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The NHG Creator Program

Your audience already buys tools.
Get paid 6% when they do.

The big programs pay a rounding error on the one category your audience actually buys. We pay 6% on every order — flat, no category tiers, no exclusions. Free to join, monthly payouts, and a real person on the other end.

6% On Every Order
100K+ Products To Promote
30-Day Attribution Window
$0 Cost To Join
The Offer 6% commission on every order placed
through your link or code

Amazon Associates pays 3% on Tools & Home Improvement.
We pay double.

Run The Numbers

What 6% actually looks like.

Hardware carries real basket sizes. One cordless kit, one mower, one bathroom remodel run — these aren't $12 impulse buys, and the commission reflects that.

A cordless drill kit

$180 order

$10.80

A walk-behind mower

$450 order

$27.00

A contractor restocking the truck

$1,200 order

$72.00

Illustrative order values, not a guarantee of earnings — what you make depends on what your audience buys.

The Honest Comparison

Why hardware creators leave the marketplaces.

Nothing against the big programs. But read their rate cards closely and the tool categories are always where the money isn't.

  National Hardware Group Typical retail affiliate program
What you earn on a power tool 6% — the same as everything else Commonly 1–3%
Category tiers and “up to” rates None. One flat rate, whole catalog. The headline rate is usually reserved for categories your audience isn't buying
What your audience gets Authorized, genuine product — every time Third-party sellers, commingled inventory, counterfeit risk
Who you're sending them to An independent hardware business The largest retailer on earth
Support A named contact who answers A help center and a ticket queue

Rates shown are typical published affiliate rates for large home-improvement retailers as of August 2026 — Amazon Associates publishes 3% on Tools & Home Improvement, and Home Depot publishes 1% on most products with its higher rates reserved for select categories. Programs change rates without notice; check the current terms of any program, including ours, before you commit.

Beyond The Rate

A link you won't feel weird posting.

The rate gets your attention. This is the part that keeps creators here.

Nothing counterfeit, ever

Every product comes through authorized manufacturer channels. No third-party sellers, no commingled bins, no gambling on whether that brand-name blade is actually that brand. We put it in writing — read our Authenticity Guarantee.

You're pointing people local

National Hardware Group exists so people can shop independent hardware instead of defaulting to a marketplace. When your audience buys through you, that's where the money goes — not to the biggest retailer on the internet.

You won't run out of things to promote

Tools are the hook, but the 100,000 products behind them are mostly ordinary household things — filters, fasteners, caulk, cleaners, extension cords, batteries. Content about a $600 tool reaches people shopping for a $600 tool. Content about a clogged drain reaches everybody.

Good Fit

Built for people who actually use the stuff.

DIY & home projects

Renovation, repair, and weekend-project creators whose audience is already mid-project and buying.

Homestead & rural

Land, livestock, fencing, water, and off-grid content — the categories marketplaces underserve.

Trades & contractors

Working pros whose tool recommendations carry weight because you're on the job with them.

Tool reviewers

Head-to-head testing, teardowns, and buying guides where the click is the whole point.

How It Works

Four steps. No paperwork marathon.

STEP 01

Apply

A short application — who you are, where you post, who watches. It takes a couple of minutes.

STEP 02

Get approved

We review applications quickly and we look at fit, not just follower count. You'll hear back either way.

STEP 03

Share your link & code

You get a personal referral link and a code that takes $10 off your audience's order of $100+. Drop them wherever you talk about gear — anything bought within 30 days is credited to you.

STEP 04

Get paid monthly

Commission tracks automatically through Shopify Collabs and pays out on a monthly cycle.

Getting Product

The hardest part of most creator programs is getting something to film.

Most programs make you wait on a shipment before you can post. Ours mostly doesn't, because most of what we sell is already within arm's reach.

01

You probably already own it

A huge share of the catalog is the ordinary stuff already under your sink and in your junk drawer — caulk, furnace filters, fasteners, extension cords, drain snakes, batteries, tape, cleaners. Nothing to request, nothing to wait on. Walk out to the garage and start filming.

02

Creator pricing when you need to buy

Approved creators get 15% off for content purchases. It's a standing code tied to your account — no request, no approval queue, no waiting on someone to answer an email before you can shoot.

03

Gifting for the bigger builds

Doing a full bathroom tear-out, a head-to-head tool test, or a build that needs real money on the table? That's what gifting is for. Email your contact with what you're planning and we'll work out what we can send.

What You Get

The whole package.

Commission on every order

No category exclusions and no fine-print carve-outs. If it ships, it earns.

A link and a code worth sharing

Your audience gets $10 off orders over $100 — a real reason to use it. Either way, every click is yours for 30 days.

Early looks at new products

See what's landing before it goes live so your content isn't late to it.

A creator asset kit

Product photography, logos, and copy you can actually use — no scrounging screenshots.

Fast, human approvals

We review quickly and answer like people, because we are people.

