Affiliate Program Terms

These terms govern the cooperation between the website operator and a partner who recommends personalized children's books by Hero of the Book and receives a commission for doing so.

1. Introductory provisions

The operator of the affiliate program is:

• Name: Lukáš Kantor, a self-employed person doing business under the Czech Trade Licensing Act
• Company ID: 03177009, VAT ID: CZ9109235410
• Registered office: Milíkov 244, 739 81 Milíkov
• Contact e-mail: contact@heroofthebook.com

(hereinafter the "operator"). A person whose application to the program has been approved by the operator is hereinafter the "partner".

By accepting these terms and by the approval of the application, a brokerage agreement arises between the operator and the partner pursuant to Section 2445 et seq. of the Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Coll.). The partner carries out activities aimed at enabling the operator to conclude a purchase contract with a customer, and is entitled to a commission for each brokered and paid transaction.

These terms concern exclusively the relationship between the operator and the partner. The relationship between the operator and a customer brought in by the partner is governed by the terms and conditions — the partner is not a party to the purchase contract and does not act as a representative of the operator.

2. Who can become a partner

A partner may be a natural or legal person who:

• is over 18 years of age and has full legal capacity,
• does business on the basis of an authorization required for this activity by the state of their registered office, and holds an identification number under which they do business there — the commission is paid against an invoice, so without a business authorization it cannot be duly paid out,
• if based outside the Czech Republic, also provides their value added tax identification number,
• has provided true and complete identification details in the application,
• has their own recommendation channel (website, blog, social media, newsletter, offline community).

A foreign partner needs a value added tax number because brokerage is a service with the place of supply in the state of the recipient (Article 44 of Directive 2006/112/EC): the partner invoices without tax and the operator declares the tax under the reverse charge mechanism. Without that number, the commission can neither be invoiced nor paid out. The identification number has a different name in each country (VAT identification number in the European Union, GST/HST number in Canada, and so on). Whatever it is called, the operator needs it before the commission can be invoiced and paid. Brokerage is a service, and for a supply to a business customer the place of supply is where the customer is established, i.e. the Czech Republic (Article 44 of Directive 2006/112/EC; Section 9(1) of Act No. 235/2004 Coll., on value added tax). A partner established in the European Union therefore invoices without VAT with a note that the tax is reverse charged to the recipient. The small-undertaking exemption in the partner's own state does not cover this supply, because it applies to domestic supplies: even a partner who is not registered for VAT at home must obtain a VAT identification number before supplying the service and report the supply in a recapitulative statement (Article 262 of Directive 2006/112/EC). A partner established outside the European Union invoices without EU VAT and the operator self-assesses the Czech tax; the partner still states on the invoice whatever tax registration number their own law provides for. Without a valid identification number the commission cannot be paid out and can only be taken as credit under the credit programme, which requires no invoice.

Not in business? You can still recommend us — through the credit program, where the reward is not a cash commission but credit towards your own future purchase. The application is shared; you choose the branch in the form. Participating in both branches at the same time is not possible and only one reward is ever due for a single recommendation.

3. Formation and duration of the cooperation

The cooperation arises upon approval of the application by the operator. The program is subject to approval: the operator is not obliged to accept an application and may reject it even without stating a reason. There is no legal entitlement to participate in the program.

After approval, the partner receives their referral code and link by e-mail. The code is personal and non-transferable.

The cooperation is agreed for an indefinite period. Termination is governed by Article 11.

4. Referral link, code and attribution

Recommendations are recorded as follows:

• When a visitor clicks on the partner's referral link, their code is stored in a cookie in the visitor's browser.
• The cookie is valid for 30 days from the last click (the attribution window).
• An order is assigned to the partner whose code is in the cookie at the moment the order is placed. The last click rule applies — if the visitor arrives in the meantime through another partner's link, the commission belongs to the latter.
• If the visitor deletes cookies, uses another device or browser, or has cookies blocked by their browser settings, the recommendation may not be recorded. No entitlement to a commission arises from an unrecorded order and the operator is not liable for technical limitations on the visitor's side.
• The partner may use their own code for their own purchase as well; own purchases are not prohibited.

5. Discount for the referred customer

A customer who arrives through the partner's referral link receives a 10% discount off the price of the book and the audiobook add-on. The discount does not apply to shipping.

Discounts cannot be combined: if the customer applies a separate discount coupon, the coupon replaces the automatic referral discount. This has no effect on the recording of the recommendation or on the partner's entitlement to a commission.

The amount of the discount and of the commission is stated as of the moment this document is displayed and the operator may change it in the future in accordance with Article 12.

6. Commission

Unless otherwise agreed with the partner in writing, the commission amounts to 10% of the commission base.

The commission base is the actually paid price of the book excluding value added tax, i.e. after deduction of any discounts and coupons. The base does not include:

• shipping of the printed book,
• the audiobook add-on,
• value added tax corresponding to the rate of the given country.

