Affiliate Marketing on Pinterest: Rules and First Steps
Affindly editorial team · Published 10/20/2026 · 6 min read
Affiliate marketing on Pinterest means publishing Pins that link to a product or service and earning a commission when someone buys through your tracked link. Pinterest has its own guidelines for affiliate content. You also need to follow the affiliate program's rules and the FTC's disclosure guidance.
This guide covers what the official sources say and what to check before you start. It is not legal advice.
How do Pins with affiliate links work?
A Pin is an image or video that can link to a web page. When someone clicks, they leave Pinterest and land on the page behind the link. With an affiliate link, that page is a merchant's page, and the link carries your affiliate ID so the program can credit the click.
Some creators link straight to the merchant. Others link to their own page, such as a review or a list, and put the affiliate links there. Which approach is allowed depends on the program's terms and on Pinterest's link rules, so check both. Our guide on affiliate marketing without a website covers when programs accept other setups.
What does Pinterest say about affiliate links?
Pinterest's Commercial and Branded Content Guidelines (last updated April 2025) have a section on affiliate content. The main points:
- Original value: affiliate content should be original and add unique value for Pinners.
- One account: in general, you should operate only one Pinterest account.
- Paid partnership rules: always follow Pinterest's Paid Partnership Guidelines, which are covered below.
- Transparency: be open about the commercial nature of your content and about your links and how they behave.
- Moderation: avoid creating affiliate Pins repetitively or in large volumes, and use affiliate links in moderation.
- No manipulation: do not use fake accounts to create or save your affiliate links, and do not ask other users to save your affiliate Pins in a quid pro quo.
- Shorteners: some link shortener services are not currently supported on Pinterest. If your Pin's link is blocked, you can edit it.
A Pinterest Business Community post on product tagging, dated July 2021, says Pinterest supports affiliate links from affiliate networks and programs, and that not all programs are supported. It adds that Pinterest only allows affiliate links from approved partners and domains. The community site warns that older posts may be out of date, so confirm the current rules in Pinterest's own help before you rely on it.
How do you disclose affiliate links on Pinterest?
Pinterest's affiliate guidelines tell you to follow its Paid Partnership Guidelines. Those guidelines say all paid partnerships must include a clear disclosure of the commercial nature of the content. Pinterest's examples are using #ad or applying a label with its paid partnership tool.
You have two ways to disclose:
| Tool | What it is for | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| Paid partnership label | A creator makes content with a brand they have a material connection with | Pinterest app only, one brand per Pin, cannot be added after the Pin is published |
| Your own wording, such as #ad | Telling viewers that you may earn a commission | Pinterest asks for a clear disclosure, and the FTC expects it to be hard to miss |
According to Pinterest's help page on paid partnerships for creators, the tool is built around tagging a brand, and the brand must approve the tag. Until it does, the label appears without the brand's name. If the brand is not on Pinterest, you can still use the label, and it shows without a name. The 2021 community post mentioned above also describes a toggle in the product tagging flow for marking sponsored products, but that may be out of date.
In Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, the FTC says a disclosure should be hard to miss and placed alongside the endorsement. It should not be buried in a group of hashtags or links, and a platform's tool may not be enough on its own. In practice, that means a short, plain sentence in the Pin description, near the start, and again on the page you link to. See our guide to affiliate disclosure and the FTC.
Does the affiliate program allow Pinterest?
Even if Pinterest allows a link, the program may not accept it. Each merchant or network sets its own rules on traffic sources, social media, paid ads and link formats. Before you pin, check the program terms for:
- Whether social media promotion is allowed at all.
- Whether you may link straight to the merchant or must use a page of your own.
- Any rules on cloaked or shortened links.
- How clicks from the Pinterest app are tracked.
Programs differ. You can compare conditions in our list of affiliate programs for beginners.
What should you do before your first Pin?
- Read Pinterest's Commercial and Branded Content Guidelines.
- Read the terms of the affiliate program and note what it says about social media.
- Test one link: click it from the Pinterest app and check that the click shows in the program dashboard.
- Write your disclosure wording, such as #ad or a plain sentence, and place it where people will see it.
- Create original Pins that add something, such as your own images, a comparison or a short how-to.
- Keep one account and avoid posting large volumes of near-identical Pins.
If you are new to the field, our overview of how to start affiliate marketing explains the basics. Results vary, and no platform or program guarantees income.
Sources
- Commercial and Branded Content Guidelines, Pinterest (retrieved 10/20/2026)
- Paid partnerships for creators, Pinterest Help (retrieved 10/20/2026)
- Announcing product tagging and affiliate partnerships on Pinterest, Pinterest Business Community (retrieved 10/20/2026)
- Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers, Federal Trade Commission (retrieved 10/20/2026)
- The FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, Federal Trade Commission (retrieved 10/20/2026)