Handshake now allows you to earn Credit by referring friends and colleagues. Like many other websites, the credit is earned when the person you refer makes their first subscription payment to Handshake.
For each referral you make that becomes a paid Handshake subscription, you will earn $15.00 in Credit.
All amounts of currency in the Handshake referral system are in US dollars, and all transactions conducted as part of this system will be in US dollars.
Currently, there are two methods of redeeming the Credit you have earned through referrals:
You can opt to apply your Credit to the current or future balance of your Handshake account (i.e. to reduce the total payable for your Handshake subscription). This method is referred to as Subscription Credit from here onwards.
You can opt to have your Credit sent to you as a Paypal payment, minus a 3% processing fee (applied by Paypal). This method is referred to as Cashing Out from here onwards.
You send an invite to your friend using the Handshake iPad / iPhone app or through the Handshake website containing a link which entitles them to an extended free trial.
Your friend clicks that link in their email and signs up for a free extended trial of Handshake. At this point, you are notified via email that they have accepted your invitation.
Within 60 days of accepting your invitation, your friend decides that they really like Handshake and they decide to upgrade their account to a paid subscription. Once their first Handshake subscription payment is complete, you are notified via email that they have successfully converted and that you have earned the Credit.
To qualify as a converted referral and to therefore earn Credit, all of the steps above must be completed as described. The amount of the Credit earned is not related to the number of users or SKUs that your friend’s subscription is for; it is a fixed amount ($15) based on the account activation only.
When you earn Credit through successfully converted referrals, the notification email that informs you that you have earned the Credit will present you with a choice as to how you would like to redeem it: by either Subscription Credit or Cashing Out.
If you do not redeem your Credit within 30 days of the notification email being sent, it is automatically applied as a Subscription Credit.
No. Credit can only be earned for inviting new users to Handshake who sign up and pay for a new, separate account. Additional users added to your own account or any other existing account are not eligible for referral credit.
All referrals are treated according to the policy that was in effect on the date that the invitation was accepted (as defined by step 2 of the referral process above). This means that invitations accepted before the policy change are handled according to the old policy, and invitations accepted after the policy change are handled according to the new policy.
This means that your only two methods of converting Handshake Credit into a reward are the Balance Reduction and Cashing Out as described above. In the event that you cancel your account, and have Credit remaining, you are not entitled to receive that Credit as cash.