research product, the following disclaimer or one substantially similar: “For research use only. Not for human or veterinary consumption.”

We may provide approved marketing copy, product descriptions, and creative assets through the affiliate dashboard. Use of our approved materials, without alteration, is the safest path to compliance with this Section. If you are uncertain whether a piece of content complies with this Section, contact us before publishing.

6. FTC Disclosure Requirements

The United States Federal Trade Commission requires that affiliate relationships be clearly and conspicuously disclosed in all promotional content. You agree to comply with the FTC’s Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (16 CFR Part 255) and any successor regulations. At minimum, this means:

Every post, page, video, podcast episode, email, or social media post that includes a Darktides Research referral link must include a clear and conspicuous disclosure that you may receive a commission for purchases made through the link.
Disclosures must be placed where they will be noticed before the call-to-action (i.e., not buried at the bottom of a long page or hidden behind a “more” link).
Disclosures on social media should appear within the visible portion of the post, before any “see more” cutoff.
Disclosures in video content must be both spoken and shown on screen for a duration sufficient for viewers to read.
Hashtag-only disclosures such as #ad or #sp are acceptable when they appear at the start of a post; #affiliate, #sponsored, or “paid partnership” labels provided by the platform are also acceptable.

You are solely responsible for FTC compliance. We may, but are not obligated to, audit your promotional content for compliance and may suspend or terminate your account for violations.

7. Trademarks and Intellectual Property

Darktides Research grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Darktides Research name, logos, product names, and approved marketing materials solely for the purpose of promoting Darktides Research products under this Agreement. This license terminates immediately upon termination of your participation in the Program.

You acquire no ownership rights in any Darktides Research intellectual property. You may not register, attempt to register, or claim any rights in any trademark, domain name, business name, social media handle, or app store listing that includes “Darktides,” “Darktides Research,” or any confusingly similar variant. All goodwill arising from your use of our marks inures to the benefit of Darktides Research LLC.

8. Commission Structure

The default commission rate is ten percent (10%) of the qualifying sale subtotal, calculated as follows:

Commissions are calculated on the product subtotal of qualifying orders, excluding shipping charges, taxes, and any third-party fees.
Commissions are credited only on orders placed by new customers (customers who have not previously purchased from Darktides Research).
Self-referred orders do not earn commission.
Orders using unauthorized discount codes or coupon-leak codes may be disqualified at our discretion.
We may offer higher or lower commission rates to specific affiliates, affiliate groups, or for specific products or campaigns at our sole discretion. Any such customized rate will be communicated to you through the affiliate dashboard or in writing.

Commission status moves through the following stages: Pending (order placed, within refund grace period); Unpaid (order finalized, eligible for payout); Paid (payout completed); or Rejected (order refunded, cancelled, or otherwise disqualified).

9. Referral Tracking and Cookie Duration

Referrals are tracked using a 30-day cookie. When a customer clicks your referral link, a cookie is placed in their browser; if that customer completes a qualifying purchase within 30 days, the commission is credited to your account. If the customer subsequently clicks another affiliate’s link before purchasing, the most recent affiliate’s cookie takes precedence (“last-click attribution”). We may modify the cookie duration or attribution model at our discretion with notice through the affiliate dashboard.

Cookie-based tracking has inherent limitations. We do not guarantee that every referred sale will be tracked, and we disclaim liability for tracking failures due to browser settings, ad blockers, customer device changes, or technical issues outside our reasonable control.

10. Refunds, Chargebacks, and Clawbacks

If a customer refunds, cancels, or charges back a purchase on which you earned a commission, the corresponding commission will be reversed. If the commission has already been paid, the amount will be deducted from your next payout or, if no future payout is anticipated, invoiced to you for return. We reserve the right to delay payout of commissions until the refund grace period has fully elapsed.

11. Compensation: Store Credit Only

Please read this section carefully before applying to the Program. Affiliate compensation is paid exclusively in the form of store credit redeemable on darktidesresearch.com. We do not offer cash payouts, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, wire transfer, cryptocurrency, gift cards, or any other form of cash-equivalent compensation. If cash compensation is important to you, this Program is not the right fit, and you should not submit an application.

Store credit is issued automatically by the affiliate platform as your commissions move from “Unpaid” to “Paid” status. The credit balance is visible in your affiliate account and is applied at checkout toward qualifying purchases.

