Example · Coffee machine review
Markus Klein reviews coffee machines on his blog “Coffee Machine Test” and links every machine he tests to your shop. He has no customer account, he does not buy from you, he only sends readers. With one rate for everything you would pay too much on a bean-to-cup machine with a slim margin and too little on your own roast. Commission rules give every product the rate its margin can carry.
A partner without a customer account
You create the blog yourself. It links with its partner code, and you manage and pay it in the administration.
One rate per product group
Rules apply to products, categories, dynamic product groups or customers. The highest priority wins.
Reduced items do not pay twice
A rule with 0 percent for reduced products makes sure the discount and the commission do not eat the same margin.
Under Partners you click Create affiliate, enter “KAFFEETEST” as the Partner code and choose Without a customer account. The blog therefore has no partner area in the shop; commission, payout and statistics run through the administration. In the Commission tab it gets the type Per product: percentage of net and 5 percent as the Rate.
The partner link works on every page of your shop. Markus appends ?partner=KAFFEETEST to the address of a product page, and every reader who lands there is assigned to the blog. The partner cookie lasts 30 days by default, even if the reader only orders later.
Clicks: every click from the blog is listed with Referrer and Landing page. That shows you which review sends the most readers.
Products & landing pages: this tab of the statistics shows the top products and top landing pages that come through partners.
Statistics on the partner: the tab on the blog shows turnover, commission and clicks. Without a partner area, you send Markus the figures yourself.
On a bean-to-cup machine at €599.00 you earn a few percent, on your own roast many times that. 5 percent on everything would reward the machine richly and the beans poorly. So under Commission rules you create three rules with Create commission rule; in the Assignments tab you choose what they hit, and under When does the rule apply? it says: One match is enough.
| Rule | Assignment | Priority | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bean-to-cup | Category “Bean-to-cup machines” | 500 | 3% |
| House roast | Product “Espresso house roast 1 kg” with all variants | 500 | 12% |
| Sale | Dynamic product group “Sale” (all products tagged Sale) | 600 | 0% |
| no match | Rate of the partner | 5% |
Without a selection under Partners, every rule applies to all partners. If a rule should only apply to the blog, you select it there.
A reduced bean-to-cup machine sits in the category “Bean-to-cup machines” and carries the tag Sale, so two rules hit it. With the default Priority first, highest rate on equal priority, the higher priority number wins, here “Sale” with 600. Only on equal priority does the rate decide. Whether a rule hits through a product, a category or a product group gives it no precedence.
Variants: a rule on the main product hits all its variants, including ones created later. A single variant chosen on its own hits only itself.
Category tree: if the parent category “Coffee machines” also has a rule with the same priority, the rule closer to the product counts. With a different priority both compete.
Dynamic product groups: they are checked at the reconciliation, not at checkout, and regardless of the sales channel. If you put a product on sale, the rule applies to every order reconciled after that.
No match: line items no rule hits are calculated with the partner's rate, here 5 percent.
On the product, the Affiliate program tab shows the Commission rules for this product: every rule with Rate, Priority and Hits through, above them a sentence saying which rule applies today. On the order, View log opens the Commission calculation log with every line item, its rule and the amount.
In the Remuneration tab you release the purple bracket of the Type of remuneration and choose Payout. Under Payout you enter the blog's account holder and IBAN and switch on Automatic payout. At the start of the month a request is then waiting under SEPA payouts; after your review, Create SEPA file writes the file for your online banking.
A reader comes through the review of the bean-to-cup machine “Barista One” and buys the machine, two kilos of espresso house roast and a reduced descaler. The calculation runs per line item on the net value of the goods after discounts, without shipping, rounded to the cent.
Without commission rules
Barista One machine, net€503.36
2 × espresso house roast 1 kg, net€35.33
Descaler (sale), net€10.84
Net value of the goods€549.53
Commission for the blog, 5%€27.48
With commission rules
Machine, rule Bean-to-cup, 3%€15.10
Espresso, rule House roast, 12%€4.24
Descaler, rule Sale, 0%€0.00
Commission for the blog€19.34
The blog gets less for the machine whose margin cannot carry the rate, and more for the beans you earn well on. When the reader orders espresso again, Markus earns 12 percent on every subsequent order.
Another reader buys last year's Barista One for €449.00 gross, €377.31 net. It sits in the category “Bean-to-cup machines” and carries the tag Sale. Both rules hit; the priority decides.
