17 Best Affiliate Programs in South Africa in 2024 (Top Offers)

Do you have an engaged online audience (or plans to build one)? Affiliate programs in South Africa are the perfect way to convert your website, social media, or email traffic into sales and cash.

We’re in a boom period for affiliate marketing. Companies are investing ever-larger sums in affiliate marketing; global spending reached $17 billion in 2023.

Ready to get in on the action? We’ve made your life easier by rounding up 17 of the best South African affiliate programs and networks, from global brands like Fiverr and Kaspersky to local favorites like Faithful to Nature and Zando. 

South African Affiliate Programs & Networks

1. Fiverr
2. Zando
3. Etsy
4. Sell-SA
5. Bidorbuy
6. Mantality
7. Travelstart
8. Mr Price
9. Faithful to Nature
10. 4aKid
11. SafariNow
12. Zalemart
13. Kaspersky
14. 4aPet
15. OfferForge
16. AdMarula
17. Affiliate.co.za

😎 Why You Should Trust Us

We don’t pretend to know much about rocket science or brain surgery, but we definitely understand affiliate marketing.

We’ve been building and monetizing authority sites across multiple niches for more than a decade now.

Along the way, we’ve shared countless best practices and case studies to help thousands more affiliate marketers make money through The Authority Site System and our free training.

Take Our Free Affiliate Marketing Training

1 Fiverr

Fiverr is a marketplace for mostly digital marketing-related freelance services across 500+ categories, including web development, graphic design, and copywriting. Some vendors on the platform also offer professional services like interior design and architecture.

More than four million active buyers find freelancers with relevant skill sets through Fiverr. The vast majority are smaller online businesses, although big names like Google and Facebook also use the platform.

The Fiverr affiliate program offers two commission structures: 

• Fiverr CPA pays US$15 – US$150 per sale, varying by product category.
• Fiverr Hybrid pays US$10 CPA per sale and 10% recurring commissions for 12 months.

Fiverr also has a separate affiliate program for influencers with at least 5,000 followers, paying up to 100% higher commissions than Fiverr’s “regular” programs.

(Find out more in our Fiverr affiliate program review.)

• URL: Fiverr affiliate program
• Commission rate: US$15 – US$150 CPA, or US$10 CPA + 10% RevShare
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payment methods: PayPal, Payoneer, wire transfer
• Products sold: Freelance services

2 Zando

Zando is an online retail store selling clothing, shoes, accessories, homeware, beauty products, and sports gear from 600+ local and international brands, including big names like Adidas, Nike, and Puma. It offers free delivery and easy returns on all orders over R400.

The company is owned by Jumia Group, an ecommerce platform operating in 11 countries across Africa.

Zando’s affiliate program is managed through Sovrn. Generating an affiliate link for multiple platforms — including your website, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube — is simple. Just copy-paste a site or product URL and your link will be automatically generated.

• URL: Zando affiliate program
• Commission rate: Unlisted
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Check, wire transfer, PayPal, direct deposit
• Products sold: Apparel, footwear, beauty products, homeware, accessories

3 Etsy

Etsy is an online store specializing in handcrafted and unique products spanning multiple categories, from clothing and jewelry to home decor and personalized gifts.

One of the world’s biggest online retailers, Etsy is used by approximately 7.5 million active sellers and almost 100 million active buyers, with the company’s global revenue surpassing $2.3 billion in 2021.

Etsy has separate affiliate programs for its various markets, with South Africa covered by the “Rest of the World” program. It pays a 5% commission for all sales generated from your affiliate link within the 30-day cookie window.

The online business offers multilingual affiliate support in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. 

Affiliate partners can access all the resources required to drive traffic and sales, including a regular affiliate marketing newsletter and category-specific creatives.

(Want to learn more? Check out our in-depth Etsy affiliate program review.)

• URL: Etsy ROW affiliate program
• Commission rate: 5% per sale
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payment methods: Check, international wire, ACH
• Products sold: Unique creative goods

4 Sell-SA

Sell-SA is a South African online shopping marketplace that connects buyers and sellers across dozens of categories, including electronics, clothing, technology, and books.

The platform reassures customers by verifying all vendors. Furthermore, if a customer orders a product that never arrives, they get a full refund.

The Sell-SA affiliate program pays a flat 5% commission on all referred purchases. It’s open to all types of affiliate marketers, from large content networks to bloggers to social media users.

• URL: Sell-SA affiliate program
• Commission rate: 5% per sale
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Unlisted
• Products sold: Electronics, clothing, cell phones, shoes, computers, books, and more

5 Bidorbuy

Bidorbuy is essentially South Africa’s answer to eBay: an online shopping and auction marketplace that allows buyers and sellers to do business.

Like similar online platforms, it offers products across multiple categories, including digital, home and garden, fashion, and sports.

