How to set up a commission program

A program is the package you drop affiliates into.

It sets how much they earn, which products count, which discount codes they get, and whether they also earn from people they recruit.

You build that on the Programs page.

Coupons and MLM (the app may say Network if you turned that wording on in Settings) are optional pieces of the same setup.

You can attach them while you create the program, or add them later.

A clean order if you want everything in one go:

1. Create the coupon configuration (if affiliates will share discount codes).
2. Create the MLM / Network program (if you want upline commissions).
3. Create the commission program and attach those pieces.
4. Save, then assign affiliates (or auto-assign new signups).

If you only need a flat 10% for everyone, skip steps 1 and 2. The program still works.

For the broader overview of tiers, ladders, and network settings, see the Programs guide.

Open Programs and start a new one

In the app, go to Programs and click Create program.

You will be asked How do you want to create this?

• Single program: has one rate, full settings (coupons, product rules, MLM). Use this for the walkthrough below.
• Program ladder: has several connected levels (e.g Bronze → Silver → Gold) that people move through after they hit a sales or order threshold.

New programs created in a ladder start at 0% commission, so you still open each level afterward and set the rate. Ladders are optional; you do not need one to launch.

Pick Single program.

Program settings (the commission itself)

This card is the core.

Program Name is what you and affiliates will see. Something like “Standard 10%” or “VIP creators” is enough.

Then set how they earn:

• Commission Percentage (%): a cut of the commissionable order amount (by default that is the order without shipping and tax, unless you changed that in Settings).
• Fixed Commission Amount: a flat amount per order, in your store currency.

You can use one, the other, or both (percentage plus a fixed amount).

Leave the one you do not want at empty/zero.

Allow application link is optional and you'll only ever have to turn it on if this program should have its own signup URL.

After you save, Affilitrak gives you a link that registers people into this program, not just into the general portal.

Copy it and send it, or put it on a “Become a VIP affiliate” button.

Until you save, you will see Save program to get link.

Custom commission rules (optional)

Use Custom Commission Rules when the default rate should not apply to everything.

• Pick products and/or collections: for each one you can set a different % and/or a fixed amount.
• Only selected products/collections earn commission: is the important checkbox. Leave it off if you want the program’s main rate on the rest of the catalog, and special rates only on the products you picked. Turn it on if affiliates should earn only on those products (the main percentage and fixed fields at the top go disabled, because there is no “everything else” rate anymore).

This is how you do a “commission on Collection A only” program, or “20% on Product X, 10% on everything else.”

Coupons (optional)

The Coupon Configurations card is where this program’s discount codes come from.

A configuration is a template. Affilitrak uses it to mint a tracking code per affiliate (or lets them pick a code later). When a customer uses that code, the sale can be attributed to the affiliate even without a referral link.

You have two ways in:

• Attach one you already made: search Use an existing configuration and select it > It shows as a tag> you can attach more than one.
• Create one here: click Create new coupon configuration > that opens the same settings you would get from Programs > coupon create, without leaving the program.

Coupon settings worth setting

Discount Type is Amount Off or Free Shipping.

For amount off, set the Discount Value and whether it is a Percentage or Fixed Amount.

The banner at the top is a live summary of what you built.

More Settings covers the Shopify-style rules:

• Limit to one use per customer
• Maximum total uses (blank = unlimited)
• Whether it combines with product, order, or shipping discounts
• Minimum order amount
• Optional start and end dates
• Limit the discount to specific products or collections

Affiliate tracking codes is how the actual code is generated:

• Use affiliate name; codes based on their name
• Use random code; Affilitrak generates one
• Affiliate chooses later; they pick it in the portal (this option is hidden if you disabled affiliate-created codes in Extra Features)

Optional suffix (for example VIP) is appended when codes are generated automatically.

Welcome coupon: Give new affiliates a separate one-time welcome coupon creates a second, one-use personal code using these same discount settings. That is for onboarding, not their ongoing tracking code.

If you create the coupon on its own page later (Programs, then create a coupon), you also get Configuration Availability: make it available to specific affiliates, to program tiers, or Make available to all affiliates.

