# Affiliates

Pay people a commission for sending you new customers, and keep track of what you owe them.

Source: https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/affiliates/

**Add-on**
Commerce is an add-on, so not every website has it. If it is not in
your menu, see [Add-ons](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/billing/add-ons/) to add it.

An affiliate is someone you pay to send you new customers. A blogger. A local
club. A shop you work with. Each one gets a code of their own. When a new
customer buys with that code, the affiliate earns a commission. A commission is
the cut you agreed to pay them.

Your website keeps the count. You pay the affiliate yourself, your own way.
Then you mark it paid here.

This is not the same as referrals. A referral is one of your customers telling
a friend. Every customer gets a referral code on their own. An affiliate is
someone you pick and add by hand. Referrals are on
[Customers, credits and referrals](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/customers/#referrals).

## Where it lives

Go to **Plugins**, then **Commerce**. Click the **Settings** tab, then
**Referrals & affiliates**.

The page has three parts, top to bottom:

1. A card headed **Referrals and affiliates**. It holds the settings.
2. The list of your affiliates, with a **New affiliate** button.
3. The **Payout report**.

## Set the hold first

A commission is not owed the moment someone buys. It waits a set number of
days first, in case the order is refunded. That wait is the **hold**.

1. Find **Affiliate commissions: hold (days)** in the top card.
2. Type the number of days. It starts at `30`.
3. Click **Save** under the card.

"Unsaved changes" shows beside the buttons until you save. **Cancel** puts
back what was there.

Type `0` and a commission is owed as soon as the order is paid.

**Tip**
Match the hold to your refund policy. If you take returns for 30 days, a
30-day hold means you never owe money on an order that came back.

## Adding an affiliate

1. Click **New affiliate**.
2. Type their **Name**.
3. Type their **Email**. This links them to their own account page on your
   website.
4. Type a **Code**, such as `MAPLE10`.
5. Pick a **Commission**: **Percent of the goods** or **Flat amount per
   order**.
6. Type the **Percent**, or the **Amount per order**.
7. Pick a **Buyer's discount**, or leave it on **None**.
8. Leave **Status** on **Active**.
9. Write a **Payout note**, such as `PayPal: name@example.com`.
10. Click **Save**.

A message names the affiliate and says they are saved. Their commissions show
under the form from now on.

**← Back to affiliates** takes you back to the list.

### The code

A code is 4 to 20 letters and numbers. Spaces and dashes are left out.

Each code must be its own. It cannot match one of your discount codes, a
customer's referral code, or another affiliate's code. The form tells you if
it does.

Each email address can have one affiliate code.

### The commission

**Percent of the goods** pays a share of what the buyer paid for the things
they bought. It counts after any discount. It leaves out tax and shipping.

Say an affiliate gets 10%. A new customer buys $60 of candles, plus $8
shipping and $4 tax. The affiliate earns $6.

**Flat amount per order** pays the same each time, such as $5.

An order that paid for no goods at all earns nothing. That can happen when a
code takes 100% off, and the buyer pays only for shipping.

### The buyer's discount

The affiliate's code can also save the buyer money. Pick a code from
**Buyer's discount**. The list holds the codes you made on the **Discounts**
tab. See [Commerce settings](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/settings/#discounts).

That discount code keeps its own rules: its dates, its minimum spend and its
use limit.

With **None**, the buyer can still type the code. Checkout says "Code
recorded: it has no discount, so the price is unchanged." The affiliate still
gets the credit.

### The payout note

A line to remind you how you pay this person. "PayPal: name@example.com" or
"Check, mailed each month".

Never type a bank or card number here. The form turns away a long run of
digits.

## Sharing the code

Send the affiliate their code and their share link. The share link is your
web address, then `/shop?ref_code=`, then the code.

They can also copy the link from their own account page. See
[What the affiliate sees](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/affiliates/#what-the-affiliate-sees).

A buyer can use the code in two ways.

- **They type it at checkout**, in the box for a discount or referral code.
- **They open the share link.** Their browser can remember the code for 30
  days, and fills it in at checkout. A newer link replaces an older one.

**Important**
The browser only remembers the code if the visitor says yes to cookies. The
share link shows your cookie banner so they can choose.

If they say no, the code is not kept. They can still type it at checkout.

