The partner program

Partners earn a commission when someone they refer becomes a paying customer. That is the whole arrangement, and everything below is the detail of it.

This is for people who already write for, advise or build sites for small businesses, and who would recommend PlainQuill anyway. There is no sign-up form and no tiers. We issue codes one at a time, by email, to people we can have a conversation with.

The terms

• 25% of the plan payment. You earn 25% of what your referred customer actually pays for their plan, after any discount they used. Monthly or annual, it is the same share of what was paid.
• For 12 months. The window opens on their first paid plan invoice and runs for 12 months from that date. After that the referral stops earning, and the customer is simply a customer.
• 60-day attribution, first code wins. Someone who arrives through your link is attributed to you for 60 days. If they arrived through someone else's link first, that first code keeps the referral.
• Paid monthly, by hand, over $50. Once your balance reaches $50 it goes out in the next monthly run. Below that it carries over. A person checks the list and pays it; nothing about the payout is automated.

What does not earn commission

• The $3 trial fee. It is a charge for the trial period, not a plan payment, so it earns nothing and it does not open the 12-month window.
• The optional add-ons. Extra bylines and site hosting are things a customer chooses later, on their own, so commission is on the plan lines only.
• Your own account. Signing up through your own code earns nothing, and the check is automatic.
• A payment that is refunded or charged back. The commission on it is taken back off your balance, shown on your statement as a negative entry rather than a quiet correction.

How it works once you have a code

Your code becomes a link. Anyone who follows it and starts an account is attributed to you, and you get a page in the dashboard showing your clicks, your signups, how many of them are paying, and every entry on your balance. It shows you no customer names and no customer data, because none of that is yours to see.

Plans start at $29 a month, so a single referred customer on the entry plan is worth a few dollars a month for up to 12 months. We publish the rate rather than an earnings figure, because what you would earn depends entirely on who you refer and we have no way of knowing that.

How to get a code

Email partners@plainquill.com and tell us where you would be writing about PlainQuill and who reads it. If it is a fit we will issue a code and a payout address the same way.

The program terms sit alongside the rest of the agreement on theterms of service page.