Commissions

Rates

Under Settings → Commissions, choose percentage (a share of each referred order) or flat (a fixed amount per referral) and set the rate. That's the program-wide default — any affiliate can have their own custom rate that beats it (set it when editing the affiliate, or via the "Set rate" bulk action), and coupon-specific rates beat both. Subscriptions can keep paying on renewals and customers can stay linked to their affiliate for life — see recurring & lifetime commissions — and milestone bonuses add one-time rewards on top. Not sure what's sustainable? Work from margin, not from what competitors advertise — the commission rate guide has the arithmetic.

Exact money, always

Commissions are calculated in integer minor units (cents), never floating-point — so amounts are exact to the cent, with no drift on large volumes. Every referral shows a plain-language explanation of how its amount was computed: the order total it was based on and the rate applied. When a partner asks "why is this $23.80?", the answer is on the screen, not in a spreadsheet.

The maturity window

A new referral starts pending and becomes payable only after the maturity window passes — set it to match your refund policy, so refunded orders never turn into paid commissions. A refund inside the window simply rejects the referral. The reasoning, and what to do when a refund lands after payout, is covered in refunds & clawbacks.

Mature referrals accumulate in each partner's payable balance, visible on both sides — in your Payouts screen and in their dashboard.

Where commissions come from

Order-based commissions flow in from WooCommerce and ten more platforms — Easy Digital Downloads, WP Simple Pay, MemberPress, Paid Memberships Pro, Restrict Content Pro, LearnDash, LifterLMS, Tutor LMS, GiveWP, and Event Espresso — all auto-detected, no configuration. The full list and how each connects: integrations.

Lead commissions from forms

Selling services, or building a lead pipeline? Under Settings → Commissions you can set a flat amount per referred lead for submissions of WPForms, Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms, Ninja Forms, Contact Form 7, and Elementor Pro forms. A referred visitor submits the form, the affiliate earns the flat amount, and the lead flows through the same review, maturity, and payout pipeline as an order. Strategy notes: lead-gen affiliate programs.

Review before money moves

Every referral passes fraud review — suspicious ones are held with a written reason rather than silently approved or rejected. Nothing becomes payable without having survived both review and maturity.