The commission is recorded in the currency of the order. If payment in another currency is agreed, it is converted at the exchange rate of the Czech National Bank as of the date of payment of the brokered order.

7. Origination, approval and lapse of the entitlement to a commission

The entitlement to a commission arises upon payment of the brokered order, and the commission is thereby approved for payout at the same time. Approval does not wait for the order to be fulfilled or for the period during which a refund or a complaint may be claimed to elapse.

The entitlement to a commission lapses if:

• the order was cancelled or the amount paid was refunded to the customer (including partially — the entitlement then lapses to the corresponding extent),
• the order was created fraudulently, through misuse of means of payment, or in breach of Article 9 of these terms,
• the order was created merely for show in order to obtain a commission.

If the customer disputes the payment with their bank or with the card issuer (a so-called chargeback), the entitlement is treated as having lapsed for the duration of those proceedings. If the proceedings end in the operator's favor and the entitlement has not lapsed in the meantime for another reason, it is restored.

If the commission has already been paid out in such a case, the partner is obliged to return it; the operator is entitled to unilaterally set it off against the partner's further commissions. The partner can see the amount to be set off in their account, and it is deducted from their next payouts.

8. Commission payout, invoicing and taxes

• The operator pays the commission on the basis of an invoice issued by the partner. The supporting documentation (an overview of approved commissions after deduction of amounts set off under Article 7) is available to the partner in their account in the affiliate program section.
• The partner sends the invoice to the operator's contact e-mail. The invoice is due within 14 days of its delivery, unless agreed otherwise.
• The commission is paid by bank transfer to the bank account stated on the invoice. The operator verifies any change of account number — this protects both parties against fraud.
• The operator is not obliged to pay a commission until the partner provides the details required for the proper issuance and posting of the accounting document.
• The VAT regime is governed by the country from which the partner invoices and by their VAT registration: for a foreign partner registered for VAT this is usually the reverse charge mechanism, while for a domestic VAT payer domestic tax applies. The partner is responsible for the accuracy of their tax identification number.
• The commission is the partner's income from their business activity. The partner is solely responsible for its taxation, levies and any tax registration. The partner carries out the promotion in the state of their tax residence, so in the case of a foreign partner this is not income from sources within the territory of the Czech Republic (Section 22 of Act No. 586/1992 Coll., on Income Taxes) and the operator neither withholds nor secures tax from the commission. Should the law require otherwise, the operator will withhold tax at the statutory rate and issue the partner a certificate of the tax withheld; it will apply the rate under a double taxation treaty if the partner submits a certificate of tax domicile before the payout.

9. Promotion rules

The partner may promote the operator's products on their own website, blog, social media, in a newsletter and offline, provided they comply with the following rules.

The partner is obliged to:

• present the product truthfully and in accordance with the information stated on the operator's website; not to promise features, prices, deadlines or guarantees that the operator does not provide,
• label advertising communications as advertising or paid cooperation wherever required by law, including on social media,
• comply with the rules for sending commercial communications (the addressee's consent and the option to unsubscribe at any time),
• act in good faith and inform the operator without undue delay upon discovering an error in the recording of recommendations or in the technical functioning of the link.

Advertising must be recognisable as advertising. Within the European Union and the European Economic Area, using editorial content to promote a product where the trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear to the consumer (advertorial, hidden advertising) is an unfair commercial practice in all circumstances under point 11 of Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC; no proof that anyone was actually influenced is required. The same rule applies in substance in the United States: a material connection between the endorser and the advertiser must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 45) and the FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255). The label must be visible in the publication itself (in the post, video or article), not only in a profile description or behind a link.

For commercial communications sent by e-mail or SMS the rules differ by country and the stricter one applies. In the European Union and the European Economic Area, prior consent of the addressee is required (Article 13 of Directive 2002/58/EC; in the Czech Republic Section 7 of Act No. 480/2004 Coll., on certain information society services). In the United States, CAN-SPAM (15 U.S.C. §§ 7701–7713) does not require prior consent but demands truthful headers and subject lines, a clear indication that the message is an advertisement, a valid postal address and a working opt-out honoured within ten business days. In Canada, CASL (S.C. 2010, c. 23) requires express or implied consent. Bulk unsolicited messages are not permitted under this cooperation in any case.

