The Singapore Shopper’s Guide to Affiliate Links, Gifted Products, Paid Posts and Discount Codes, and How to Read an Influencer Recommendation for What It Is
Description: How influencer recommendations and affiliate links make money when you buy: marketplace affiliate commissions, gifted products, paid posts and creator discount codes, what Singapore’s advertising guidelines expect creators to disclose, and how to read a recommendation calmly before you tap “buy”.
Primary Keyword: affiliate links
Secondary Keywords: influencer recommendations, sponsored content disclosure Singapore, ASAS social media guidelines, gifted products, creator discount codes, Shopee affiliate, paid partnership, how influencers earn
Website: wahliao.com
Article Type: Series Guide
Parent Article: How Shopping Works | How to Read Product Reviews
Last checked: 18 October 2026
Quick Answer
Affiliate links are links that tell a shop who sent you.
When you buy through one, the creator who shared it can earn a commission.
Affiliate links are only one of the ways influencer recommendations turn into income. There are also gifted products, paid posts and personal discount codes.
None of this is wrong.
It is how a lot of online content is paid for.
But it changes what a recommendation is.
It is partly an opinion and partly a sales channel.
In Singapore, the advertising industry’s own guidelines expect sponsored content to be disclosed clearly and prominently.
Disclosure tells you that money or goods changed hands.
It does not tell you whether the product is right for you.
The smart shopper does not only ask:
“Does this creator like it?”
The smart shopper asks:
“Who is paid if I buy this, and would I still want it if nobody were?”
1. A Recommendation Is Also a Route
A friend who tells you about a good rice cooker gains nothing when you buy one.
A creator who tells thousands of people about the same rice cooker may be in a different position.
The video may have a link under it.
The link may be tagged to the creator.
The product may have arrived free in the post.
The brand may have paid for the video to exist.
So an influencer recommendation is not just words.
It is a route from the creator’s content to a shop’s checkout, and money can travel back along that route.
That does not make the opinion false.
It means the opinion sits inside a business arrangement, and you are entitled to know which one.
Read the recommendation, then read the route.
2. Four Ways a Creator Can Earn From Your Purchase
Most creator income around shopping comes through four doors.
Affiliate links: the creator earns a commission when you buy after clicking.
Gifted products: the creator receives the item, an invitation or an experience at the brand’s expense.
Paid posts: the brand pays the creator to make content about the product.
Discount codes: the creator shares a code, and sales using it can be traced back to them.
These doors are often combined.
A single post can carry a gifted product, a paid fee, an affiliate link and a code all at once.
Each one pulls in a slightly different direction.
An affiliate link rewards sales.
A paid post rewards making the content.
A gift rewards attention.
A code rewards sales and lets the brand measure them.
Ask:
Which of the four doors is open on this post?
Is more than one open at the same time?
Does the creator earn more if I buy now rather than later?
3. Affiliate Links: Commission After the Click
An affiliate link looks like an ordinary product link.
The difference is invisible to you but visible to the shop.
The link carries a tag that identifies the creator who shared it.
When you click, the shop records where you came from.
If you then buy within the programme’s time window, the sale is credited to that creator, and the creator earns a percentage.
Notice what is rewarded.
Not the quality of the advice.
Not whether you are happy a month later.
The completed order.
Examples:
a “link in bio” page listing every product in a creator’s videos
a shopping tag or product card pinned to a short video
a “shop my favourites” list on a blog
a link inside a group chat that opens straight into a marketplace app
a shortened link that hides where it goes until you tap
Affiliate links are not a scam or a trick.
They are a normal, openly advertised way for platforms to pay people who send them customers.
An affiliate link pays for a sale, not for a good decision. Only you can supply the good decision.
4. How Marketplace Affiliate Programmes Work
The big marketplaces Singapore shoppers use publish how their affiliate schemes work. The details below are from their own pages, as of October 2026.
Shopee’s Help Centre describes the Shopee Affiliate Program as free to join. Affiliates share personalised links and earn a cash commission on successful orders made through them.
It describes two layers of commission: a base commission from Shopee, and an extra brand commission, called CommissionsXtra, with rates set by sellers.
Shopee’s own affiliate blog says the buyer needs to check out within seven days of clicking for the order to count, and that rates vary by product.
