Associate vs Affiliate

Affiliates and Associates differ in the fact that, when someone uses your Associate link to purchase a certain product, even if they don’t purchase that product that day, but decide to purchase something else, you will still receive a commission. 

As associates tend to be the experts on their respective topics, affiliates, in a sense, act as the middleman between businesses and customers to get them to buy from businesses. Associates and affiliates use special links to promote specific products on their websites or social media platforms. In this case, however, affiliate links are valid for a limited period of time, such as 30 to 180 days, and if someone from their audience clicks on the link during that period and purchases the product, the affiliate is credited with a commission.