The Bidorbuy affiliate program has a tiered commission scale that offers higher rewards for affiliates who generate more referrals. Commissions are paid for three types of action:

• Confirmed registrations
• Pay per click
• Seminar signups

Seminar signups pay a flat commission of R50 per user, while other actions offer tiered commissions of up to R100 per conversion.

Bidorbuy offers various affiliate partner resources and tools, including a trade feed generator that allows affiliates to display relevant Bidorbuy on their websites. It also provides banner ads, buttons, and referral pages.

• URL: Bidorbuy affiliate program
• Commission rate: Up to R100 per action
• Cookie duration: Up to 60 days
• Payment methods: Unlisted
• Products sold: Various B2C products

6 Mantality

Finally, an online store for men! 

Mantality describes itself as South Africa’s #1 online retailer for men. It offers male-oriented products across multiple categories, including tech, gaming, male grooming, health supplements, and unique experiences. The retailer sources products from South African companies and international brands.

Customers get free shipping on orders of R650+, with all products delivered in one to three days.

Over 5,000 affiliates have signed up for Mantality’s affiliate program, which has a 30-day cookie window and pays a default commission of 10% for completed sales. New affiliate partners get a R30 signup bonus, while top performers are automatically granted higher commission rates.

Mantality accepts affiliates from various backgrounds, including product reviewers, gear guide writers, tech bloggers, and travel writers. 

Affiliates can access the Mantality affiliate dashboard 24/7 to check their sales, traffic, clicks, and earnings.

• URL: Mantality affiliate program
• Commission rate: 10% per sale
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payment methods: Bank transfer, PayPal
• Products sold: Tech, gaming, male grooming, health & fitness, experiences, and more

7 Travelstart

Travelstart describes itself as Africa’s leading online travel agency, helping business and leisure travelers search, compare, and book flight, bus, hotel, car hire, and holiday deals.

Over one million passengers have booked travel packages through Travelstart, while the website attracts approximately 25 million visitors annually.

The Travelstart affiliate program is managed through Impact Radius, one of the world’s biggest affiliate networks. It has a 30-day cookie window and is open to website owners and email marketers.

According to Impact, the program pays flat commissions of US$6 on domestic bookings and US$8 on international sales. However, the Travelstart website references a tiered commission structure, as follows:

Commissions are paid monthly via direct deposit, typically within the first 10 working days of the month. The affiliate program has a 30-day EPC of R0.72.

Travelstart affiliates can access various tools and resources, including display banners, promotional codes, and text links. All affiliates are invited to a step-by-step introduction with their personal affiliate manager.

(Looking for more travel affiliate programs? Check out our roundup of the best programs in the travel niche.)

• URL: Travelstart affiliate program
• Commission rate: US$6 – US$8 per sale
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payment methods: Direct deposit
• Products sold: Flight tickets, car rental, travel packages

8 Mr Price

Mr Price is one of South Africa’s biggest retailers, generating almost US$1.9 billion in sales in 2022 and operating hundreds of stores across the country.

Also known as MRP, the fashion brand ships to 130 countries and has a catalog of approximately 16,000 SKUs across various categories, including clothing, accessories, footwear, and sleepwear.

Mr Price Group also owns many other South African retail brands, such as Power Fashion, Sheet Street, and YuppieChef.

Find the Mr Price affiliate program on CJ Affiliate, a major global affiliate network. It offers a 14-day cookie window and pays a flat commission rate of 7% per sale on new and returning customer orders.

MRP is happy to work with most affiliates, but it manually reviews applications from loyalty sites and incentive publishers.

• URL: Mr Price affiliate program
• Commission rate: 7% per sale
• Cookie duration: 14 days
• Payment methods: Direct deposit, check, Payoneer
• Products sold: Clothing, footwear, accessories

9 Faithful to Nature

Faithful to Nature is an online retail store specializing in ethical and sustainable products across multiple categories, including food, health, beauty, and home decor. Customers get free carbon-neutral delivery across South Africa on orders of R400+.

The brand promises to offer complete transparency over the ingredients of all products it sells. It checks every single ingredient to ensure all items are clean and toxin-free.

Sign up for Faithful to Nature’s affiliate program through Impact Radius. The retailer’s website mentions commission rates of up to 15% per sale. By contrast, Impact cites commissions of:

• 10% on new customer orders
• 7% on returning customer orders

Either way, you definitely get a 30-day cookie window.

Faithful to Nature is open to partnering with “regular” affiliates, bloggers, influencers, and large publishers.

• URL: Faithful to Nature affiliate program
• Commission rate: Up to 15% per sale
• Cookie duration: 30 days
• Payment methods: PayPal, check, wire transfer, direct deposit, ACH
• Products sold: Sustainable food, healthy, beauty, and home products

10 4aKid

4aKid is an online business selling baby and toddler products, including crawling gear, feeding tools, and educational toys. It stocks products from many popular brands, such as Tummy Tie, Playtape, SoPure, and Melissa & Doug.