Amazon.sg’s Associates page invites content creators, publishers and bloggers to recommend products with its linking tools and earn commission on qualifying purchases. It quotes rates of up to 10%.
TikTok’s official help pages for TikTok Shop describe sellers setting up collaborations with affiliate creators and choosing the commission rates for their products. Creators then earn commission when their content leads to purchases.
Other marketplaces run their own versions. Rates, windows and rules change often, so check each platform’s official affiliate page for current terms rather than relying on a figure you saw in a video.
One mechanical point matters most for shoppers.
Where a seller can pay a higher commission, products with higher commissions become more attractive for creators to feature.
That does not mean those products are worse.
It means that what you see recommended is shaped partly by what pays.
Marketplace search results work in a similar way, where paid placement sits beside organic ranking.
The products you see most are not always the products that suit you best. Some are simply the ones that pay best to show.
5. Gifted Products, Invitations and Free Trials
Not every arrangement involves cash.
A brand can send a creator a skincare set, a pair of earbuds or a new air fryer.
A restaurant can invite creators to a tasting.
A hotel can host a staycation.
The Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) treats these as part of paid media in its social media guidelines. Content can be paid for in cash or in kind, and complimentary samples, trials and trips count.
ASAS’s guidance notes list solicited reviews, where the client supplies a product or service at its own expense, among the situations that need a disclosure. Preview events, launches and food tastings are named examples.
Gifts shape content in quiet ways.
The creator did not pay, so price feels less important.
The creator tried it for days, not years.
The creator may hope to be invited back.
The unboxing is the most exciting part, and it is often the whole video.
Ask:
Did the creator pay for this, or was it sent?
How long have they actually used it?
Would the review sound the same if they had paid full price?
A free product is still a payment. It is just paid in goods.
6. Paid Posts and Brand Partnerships
A paid post is the most direct arrangement.
The brand pays the creator to make content.
ASAS’s guidelines describe sponsored content as content paid for by a sponsor who also guides how it is made.
That second part is worth noticing.
A sponsored post may come with a brief: key messages, words to use, features to show, a deadline, sometimes an approval step before it goes live.
The creator’s voice is real, but the script may be shared.
Examples:
a video that lists the same three features the brand’s own advert lists
a series of creators posting about one product in the same week
a caption that ends with “in partnership with” or “brought to you by”
a platform label such as “paid partnership” above the post
a long-term “ambassador” who features one brand again and again
When many creators post about the same product in the same week, that is usually a campaign, not a coincidence.
That kind of wave is one of the ways hype is built.
When five creators say the same thing in the same week, look for the brief behind it.
7. Discount Codes: The Code Is Also a Counter
“Use my code for extra off” sounds like a favour to you.
Sometimes it is.
But a code with a creator’s name in it does two jobs.
It gives you a discount.
It tells the brand which creator brought the sale.
That second job is why codes are useful to brands. They can measure which creators actually sell, and pay or rebook them on that basis.
For you, the code raises a simple question.
Is the discounted price actually good?
A code that takes a few dollars off an inflated price is not a saving.
A code that expires tonight is also a countdown clock.
Ask:
What is the price with the code, compared with the price elsewhere without it?
Is the code better than the platform’s own vouchers this week?
Does the deadline match a real sale, or only the creator’s posting schedule?
Judge the final price, not the size of the code.
8. Does Buying Through an Affiliate Link Cost You More?
This is the question many shoppers ask first.
The affiliate pages we checked describe the commission as a percentage of the sale earned by the creator. None of them describes an extra charge added to the buyer’s order.
So the usual answer is that the price at checkout is the price at checkout, whichever link you used.
But that is the wrong place to look for the cost.
The real cost of an affiliate link is usually not the price.
It is the purchase you would not otherwise have made.
It is the cheaper alternative you never saw because nobody was paid to show it.
It is the listing the link opened, which may not be the cheapest listing of the same item.
A link drops you onto one specific seller’s page. Another seller on the same platform may sell the same item for less, or with better delivery or warranty terms.
The link decides where you land. You still decide where you buy.
9. The Singapore Layer
Advertising in Singapore is largely self-regulated.
The self-regulator is the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS), an advisory council to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE).
ASAS administers the Singapore Code of Advertising Practice (SCAP).
Its Guidelines for Interactive Marketing Communication and Social Media were issued on 29 August 2016 as part of that framework, and are still listed on the ASAS website as of October 2026.
