An affiliate link is a trackable URL or code that credits a creator with a commission on each sale they drive. It aligns incentives on performance — the creator earns when they convert, not just when they post — and generates clean attribution data. Affiliate models power much of the creator economy (from Amazon Associates to LTK) and are increasingly relevant as agentic-commerce systems and AI shopping assistants route purchases, raising new questions about how creator-driven demand gets attributed.