Affiliates: turning them on and choosing a rate

An affiliate is someone outside the partnership who recommends your product and earns a commission on the sales they send. They don’t own anything and don’t vote; they get a link and a percentage.

Turning it on

In Make changes → Affiliates:

1. Tick Take affiliates for this product.
2. Set the commission (a percent of each sale, 1 to 90).
3. Write a note for affiliates: who the product is for and why it sells. It shows in the directory.
4. Choose whether to list it in the affiliate directory (otherwise only people you send the apply link can apply).
5. Send it for approval. Commissions are money, so every signed partner approves, even with a leader.

How the money works

• The commission is a percent of what the buyer paid, before any sales tax, worked out when the sale comes in.
• It comes out before the partners’ split. Partners are paid their shares of the rest right away, as usual.
• The commission waits 30 days in SplitPartner’s Stripe account. A refund in that time cancels it, or cuts it for a partial refund. Then it’s sent to the affiliate’s own Stripe account.
• Credit goes to the latest affiliate link the buyer used in the past 30 days.
• A new rate applies to sales from then on.

Choosing a rate

Think about it from the affiliate’s side: they bring the buyer, and they get nothing if nobody buys.

• Many digital product sellers offer 30 to 50%. Your cost to deliver one more copy is close to zero, so a generous commission still leaves the partners most of a sale they wouldn’t have had.
• Look at the dollars, not the percent. 40% of $9 is $3.60. 40% of $47 is $18.80. Affiliates with big audiences do this math.
• Check what’s left for partners in the calculator with the affiliate box ticked.
• Special rates for one affiliate (a big partner, a launch JV) are their own change everyone approves. See Approving affiliates.