If you attach the coupon from the program form, it is already tied to this program.

If you create it standalone and pick nobody, it will not be available to anyone.

> Coupons are optional. A program can track with links only.

Program progression (optional)

Program progression moves someone to another program after they hit a goal: Approved orders, Approved sales, or Time in program (days).

Move to is the destination program. Do not auto-move leaves them here.

You need at least one other program for this to be useful, so many stores skip it on the first program and come back after they have a second tier.

MLM / Network (optional)

MLM is a separate program from the commission program.

The commission program is “what this affiliate earns on their own sales.”

The MLM program is “what people above them earn when they (or their downline) make a sale.”

If Settings → New Affiliates has Use "Network" terminology on, the labels say Network instead of MLM. It's the same feature.

Create the MLM program first

On Programs, in the MLM programs (or Network programs) section, click Create MLM program (or Create network program).

Set:

• Program Name and optional Description

• Levels; how many people above the person who made the sale can earn. Level 0 is the direct affiliate (the referrer). They already get the commission program rate. Levels 1, 2, 3… are the upline. 3 means Level 1, 2, and 3 can earn on top of that.

• Commission Structure

- Percentage of original order; each level gets a % of the same commissionable order amount.

- Percentage of level below (cascading); each level gets a % of what the level under them earned. You set a Default Level Commission Rate, or click Set Custom Rates for a different % per level.

There is a commission calculator on the page so you can sanity-check a sample order before you save.

• Recruitment Bonus; a one-time amount when someone recruits a new member. Referral bonus minimum orders and Referral bonus minimum sales can delay that bonus until the new person has actually produced.

• Applies to all affiliates; on means every affiliate is in this MLM structure automatically. Off means you attach it only to the commission programs you choose.

When you're done setting it up, hit save, then go back to your commission program.

Attach it to the commission program

On the commission program, the MLM Program / Network Program card is a dropdown.

Pick the MLM program you just created, or None.

That is the connection.

Affiliates in this commission program now also use that upline structure (unless the MLM program already applies to everyone).

Upline is not magic from the MLM settings alone. Someone has to sit under someone else:

• A recruit can register through an affiliate’s referral registration link (…/register?ref=…), or
• You set the parent on the affiliate’s profile, in the network / MLM structure card.

Without a parent, there is no upline to pay.

Save, then put people in it

Use the save bar at the bottom. After a new program saves, you land on that program’s page. Everything you just set is still editable there.

From the program page you can:

• Keep changing commission, coupons, MLM, and progression
• Add existing affiliates to this program
• Turn on Auto-assign new affiliates to this program — new signups (and people who use this program’s application link) get this package. Only one program can be the default at a time; turning it on here moves the default off whatever held it before. You can also set that default under Settings → New Affiliates.

You can still assign a program by hand when you use Add New Affiliate, or later on an affiliate’s profile. See How to invite affiliates.

A simple “done” setup

For a typical store launching today:

1. Create a coupon: 10% off, codes from the affiliate name, attached to this program.
2. Skip MLM unless you actually pay uplines.
3. Create a single program named something clear, 10% commission, attach the coupon.
4. Save.
5. Turn on auto-assign, or add your first affiliates to it.

If you later want a VIP tier, create a second program with a higher rate, then either send its application link or use Program progression / a Program ladder so people graduate when they hit a target.

Common questions

Do I have to use coupons?

No. Links still track. Coupons help when someone shares a code instead of a URL.

Do I have to use MLM?

No. Leave the MLM dropdown on None. Direct commission still pays.

Percentage and fixed amount — which wins?

They add. 10% plus $5 means both on a qualifying order.

Why is commission percentage greyed out?

Only selected products/collections earn commission is on. Either pick those products and set rates on them, or turn the checkbox off.

I created a coupon but affiliates do not have a code.

Check that the configuration is attached to this program (or assigned to those affiliates / all affiliates), and that code creation is not stuck on “affiliate chooses later” if they have not picked one yet.

Recruitment bonus vs MLM levels?

The bonus is a one-time hit when someone recruits. Level commissions are ongoing, on sales in the downline. You can use one, both, or neither.