The partner is prohibited in particular from:

• forced or hidden cookie placement (so-called cookie stuffing), automatic redirects, loading the link in a hidden frame, iframe or pixel, click bots and any other artificial generation of clicks,
• sending unsolicited commercial communications (spam), including bulk messages, comment spam and off-topic forum posts,
• advertising in search engines and PPC systems on the operator's trademark or on its obvious variants and misspellings (in particular "Hero of the Book" with or without diacritics, "heroofthebook.com" and similar expressions in the language of the given market), whether as a keyword or in the text of the advertisement,
• impersonating the operator, its employees or official representation, using domain names or profiles confusable with the operator, or entering into any obligations in its name,
• publishing false reviews or ratings and presenting their own content as independent customer experiences,
• distributing the link on websites with unlawful content, adult, hateful, violent or discriminatory content, or on websites that infringe the rights of third parties,
• placing the code in discount aggregators, coupon and cashback portals without the operator's prior written consent,
• modifying, reselling or publishing the referral code in a way that makes it impossible to assign a recommendation to a specific customer.

10. Trademark and marketing materials

The operator grants the partner a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence revocable at any time to use its designation, logo and the promotional materials provided (banners, book samples) solely to promote the operator's products for the duration of the cooperation.

The partner must not modify these materials in a way that changes their meaning or harms the operator's good name, nor use them after the cooperation has ended. The illustrations and texts of the sample books are copyrighted works; any use other than promotional is not permitted.

11. Breach of terms and termination of the cooperation

If the partner breaches these terms, the operator may, depending on the seriousness of the breach:

• suspend the partner's account and temporarily stop recording recommendations,
• cancel commissions not yet paid out that arose in connection with the breach,
• terminate the cooperation with immediate effect and deactivate the referral code.

Either party may terminate the cooperation at any time, even without stating a reason, by notice sent to the other party's contact e-mail, effective upon delivery of the notice.

Termination of the cooperation does not extinguish the entitlement to commissions already arisen and duly approved from orders paid before the termination; the partner shall invoice them within 30 days of the termination. This does not apply to termination for breach of the terms to the extent set out in the first paragraph.

The partner may at any time request the cancellation of their participation in the program at the contact e-mail.

12. Changes to the terms

The operator may unilaterally change these terms, the commission rate and the amount of the discount for the referred customer. It will inform the partner of the change by e-mail at least 14 days in advance.

If the partner does not agree with the change, they may terminate the cooperation before the effective date of the change in accordance with Article 11. If they continue promoting after the effective date, the change is deemed to have been accepted. The change does not affect commissions from orders paid before its effective date — those are settled under the previous wording.

13. Personal data protection

If the partner is a natural person, the operator processes their identification, invoicing and payment details (name, e-mail, registration number, VAT ID, billing address, bank account number, details of commissions and invoices) as the controller.

The legal basis is the performance of a contract under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR and compliance with legal obligations under point (c) — in particular accounting and tax obligations. Consent is not required for these purposes and cannot be withdrawn separately without terminating the cooperation; data on tax documents is retained for the period laid down by law.

Details, including the partner's rights, are set out in the privacy policy.

14. Liability

The operator is not liable for the partner's lost profit, for outages in the availability of the website, or for recommendations not recorded due to the visitor's browser settings. The operator does not guarantee any minimum number of orders or any minimum commission amount.

The partner is responsible for the content they publish and for the compliance of their promotion with legal regulations. If the operator suffers harm as a result of the partner's breach of these terms, or if a third-party claim is asserted against it, the partner is obliged to compensate it.

15. Final provisions

The relationship between the operator and the partner is governed by the law of the Czech Republic, in particular the Civil Code. If the partner is an entrepreneur, the courts of the Czech Republic have jurisdiction over disputes. If the partner is not an entrepreneur and is a consumer with habitual residence in another country, the choice of Czech law does not deprive them of the protection afforded by the mandatory provisions of the law of their country (Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 593/2008).

The partner is not an employee, commercial agent or business associate of the operator; this is an independent business activity carried out on the partner's own account and responsibility. The partner is not authorized on a long-term basis to negotiate or conclude business in the operator's name and has no defined territory or group of customers — the provisions on commercial agency therefore do not apply to this relationship. Commercial agency is harmonised within the European Union and the European Economic Area by Council Directive 86/653/EEC, which each state implements in its own law (in the Czech Republic Sections 2483 et seq. of Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code; in Germany Sections 84 et seq. of the Handelsgesetzbuch; in Ireland the European Communities (Commercial Agents) Regulations 1994 and 1997; in the United Kingdom the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, which remain in force after Brexit). This cooperation lacks the defining features of commercial agency: the partner has no continuing authority to negotiate or conclude sales on the operator's behalf, is allotted no territory or group of customers, and merely refers interested people to the operator's website, where the customer concludes the contract with the operator. Those rules therefore do not apply. If the cooperation nevertheless acquires those features in practice, the mandatory provisions apply regardless of the wording of these terms, in particular the indemnity or compensation on termination under Article 17 of that Directive, which under Article 19 cannot be waived to the agent's detriment before the contract expires.

If any provision of these terms is invalid or ineffective, this does not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

The current wording of the terms is always available on this page. Please direct any questions about the program to contact@heroofthebook.com.