Customers get free shipping on orders of R500+ within Gauteng and R1,000+ in other parts of South Africa.

4aKid is owned by businesswoman Ally Cohen, who’s also the brainchild behind another brand in our roundup, 4aPet.

The retailer’s affiliate program pays generous commission rates of 20% per sale. Commissions are credited to your 4aKid account 30 days in arrears, after which amounts of R250+ can be paid to your bank account.

All types of affiliates are encouraged to join the program, including social media users, website owners, bloggers, email marketers, and WhatsApp marketers. 

The company shares various resources to help boost performance, including a fortnightly newsletter featuring news on the latest products and promotions.

• URL: 4aKid affiliate program
• Commission rate: 20% per sale
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Store credit, bank transfer
• Products sold: Baby accessories, clothes, and furniture

11 SafariNow

SafariNow claims to be the Amazon of accommodation in Africa. 

The booking engine offers over 155,000 places to stay, from campsites and guesthouses to B&Bs and luxury hotels. Popular locations include Kruger National Park, the Garden Route, and Cape Town.

One of South Africa’s best travel affiliate programs, SafariNow pays commissions of up to 15% per sale on every completed booking.

The company accepts various types of affiliates, including large brands, blog owners, and social media users. It offers extensive tools to help drive traffic and sales, including a SafariNow API for your website.

• URL: SafariNow affiliate program
• Commission rate: Up to 15% per completed booking
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Unlisted
• Products sold: Accommodation

12 Zalemart

Zalemart is a general retail store based in Durban and operating across South Africa. 

The retailer sells hundreds of products across multiple categories, from clothing and electronics to homeware and kitchen appliances, but its core focus is women’s denim wear.

Zalemart is owned by the FE Bassa Family Trust, a trading company offering commercial real estate rentals in South Africa.

Sign up for the Zalemart affiliate program through a simple onsite form. Affiliate partners earn a 5% commission on all sales and a personal discount of 5% – 15% — depending on the size of your audience — once you send your first referral.

Bear in mind the program doesn’t pay out on bulk orders of 5+ products.

Affiliates can also access personalized, shareable discount codes and free products.

Commissions are paid in-store credit or cash. If you choose a cash payout, Zalemart will process your payment within 25 business days and deduct a R10 processing fee.

• URL: Zalemart affiliate program
• Commission rate: 5% per sale
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Store credit, bank transfer
• Products sold: Clothing, electronics, homeware, kitchenware, pet products

13 Kaspersky

Kaspersky is one of the world’s largest cyber security businesses, offering personal and business solutions to keep connected devices safe and networks secure.

According to its own figures, in 2022, the company prevented 687 million cyber attacks, blocked 114 million unique malicious URLs, and neutralized 64 million unique malicious objects.

All plans are underpinned by advanced AI capable of detecting and combating online threats, even if Kaspersky hasn’t seen them before.

Kaspersky’s affiliate program is managed through the Commission Factory network. It offers a 45-day cookie window and pays commissions of 25% per sale, although improved rates are available for affiliates who send a higher volume and quality of traffic.

Commissions are paid monthly via Commission Factory.

The company runs regular competitions and promotions only available to affiliate partners.

(Looking for more advertisers like this? Check out our roundup of the best cyber security affiliate programs.)

• URL: Kaspersky affiliate program
• Commission rate: 25% per sale
• Cookie duration: 45 days
• Payment methods: PayPal, bank transfer, check, prepaid Mastercard
• Products sold: Cyber security solutions

14 4aPet

As you may remember, 4aPet is owned by Ally Cohen, the woman behind 4aKid. The online store sells pet supplies, including grooming products, toys, food, health supplements, and accessories.

Like 4aKid, 4aPet offers free shipping on orders over R500 in Gauteng province, rising to R1,000+ for customers in other South African provinces. All purchases are dispatched within two working days, except for pre-orders.

Sign up for 4aPet’s affiliate program through a simple onsite form. Once approved, you’ll earn 20% commissions on all sales and get access to an email-based training course to help you get started.

Commissions are paid 30 days in arrears as store credit, although cash payouts can be requested on amounts of R250+.

• URL: 4aPet affiliate program
• Commission rate: 20% per sale
• Cookie duration: Unlisted
• Payment methods: Store credit, bank transfer
• Products sold: Pet products

15 OfferForge

OfferForge claims to be Africa’s top affiliate network.

Founded in 2005 and based in Johannesburg, it works with over 30,000 affiliate marketers and more than 3,000 brands, including big names like Fasta, Netflorist, and Wonga.

