Recruiting and Vetting Wellness Athletes | Harmonia
Recruit athletes for a supplement brand: browse the curated catalog, invite off-platform, and vet with verified and click-quality-score signals. Fit over count.
Building your partner roster on Harmonia takes three moves: browse the curated catalog and filter on the signals that matter, invite the athletes who fit (including people not yet on the platform), and vet each one with verification and the click quality score before you approve. Approval is two-way, so the athlete also accepts you. For a wellness brand, a small roster of genuine-fit partners beats mass recruiting, because the vetting work is front-loaded and every match is one both sides chose.
The rest of this guide walks each step: where to find athletes, which trust signals to read, how two-way approval works, and what a partner costs you.
Where to find athletes
You have two paths into a roster, and most brands use both.
- Browse the curated catalog. Every athlete in the catalog is already curated and identity-verified. Filter and sort on the signals below, then invite the ones who fit your category. See searching the athlete catalog.
- Invite off-platform. If you already know a creator or athlete who is not on Harmonia, send them an invite by email. They set up a profile and accept your program.
Either path ends the same way: an application you approve, and an athlete who accepts your program. Neither side is matched by default.
Invite-only during the launch cohort
For the launch cohort, athletes join by invite only. Browsing programs and applying are open, but new athletes come on board through an invite link, not an open signup form. Off-platform invites are how you bring in a partner who is not on the platform yet.
Read the trust signals before you approve
Every athlete arrives with signals you can sort on. None of them approves or declines an athlete for you. They help you make a faster, better-informed call.
- Verified partner. The athlete is identity-verified through Stripe Connect KYC. Stripe handles their ID and bank details, so neither you nor Harmonia ever sees an SSN or bank account. KYC gates payout, not browsing or applying, so you may see a strong applicant who has not finished verification yet. See the verified partner glossary entry.
- Click quality score. A per-athlete score built from traffic patterns: IP and device diversity, bot signals, and whether conversions look like real shoppers. It is a sortable signal you use to compare applicants. See the click quality score glossary entry.
- LLM quality score. Each athlete's public profile is reviewed and scored to summarize fit. Like the others, it is a sortable signal, never a gate.
A signal is not a gate
The click quality score and the LLM quality score are sortable signals for your decision. Neither one blocks an athlete and neither one triggers an automatic clawback. The platform never auto-approves, auto-declines, or reverses a commission on a score alone. You make the call.
For how each signal is built and what a high or low number means, see verification and quality scoring explained.
How approval works: two-way veto
Approval takes two yeses, in order.
- You approve the athlete. Review the application and the signals, then approve or decline. You can set the net commission for that athlete at approval.
- The athlete accepts your program. They review your terms and accept. The exact terms they saw are recorded at acceptance.
Because both sides choose, every partnership is one you and the athlete both wanted. There is no marketplace where any athlete can promote any brand without your sign-off. For how to triage applications and decline gracefully, see applications and approvals.
Why fit over count beats mass recruiting
A bigger roster is not a better roster. For a wellness brand, the partners who matter are the ones who genuinely use your category and send real traffic. Chasing volume pushes the cost of fit, brand safety, and traffic quality onto you after the fact.
Here is how the two approaches compare:
| Fit over count (a curated roster) | Mass recruiting | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you recruit | Partners who use your category, hand-picked | Anyone who will take the link |
| Vetting load | Front-loaded once, at approval | Spread across many loose fits, ongoing |
| Traffic quality | Easier to keep high; signals stay clean | Diluted by partners with weak intent |
| Brand and claim safety | You set the rules per program, per partner | Harder to enforce across a large roster |
| Attribution clarity | Each sale traces to a partner you chose | Noisier, more to reconcile |
The deeper trade-off, and where an open marketplace is the right tool, is in curated vs open affiliate marketplaces.
Start with a handful, then grow
Begin with a small roster of partners who actually use your product. Watch which ones drive real attributed sales over your attribution window, then invite more in their mold. You add fit-tested partners instead of guessing at scale.
What it costs to add a partner
There is no cost to recruit or hold an athlete on your roster. You pay only when an athlete drives a real attributed sale: the commission you set, plus a 20% platform fee on top.
You set the commission the athlete earns. We add a 20% platform fee on top, billed to you, never deducted from the athlete. Here is the math on a $50 commission:
$50athlete keeps in full $1020% platform fee (on top) $60your total cost per saleWe invoice you monthly via Stripe Billing, net-30, on the 1st of the following month: the commission your athletes earned plus the 20% platform fee. Athletes are paid from the cleared commission once your invoice clears. So recruiting a partner who never drives a sale costs you nothing.
Start building your roster
The next step is small and reversible: open the catalog, filter on the signals, and invite one partner who fits.
- Browsing the catalog? Start with searching the athlete catalog.
- Got someone in mind who is not on the platform? Send an off-platform invite, then approve them in applications and approvals.
FAQ
How do I find athletes for my supplement affiliate program?
Two ways. Browse the curated catalog and filter by the signals that matter to you, then invite the athletes who fit. Or invite someone off-platform by email if they are not on Harmonia yet. Either way, approval is two-way: you approve the athlete and the athlete accepts your program. Start with a small roster of partners who actually use your category.
How are athletes vetted before I see them?
Every athlete in the catalog is curated and identity-verified through Stripe Connect KYC, and carries an LLM-derived click quality score. KYC confirms a real, verified person before any payout; Stripe handles their ID and bank details, so neither you nor Harmonia ever sees them. The click quality score is a sortable signal you use to compare applicants, never an automatic gate or clawback.
Can I invite someone who isn't on the platform yet?
Yes. You can send an off-platform invite by email to an athlete who is not on Harmonia. They get a single-use invite link, set up their profile, and accept your program. During the launch cohort, athletes join by invite only, so this is the main way new partners come on board.
What does the click quality score tell me?
It summarizes the quality of the traffic an athlete sends, built from patterns like IP and device diversity, bot signals, and whether conversions look like real shoppers. It is a sortable signal to help you compare partners. It never blocks an athlete and never triggers an automatic clawback. You make the approval call.
How many athletes should I start with?
Start small. A handful of partners who genuinely use your product and send real traffic will beat a large roster of loose fits. Fit over count means less vetting load, cleaner attribution, and partnerships both sides chose. You can add more once you see which partners drive real attributed sales.