Sale with priority 600
Last year's model, net€377.31
Rule Sale, priority 600, wins0%
Rule Bean-to-cup, priority 5003%
Commission for the blog€0.00
Both with priority 500
Last year's model, net€377.31
Rule Sale, priority 5000%
Rule Bean-to-cup, priority 500, highest rate3%
Commission for the blog€11.32
On a tie the default picks the highest rate, and the reduced machine costs you €11.32 in commission on top of the discount. With priority 600 it stays at €0.00.
Commission rules are off by default; then only the partner's rate applies. The selection decides whether the priority or the rate wins.
Where to find them in the settings (affiliate program menu on the left under System → Settings):
Commission · Commission rules card → Enable commission rulesUses commission rules for customers, products, categories and dynamic product groups (Partner program › Commission rules). When disabled, only partner and subsequent-order rates apply.
Commission · Commission rules card → Commission selectionThe higher priority number wins. Equal priorities are resolved by the highest or lowest rate. Always highest/lowest ignores priority. A customer, product, category or dynamic product group match does not give a rule precedence.
Commission · Commission rules card → Include the individual partner rate in “Always highest/lowest rate”Only applies to Always highest/lowest: Include the individual partner rate in the comparison so it can win. When unchecked, only matching rules are compared. If no rule matches, the partner rate applies regardless of this option.
The parameter works on every page of the shop. With click tracking you see the referrer and landing page of every click.
Where to find them in the settings (affiliate program menu on the left under System → Settings):
Marketing · Partner link card → URL parameters for partner codeThe parameter in the URL for the partner code.
Example:
partnerparameter
URL:
https://www.domain.com/?partnerparameter=code123
Marketing · Cookie card → Expiration (in days)How long should the cookie be stored in the customer's browser?
Marketing · Click tracking card → Record clicks on partner linksStores time, shortened IP, user agent, landing path, referring domain and UTM data. Known customers and the first associated order can be linked. Repeated visits are usually recognised; occasional duplicate clicks are possible. Update your privacy information accordingly.
Automatic payouts apply to all sales channels and only create requests; the transfer happens after your review.
Where to find them in the settings (affiliate program menu on the left under System → Settings):
Payout · Payout methods card → Offer SEPA bank transferPartners can enter an account holder and an IBAN. Payouts are paid with a SEPA file for your online banking.
Payout · SEPA bank transfer card → IBAN of the shop accountIBAN of the account the SEPA file pays the payouts from; spaces are allowed. Required for SEPA files: if it is missing or invalid, no file can be created. A sales channel can have a shop account of its own.
Payout · Automatic payout card → Activate automatic payoutsOn the payout day the extension creates a payout of the whole balance, rounded down to whole euros, for every partner whose type of remuneration is "Payout". The same limit applies as for a request of the partner: the smallest staggered amount or the minimum amount of the card "Payout · Compensation by payout". The payouts are reviewed like every request.
Payout · Automatic payout card → IntervalHow often the automatic payout runs. The payout day is set by the weekday or the day of the month below.
Yes. When creating it you choose Without a customer account. The blog promotes with its partner code, and you manage commission, payout and statistics in the administration. A partner area in the shop and a payout document as a PDF exist only with a customer account.
With a commission rule for those products, their category or a dynamic product group and a lower rate, 0 included. The rule applies to all partners or only to selected ones. Line items without a match keep the partner's rate.
By default the highest priority wins, and on equal priority the highest rate. Alternatively you take the lowest rate on equal priority, or ignore the priority altogether and always take the highest or always the lowest rate.
Yes, to all variants, including ones created later. If you choose a single variant, the rule applies to that variant only. Between a rule for the main product and one for the variant, the priority decides.
Yes, with the type Per order: fixed amount. An order is never mixed: if such a rule has the highest priority in the order, its amount is the whole commission; on equal priority with a per-product rule it takes precedence. Otherwise the order is calculated per product.
No. Every order is assessed exactly once, when it becomes commissionable. A rule affects orders reconciled after that; with Order date from and until you limit it to a period, counted by the date of the order.
In the order's Affiliate program tab via View log. The log shows the matching rules, the winner and the amount per line item. On the product, the same tab shows which rules hit it and which one applies today.
More examples
The demo shop shows the partner area and the administration fully set up. The manual shows every setting.