A few points from the guidelines matter for shoppers.
Influencers, endorsers and blog owners count as “marketers” when they create or curate marketing content.
Marketing must be identifiable as marketing, and kept distinct from personal opinion and editorial content.
Any connection between an endorser and a brand that could affect how much you trust the endorsement must be disclosed.
Disclosures for sponsored content must be clear and prominent.
Affiliate marketing, paid endorsements and gifted samples fall under paid media.
Buying fake likes or creating fake accounts to inflate engagement is not allowed.
There is also a legal layer.
In a written parliamentary answer in February 2023, the government said that undisclosed sponsorship can be an unfair practice under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act where it misleads or deceives consumers. It added that persistent offenders may be referred to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) for investigation.
The same answer said that when ASAS finds undisclosed commercial content, it asks the poster to amend or remove it.
An earlier parliamentary answer, from May 2021, said most breaches of the guidelines between 2016 and 2020 involved failure to disclose sponsored content.
You can raise a concern with ASAS through the online complaint form on its website.
This section is general information, not legal advice.
10. What a Proper Disclosure Looks Like
ASAS’s guidance notes give practical detail on disclosure.
They say a disclosure should appear as early as is reasonably possible.
For still or animated images: in the picture or the caption.
For video: visibly within the video, especially where it may play without sound.
For audio: audibly within the recording.
The notes suggest plain-language wording for content without length limits. Examples include “This post was sponsored by…”, “The featured products were provided by…” and “This post includes affiliate links”.
For content with length limits, they list short labels: #adv, #sp, #sponsored and #endorsed.
The guidelines add that disclosures should be readable on any device and shown long enough to read. They should not be buried behind graphics, sounds or buttons, or only behind a link.
So the test is simple.
Could an ordinary viewer, scrolling at normal speed, tell that this was paid or gifted before deciding to tap?
Examples of disclosures that are easy to miss:
a hashtag buried among twenty others at the end of a long caption
a label flashed for a split second in a fast video
small pale text over a busy background
a disclosure only on a linked page, not on the post itself
an abbreviation you did not know was a disclosure
A disclosure you have to hunt for is not doing its job.
11. Honest Opinions Can Still Be Paid
Disclosure is not a confession.
ASAS’s guidelines allow creators to share their genuine feelings about a product. What they require is that the commercial relationship is shown.
Many creators turn down products they dislike, test carefully and say when something has flaws.
So a “sponsored” label is not a reason to dismiss a review.
And the absence of a label is not proof of independence.
The label tells you about the arrangement.
The content tells you about the effort.
Signs of effort, paid or not:
the creator mentions at least one real downside
the creator compares it with an alternative, including a cheaper one
the creator says who it is not suitable for
the review comes after weeks of use, not on the day it arrived
the creator states the price, including delivery
The same habits you use for reading product reviews apply here.
Paid and honest can both be true. Paid and complete is rarer.
12. Short Videos, Live Streams and the Speed Problem
Recommendation and checkout used to be separate.
You read a review, then later went to a shop.
Now the product card sits inside the video.
One tap opens the cart.
In a live stream, the host may be talking, demonstrating, answering comments and announcing a limited deal at the same time.
The gap between “that looks nice” and “order placed” can shrink to seconds.
That gap is where your judgement used to happen.
Examples:
a flash price that only lasts while the host is on screen
“only a few left” announced again and again
a giveaway that rewards you for adding to cart
a host reading out names of people who just bought
a bundle that changes the price comparison
Ask:
Would I still buy this if the stream ended right now?
Can I add it to a wishlist and decide tomorrow?
Is the “live price” really lower than the normal listing?
The faster the checkout, the more deliberately you should slow down.
13. Strong Signs and Weak Signs in a Creator Recommendation
Strong signs:
a clear disclosure early in the post, in plain words
an explanation of what was gifted, paid or linked
real downsides and who the product is not for
comparison with alternatives, including ones without a link
a price that includes delivery and any vouchers needed
evidence of use over time
a creator who also posts unsponsored, critical reviews
Weak signs:
no disclosure, but a shopping link or code in every post
a disclosure hidden at the end, too small or too quick to read
only praise, and wording that matches the brand’s own advert
urgency that comes from the creator rather than a real sale
a code whose “discount” you cannot check against a normal price
many creators posting the same product in the same week
health, financial or “life-changing” claims that sound too big
Trust grows with disclosure, detail and downsides. It shrinks with hiding, hurrying and hype.