The network supports various commission models, including display ads, pay-per-click, lead generation, and customer acquisition. 

Commissions are paid monthly in multiple currencies through PayPal and bank transfer, with a minimum threshold of R500 for South African affiliates and US$100 for overseas publishers.

• URL: OfferForge affiliate network
• Payment methods: PayPal, bank transfer
• Brands: Netflorist, Lime Loans, Wonga, Fasta

16 AdMarula

AdMarula is a South African performance marketing consultancy that runs its own affiliate network, allowing affiliate marketers to earn commissions through CPA, CPC, CPL, and CPM-oriented affiliate programs.

The network has partnered with many big-name local and international brands, including Mr Price and Avis Budget Group.

Affiliates join AdMarula through an online registration form and can display ads as soon as their application is approved. The company works with a range of affiliates, including website owners, email marketers, and bloggers.

As a network, AdMarula earns a 30% fee on total commissions paid to publishers. For example, if an advertiser pays a publisher R100 per sale, AdMarula earns R30 on each transaction.

Commissions are paid on the 20th of each month with a two-month lag, provided you reach the minimum threshold of R500.

• URL: AdMarula affiliate network
• Payment methods: 
• Brands: Faithful to Nature, Mr Price, Avis Budget Group

17 Affiliate.co.za

Johannesburg-based Affiliate.co.za claims to be Africa’s fastest-growing online affiliate network.

Whether or not that’s true, it works with some impressive brands — including Etihad Airways, Uber Eats, and Volvo — and supports CPA, CPL, and CPC payment models.

Affiliate.co.za pays affiliates via bank transfer, wire transfer, and PayPal. To get paid, you need to submit an invoice to the network’s banking team at the start of each month, after which you’ll receive your commissions.

The network offers plenty of support to its affiliate partners, including giving them access to a dedicated account manager.

• URL: Affiliate.co.za affiliate network
• Payment methods: PayPal, bank transfer, wire transfer
• Brands: Future Light, WantitAll

How to Start Affiliate Marketing in South Africa

Sounds pretty simple to become a successful affiliate marketer, right? You just need to:

• Identify an existing niche with an engaged audience
• Find a bunch of relevant and desirable programs
• Add a referral link or two to your social media channels or blog
• Earn a ton of affiliate income 

Unfortunately, the reality is a little more complex than the theory. Generating a regular flow of referrals and sales takes time and effort. Many affiliates quit before they get anywhere near earning a job-replacement income.

You need to do the hard yards for your affiliate marketing efforts to produce real results. Unless you’re an influencer with a large existing audience, that likely means building a website. Learn about the various steps by reading our ultimate guide on how to start affiliate marketing.

How To Find the Best Affiliate Programs in South Africa

Not satisfied with the South Africa affiliate marketing programs and networks in this article? We’ve got your back. Here are two ways to find even more programs for your niche:

1. Research Individual Affiliate Programs

Your first strategy is to track down individual affiliate programs, either by:

• Looking for programs promoted by other affiliate marketers in your niche; or…
• Searching for “[niche] + affiliate programs” on Google.

The downside of this approach is that it takes time. Plus there’s a (slightly) higher chance of getting scammed if you work directly with an affiliate advertiser.

On the positive side, it might allow you to build closer relationships with individual brands, leading to more attractive terms — think longer cookie windows, higher commissions, and more generous promotions.

2. Join Affiliate Networks

If the first method sounds like too much hard work, another option is to browse affiliate networks for affiliate programs targeting the South African market.

Major global networks like Impact, Rakuten, and ShareASale make it easy for affiliates to filter affiliate programs in South Africa:

Alternatively, use networks like AdMarula and Affiliate ZA to find advertisers that are 100% focused on South African audiences.

Most affiliate networks are prepared to work with all types of affiliate marketers, from website owners and bloggers to podcasters and influencers. Some even offer preferential terms for established influencers with large, engaged audiences.

There’s little chance of getting ripped off if you sign up for an affiliate program through a network. The only real downside is that advertisers pay their network partners a fee to connect them with affiliates, which can result in less attractive terms and conditions.

Over To You

Finding the best affiliate marketing program for your niche is simple enough. But it’s much harder to generate a consistent stream of traffic, clicks, sales, and commissions.

While plenty of people make good money promoting affiliate products through social media platforms, your best bet is to build your own affiliate website. It gives you multiple avenues to reach your audience, including:

• SEO
• Social media
• Email marketing

Clearly, building a high-performing affiliate site is no simple task. But your pals at Authority Hacker are here to help.

Over the past decade, we’ve built prominent websites in dozens of niches. And we’ve also taught 11,000+ students how to do the same.

Want to join them? Sign up for our free training, where we’ll explain seven best practices and tips that make new sites 83% more successful — including one super effective strategy for finding profitable hidden niches. 

FAQ