No exclusivity

Promote whoever else you want. We're not asking you to sign your life away.

Applications Open

Start earning 6%.

Free to join, no exclusivity, no minimum commitment. If it's not a fit, you've lost two minutes.

Join the National Hardware Group community

Partnering with us is straightforward: you'll get a personal referral code and link, and commission on every sale. With tools, hardware, lawn & garden, and thousands of home and jobsite essentials, there's always something relevant for DIY, homestead, or contractor audiences. We approve quickly, pay monthly, and stay responsive — supporting you with assets, new-product early looks, and a genuine partnership. Plus, you're helping bring independent hardware stores online and keeping local dealers competitive.

Apply now

Partnership opportunities

  • Affiliate marketing
  • Discount codes
  • Gifting
  • Campaigns
  • Content creation
  • Additional opportunities
  • Usage rights
Before You Apply

The questions creators ask first.

What exactly do I earn?

6% of the order subtotal — before shipping and tax — on every order placed through your personal referral link or your code. There are no category exclusions and no fine-print carve-outs. If it ships, it earns.

What does it cost to join?

Nothing. There's no application fee, no membership fee, and no requirement to buy anything. If a program asks you to pay to promote them, that's your cue to close the tab.

Does my audience get anything?

Yes — your code takes $10 off any order of $100 or more. That matters more than it sounds: most of your audience has never bought from us before, and a real discount makes trying an unfamiliar store an easy call instead of a risk.

It also means your code works in video, where nobody can tap a link. Say it out loud and you still get credited.

How long do I get credit for a click?

30 days. If someone taps your link and buys three weeks later, that order is still yours. Hardware buying runs on a research cycle — people watch a review, measure the space, then order — and a 30-day window means you get paid for the sale you actually caused.

How and when do I get paid?

Commission tracks automatically through Shopify Collabs and pays out on a monthly cycle. You'll have a dashboard showing clicks, orders, and earnings, so you're never guessing what a post actually did.

What happens if someone returns their order?

Commission follows the sale, so a returned or refunded order has its commission reversed. Partial refunds reverse proportionally, and the adjustment comes off your next payout rather than getting invoiced back to you. Same goes for orders that turn out to be fraudulent.

We'd rather say that plainly than bury it: no affiliate program pays out on product that came back. The upside is that hardware isn't apparel — somebody ordering a specific part, fitting, or tool usually needs that exact thing, so returns tend to be the exception.

Do I need a minimum follower count?

No hard number. We care more about whether your audience actually buys hardware than about how big it is — a focused channel of serious DIYers or working trades is worth more to us than a huge general audience that scrolls past a drill.

Can I get product to review?

Often you won't need to. Most of what we sell is everyday household stuff you likely already own — you can shoot a drain-snake or caulk video today without waiting on a box to arrive.

For the bigger swings — a full remodel, a head-to-head tool test — we do gifting with approved creators. It isn't automatic on day one. Once you're in, email your contact with what you're building and we'll work out what makes sense.

What can I promote?

The whole catalog — over 100,000 products across power and hand tools, lawn & garden, plumbing, electrical, paint, cleaning, automotive, storage, and general hardware. Whatever you're already making content about, there's almost certainly something here that fits.

Do I have to be exclusive to you?

No. Run whatever other programs you want. We'd rather earn the placement by paying better and being easier to work with than lock you into anything.

Where do the products come from? Is this real inventory?

Everything is sourced through authorized manufacturer channels — the trusted brands your neighborhood hardware store carries. No third-party marketplace sellers, no commingled inventory, no counterfeit exposure. We back that with a written Authenticity Guarantee, which is worth reading before you put your name on a link.

How long does approval take?

We review applications quickly and you'll hear back either way — no silent rejections. If we're not the right fit for your audience we'd rather tell you than waste your time.

The Ground Rules

Five things we ask.

Short version: make real content, tell people it's an affiliate link, and don't try to intercept sales we already had.

  1. Disclose the relationship. The FTC requires it and your audience deserves it. A plain “affiliate link” or “#ad” covers you — and honestly, the creators who disclose well are the ones whose recommendations land hardest.
  2. Make it your own. Original content only. No scraped reviews, no auto-generated pages built to catch search traffic.
  3. No coupon or extension traffic. No deal sites, cashback portals, or browser extensions that inject a code at checkout. Those intercept orders we'd already earned instead of bringing new ones, and they quietly take the credit that should go to creators actually making content.
  4. Don't bid on our name. No paid search on “National Hardware Group” or close variants, and please don't put our name in your domain, handle, or ad copy.
  5. Represent products honestly. Don't invent specs, prices, or claims. If a spec on our site looks wrong, tell us — we'd rather fix it than have you repeat it.

If something looks off we'll reach out and talk about it first. Repeated or deliberate abuse means removal from the program and reversal of the affected commission.

Not a creator, but you own an independent hardware store? See how retailers work with us →
Questions about the program first? Get in touch.

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