Checkout turns the code away in two cases.

| Checkout says | Why |
| --- | --- |
| "This code is no longer available." | The affiliate is paused. |
| "That's your own affiliate code. Share it with somebody else." | The buyer is the affiliate. Their email matches. |

## Which orders earn a commission

Only a new customer's **first paid order** earns one.

- A customer who has paid you before earns the affiliate nothing. They still
  get the buyer's discount.
- A $0 order never counts. If the first order starts a free trial, the
  commission comes from the plan's first paid bill.
- Later orders, and plan renewals, earn nothing more.

When an order carried the code but earned nothing, the reason is written on
that order's **Timeline**. See [Orders](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/orders/).

## How a commission moves

Each commission has a status.

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Pending** | In the hold. You do not owe it yet. |
| **Payable** | The hold is over. You owe it. |
| **Paid** | You marked it paid. |
| **Void** | Canceled. Nothing is owed. |

These things can happen during the hold:

- **A full refund** makes it **Void**.
- **A canceled plan** makes it **Void**.
- **A part refund** lowers a percent commission to match the goods that are
  left. A flat commission stays the same, as long as some goods are left.

Once a commission is **Payable**, a refund no longer changes it. That is why
the hold matters.

## Paying an affiliate

Pay first. Then record it here.

1. Pay the affiliate your own way. PayPal, a check, a bank transfer.
2. On **Referrals & affiliates**, click the affiliate's row.
3. Scroll to **Commissions**. Three tiles show **Pending**, **Payable** and
   **Paid**.
4. Check the box beside each commission you paid. Or click
   **Check all payable**.
5. Set **Paid on** to the day you paid. It starts as today.
6. Type a reference in the box beside it, such as the PayPal transaction ID.

**Warning**
The next step cannot be undone from the panel. Check the boxes and the date
before you click.

7. Click the **Mark paid** button. It counts what you checked, such as
   **Mark 2 paid**.

A message says how many were marked paid. Each one now reads **Paid**, with
your date and reference in the **Detail** column.

Only a **Payable** commission has a box. A pending or void one cannot be
marked paid. A paid one can never be paid twice.

## The payout report

The **Payout report** sits at the bottom of **Referrals & affiliates**. Pick a
year in the box beside its heading.

| Column | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| **Affiliate** | Their name. |
| **Code** | Their code. |
| **Month** | The month. |
| **Became payable** | What finished its hold that month. |
| **Paid** | What you marked paid that month. |

After each affiliate's months comes a total row for the year, in bold.

**Paid** goes by the date you typed in **Paid on**, not the day you clicked.

The year's paid total is the figure to use for a tax form. Ask your
accountant which forms you need to send.

**Download CSV** saves the report as a file. Open it in Excel, Numbers or
Google Sheets.

## Pausing an affiliate

There is no delete. Their commissions name them, so the record stays.

1. Click the affiliate's row.
2. Set **Status** to **Paused**.
3. Click **Save**.

Checkout turns their code away from then on. What they already earned goes on
as normal. Pending ones finish their hold, and you still owe what is payable.

To start again, set **Status** back to **Active** and save.

## Changing an affiliate

Open them, change what you need, and click **Save**.

New terms count for new commissions only. A commission keeps the terms it was
earned under.

**Warning**
Change the **Code** and the old one stops working at once. So do share links
with the old code in them.

Tell the affiliate before you change it.

## What the affiliate sees

The affiliate signs in to your website at `/account`, with the email you typed
for them. On the **Account info** tab, they see a card headed
**Your affiliate code**.

The card shows:

- what they earn, and how long each commission waits
- their code, and the share link with a **Copy link** button
- three totals: **Pending**, **Ready to pay** and **Paid**
- their latest commissions, each with a **Date**, an **Amount** and a
  **Status**

Two words differ from yours. A payable commission reads **Ready to pay** on
their card. A void one reads **Canceled**.

They never see who bought, or what. Only dates and amounts.

The card shows only while the affiliate is **Active**. It also waits until
they have proved their email by signing in with an emailed link. If they have
no account yet, they make one at `/account`. See
[What your customers see](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/customer-accounts/).

**Contact support**
Contact us if:

- a new customer paid with an affiliate's code, and no commission showed up
- a commission shows the wrong amount
- an affiliate cannot see their card after signing in

Email [support@lookoutridgeit.com](mailto:support@lookoutridgeit.com).
[Getting support](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/help/getting-support/) says what to put in the message.