Temu is recruiting ordinary social media users as a sales force for Black Friday, and South Africans can join. Its Temu Influencer Program is open to creators with as few as 1,000 followers on TikTok or Instagram, or 500 subscribers on YouTube, and promises a commission of 20% to 50% on purchases by new customers they bring in, rising to as much as 55% during Black Friday.

It also pays $12, about R198, for each new user who downloads the Temu app through a creator's link and places a first qualifying order.

Most retailer affiliate programmes pay a percentage of whatever a referred shopper buys. Temu's version is built mainly to win new customers. Purchases by existing Temu users earn far less, 2% to 15%, while new customers bring the top rates and the cash bounty for each app install.

There is also a referral layer: creators can earn what Temu calls a 40% secondary commission when other creators they recruit join the programme. Creators can also earn rewards for approved posts and get credits to try products.

The low entry bar is what makes it unusual. Many brand partnerships expect large, established audiences, but this one targets beginners and part-time creators. Temu is promoting the programme hard, running paid articles "written on behalf of Temu" on technology sites in several countries this week, including South Africa's Hypertext, each linking to its sign-up page.

South Africa is one of the more than 80 countries where Temu runs its creator and affiliate schemes, and it operates a local South African version with rewards shown in rand. The fine print still matters. Temu says commission rates, rewards, eligibility and withdrawal terms vary by country and can change, and the headline figures in its promotional articles are quoted in US dollars, so South African creators should check the rates shown in their own account before counting on them.

Independent guides also note that commissions are reversed on returned or cancelled orders, and one South African guide puts the minimum payout at around $20, about R370.

Hypertext carried Temu's own sponsored guide to the programme, marked as promoted content. Uni24 says Temu's headline rates are significantly higher than Amazon's affiliate scheme, but warns that Temu's reputation in South Africa may hurt how many viewers actually buy. BrandID points out that Temu's tracking window is short and its average order values are low, so a click needs to turn into a purchase quickly to count.

The interesting part is the strategy. Temu is not just advertising to shoppers. It is paying shoppers to become its advertisers, and paying them most for the one thing it needs: new customers. That matters for Temu in South Africa, where it has been slipping.

Searches for Temu fell over the past year as Amazon overtook it in web traffic, and both Temu and Shein have been slowed by SARS cracking down on cheap imports. Signing up thousands of small creators is a cheaper way to reach new buyers than buying ads.

For local creators, it is a real way to earn, especially since South Africans are still shut out of TikTok's Creator Rewards programme. But treat the headline rates as a ceiling, not a promise, label any promotion as advertising, and recommend only what you would be happy for your audience to buy, because trust is the thing you are really trading.

You might also like our piece on Amazon's early Black Friday sale, TikTok's AI shopping assistant, and Happy Ads' 5% commission.

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