14. Practical Method: Reading a Recommendation in Six Steps
This takes a few minutes and works for any post, video or stream.
1. Find the money
Look for a link, a code, a product card or a disclosure.
Work out which of the four doors is open: affiliate, gift, paid post or code.
2. Separate the facts from the feelings
Write down, even in your head, what the creator actually showed.
Size, ingredients, battery life, what is in the box.
Set aside the adjectives.
3. Leave the link and search yourself
Search the product name directly on the platform or on the brand’s own site.
Compare sellers, prices, delivery and warranty.
If the creator’s link really is the best route, you can still go back and use it.
4. Find one voice with nothing to gain
Read verified-purchase reviews on the listing, or ask someone who bought it with their own money.
Look especially at the low-star reviews.
5. Check the total price
Add delivery, subtract only vouchers you can actually use, and compare with the price without the creator’s code.
6. Wait one sleep
Unless the item is something you were already planning to buy, put it in the cart and decide tomorrow.
If you still want it after the video has faded, the want is probably yours.
15. When the Disclosure Is Missing
Sometimes a post looks like an advert but says nothing.
You cannot always tell from outside.
A creator may have bought the product with their own money and simply loves it.
So treat an undisclosed post as unknown, not as guilty.
For your own purchase, the practical answer is the same either way: apply the six steps.
If you have a genuine concern that commercial content is not being disclosed, ASAS accepts complaints through its website.
If you bought something because of a claim that turned out to be false, that is a consumer dispute with the seller. CASE is the usual first stop for retailers with a Singapore presence.
Keep screenshots of the post, the link, the claim and your order.
Posts can be edited or deleted later.
If a recommendation moved your money, save a copy of it.
Final Summary
Influencer recommendations sit on top of a money system.
Affiliate links pay commission on completed orders.
Gifted products pay in goods and experiences.
Paid posts pay for the content itself.
Discount codes give you a price cut and give the brand a sales counter.
In Singapore, ASAS’s guidelines expect this to be disclosed clearly and prominently, and undisclosed sponsorship that misleads consumers can also raise issues under consumer protection law.
A disclosure is useful.
It is not a verdict.
Your verdict comes from leaving the link, comparing the price and finding one voice with nothing to gain.
So the smartest question is not:
“Is this creator trustworthy?”
It is:
“If I took the link, the code and the excitement away, would this still be the right thing to buy?”
Simple Checklist
Before buying something a creator recommended, ask:
- Is there an affiliate link, product card or shopping tag on this post?
- Was the product gifted, or the visit hosted?
- Is this a paid post or brand partnership, and is that clearly disclosed?
- Does the discount code give a genuinely good final price?
- Did the creator mention any downsides or alternatives?
- Have I searched the product myself instead of only using the link?
- Have I compared sellers, delivery and warranty on the platform?
- Have I read reviews from buyers who paid with their own money?
- Is the urgency real, or only the creator’s countdown?
- Would I still want this tomorrow, after the video has faded?
If the answer is unclear, pause.
Close the video, search the product yourself, and look again.
Where the Facts Come From
ASAS – Guidelines on Interactive Marketing Communication & Social Media
ASAS – Guidelines for Interactive Marketing Communication and Social Media (PDF)
ASAS – Guidance Notes for Interactive Marketing Communication and Social Media (PDF)
MDDI – Response to PQ on Safety Legal Nets for Sponsored Media Content (7 February 2023)
MDDI – Response to PQ on Marketers Breaching Guidelines (10 May 2021)
Shopee Help Centre – Introduction to Shopee Affiliate Program
Shopee – Shopee Affiliate: How to Earn
Amazon.sg – Associates Program
TikTok – About Affiliate Creatives for TikTok Shop Ads
Prices, rules and platform features change. We last checked this page on 18 October 2026. General information, not financial, legal or medical advice.
Continue Reading
How Shopping Works | How to Read Product Reviews
How Shopping Works | The Big Picture
Live Selling and Social Commerce: How Buying Through Videos and Live Streams Works
Search Ranking and Sponsored Listings: Why Marketplaces Show You What They Show
How Buying Works | How Discounts Work: Sales, Vouchers, Free Shipping and Fake Savings
How Culture Works | What is Hype?
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