Minimum threshold: None. Store credit is issued in the exact amount of the commission earned.
Expiration: Store credit does not expire. Your balance remains in your account until used.
Transferability: Store credit is tied to your affiliate/customer account and is non-transferable. It cannot be sold, gifted, exchanged for cash, or moved to another account.
Redemption: Store credit may be applied at checkout toward the subtotal of qualifying purchases. Store credit may not be applied to shipping charges, taxes, or any fees, and may not exceed the order subtotal. Any remaining balance after an order stays in your account for future use.
Refunds on store-credit purchases: If an order paid with store credit is refunded, the store credit portion is returned to your affiliate account balance (not refunded as cash).
Account closure: If you close your affiliate account voluntarily, any unused store credit remains usable on your underlying customer account on darktidesresearch.com indefinitely. If your account is terminated by us for cause under Section 13, accrued but unused store credit may be forfeited at our discretion.

We chose store-credit-only compensation deliberately. It allows us to operate a sustainable, compliant affiliate program in the research-chemical industry without the payment-processor risk that has shut down many comparable programs. It also aligns the interests of our affiliates with the long-term success of the business: those who promote our products are also those who use them.

12. Taxes

You are an independent contractor, not an employee, agent, partner, or joint venturer of Darktides Research. Because compensation under this Program is issued as store credit redeemable for products rather than as cash, the tax treatment may differ from a cash-based affiliate program. Whether and how store-credit compensation must be reported as income on your individual tax return depends on your jurisdiction, your individual tax situation, and how you ultimately use the credit. You are solely responsible for determining the tax treatment of any benefit you receive through this Program, reporting any taxable income on the appropriate tax filings, and paying any taxes owed.

Darktides Research does not provide tax advice and does not represent that store-credit compensation is or is not taxable to you. We recommend that you consult a qualified tax professional in your jurisdiction. If we determine that we are required by applicable law to report any compensation to a taxing authority (including, without limitation, on IRS Form 1099-NEC or any successor form), we may require you to complete and submit a Form W-9 (or Form W-8BEN for non-US persons) before issuing further compensation, and we may withhold compensation until such forms are received.

13. Term and Termination

This Agreement begins on the date your application is approved and continues until terminated. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time, with or without cause, by providing notice through the affiliate dashboard, by email, or by closing the affiliate account.

Effect of termination without cause: Pending and unpaid commissions earned through compliant activity prior to termination will be paid out in the normal course, subject to the minimum payout threshold and refund grace period.

Effect of termination for cause (including but not limited to fraud, self-referral abuse, violation of Section 4 or Section 5, or material misrepresentation): All pending and unpaid commissions are forfeited, and we may seek reimbursement of any previously paid commissions earned in connection with the conduct giving rise to termination. We also reserve all available legal remedies.

14. Confidentiality

In the course of the Program, you may receive non-public information about Darktides Research, including but not limited to commission rates offered to other affiliates, internal sales data, unreleased product information, and marketing strategies (“Confidential Information”). You agree to hold Confidential Information in strict confidence, to use it solely for the purpose of participating in the Program, and not to disclose it to any third party without our prior written consent. This obligation survives termination of this Agreement.

15. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Darktides Research LLC and its officers, members, employees, contractors, and agents from and against any and all claims, demands, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or related to: (a) your participation in the Program; (b) your breach of this Agreement; (c) any content you publish that references Darktides Research; (d) your violation of any law, regulation, or third-party right (including but not limited to claims under the FTC Act, FDA regulations, or intellectual property law); or (e) any misrepresentation or unauthorized claim made by you regarding Darktides Research products.

16. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability

The Program is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. Darktides Research disclaims all warranties including but not limited to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and uninterrupted or error-free operation of the affiliate platform.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Darktides Research’s aggregate liability arising out of or related to this Agreement or the Program shall not exceed the total commissions paid to you in the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the event giving rise to the claim, or one hundred US dollars ($100.00), whichever is greater. In no event shall Darktides Research be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages, lost profits, or lost data, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

17. Modifications to this Agreement

We may modify this Agreement from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date above and provide notice through the affiliate dashboard, by email, or by a notice on the affiliate registration page. Your continued participation in the Program after the effective date of a modification constitutes acceptance of the modified terms. If you do not agree to the modifications, your sole remedy is to terminate your participation in the Program under Section 13.

18. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Nevada, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to this Agreement or the Program shall be resolved exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Clark County, Nevada, and you irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue of those courts. The parties waive any right to a jury trial in any such proceeding to the extent permitted by law.

19. Miscellaneous

Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with our website Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, constitutes the entire agreement between you and Darktides Research regarding the Program and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous communications.

Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement is not a waiver of that provision or any other.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement without our prior written consent. We may assign this Agreement at any time without notice.

Independent Contractor Status. Nothing in this Agreement creates an employment, agency, partnership, joint venture, or franchise relationship between you and Darktides Research.

20. Contact

Questions about this Agreement or the Program can be sent to:

Darktides Research LLC
Email: hello@darktidesresearch.com
Website: https://darktidesresearch.com

By submitting the affiliate registration form and checking the box indicating acceptance of these terms, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by this Affiliate Program Terms of Service.