Affiliate links are a well-known part of the creator economy, especially for creators whose content revolves around unboxing videos, beauty tips, or product reviews. And thanks to YouTube Shopping, this can also be a really lucrative practice for creators.
At VidCon 2025, creators Carter Kench, Christie Xie, and Ben Schlichter spoke about how they use YouTube Shopping to streamline the affiliate process, and how it's seriously paid off. After the first month of using the tool, Xie couldn't believe how much money she made: "It was like four times the amount that I was usually making, and I was like, did I commit tax fraud?"
To become a part of the program, creators need at least 10,000 subscribers and to be a member of the YouTube Partner Program. From there, it's up to the user on how they navigate it. For a helpful place to start, here's what Kench, Xie, and Schlichter had to say.
Timestamps and auto-tagging make a big difference
Kench finds adding timestamps to products, which allows the link to pop up in-video as it's being mentioned, adds a level of ease that can't be matched. The moderator of the panel and head of creator partnerships for YouTube Shopping, Julia Hamilton Trost, chimed in with a stat that supported Kench's feeling, saying that in an experiment, YouTube found that creators using timestamps along with description links saw a 43% increase in clicks over creators who just used description links.
Admittedly, tagging products can take some time, which is why Xie relies on YouTube's auto-tagging feature, which automatically detects and links products. She finds it takes care of the bulk of the work for her, and it allows her to go back in and revise the product list as needed.
Authenticity is key
Authenticity is a word that's thrown around a lot with content creation, but when sharing products with your audience, it becomes even more important to practice — it's a fine line between sharing and shilling.
All three creators spoke about the importance of being selective with the products you talk about.
" I only tag products I actually want to talk about. I really try to keep it very real with my content," Kench said.
Xie, a beauty creator, explained her approach, saying, “It’s content first, shopping experience next."
Schlichter, who reviews home appliances, echoed this sentiment, while calling back to a point Xie made about full-basket commissions, which allow creators to receive commission for a viewer's entire basket, even if they only linked out to one product with an affiliate link.
" Even if I give something a negative review, I tear into it and say this stinks. I don't like it, but here's the link for it, just for you to look at it. Because what Christie said earlier, with the full basket commission, they don't have to like that product for me to make money on it," Schlichter said.
It's a strategy that works: " I make more money off of affiliates on YouTube Shopping than I do even AdSense," Schlicher added.
YouTube Shopping data can help you negotiate brand deals
Despite being a popular home appliance reviewer, Schlichter didn't have a brand relationship with Lowe's. However, after seeing how well he did with Lowe's products through YouTube Shopping, he approached a brand rep, saying, " Hey, I'm doing really well for you guys on YouTube shopping. Can we work together in some sort of more creator-based capacity?"
He was able to strike a deal, and he soon became one of the brand's top-earning creators, he said.
"That knowledge is power as a creator," Schilichter told the audience.
Follow the audience data
The creators also stressed the importance of closely examining what resonates with their audience. This data helps guide their brainstorming process when creating content.
"Really watch your YouTube Studio on any insight," Xie said. " For example, for me, a lot of people love lip glosses and lip balms. So, I try to do more lip combo videos. Catering to your audience is very important."
Schilichter chimed in, " Of my top 10 videos, I'm gonna say half of them are from commenters saying, 'Hey, why don't you look into this?'" He added, "When it comes to my shopping videos, 75 percent of the ideas aren’t coming from me anymore.”
