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How to set what a commission is calculated on

Picking a rate is one decision; deciding what that rate is applied to is another, and it moves the money just as much. A 15% rate on a base that wrongly includes shipping and tax quietly overpays on every single order. For choosing the rate and the commission model itself, see how to set up affiliate campaigns and commissions.

These settings sit inside the campaign, not in Settings: open Affiliate → Campaigns, open a campaign, then its commission calculation settings.

What counts toward the sale

Section titled “What counts toward the sale”

By default, commission is calculated on what the customer paid: product prices after discounts, plus shipping, taxes and tips. In the campaign’s commission calculation settings you can change that with these options:

  • Exclude products - listed products or collections are skipped entirely.
  • Exclude discounts - discounts are no longer taken off the base, so commission is calculated on the full price before discounts. Leave it off to pay only on what the customer actually paid after discounts.
  • Exclude shipping - take shipping charges out of the base.
  • Exclude taxes - take tax out of the base.
  • Exclude tips - take tips out of the base.

Excluding shipping and tax is a common first move — you rarely want to pay commission on money that never lands as profit. The base you build here is what every rate above is applied to, so getting exclusions right matters as much as getting the rate right: a 15% rate on a base that wrongly includes $12 of shipping and $8 of tax quietly overpays $3 on every order.

Commission caps (maximum)

Section titled “Commission caps (maximum)”

Each campaign can enforce a Maximum affiliate commission per customer. When it is on, the total commission an affiliate earns from one customer, across all of that customer’s orders, can’t go past the value you set (default: 100). The order that reaches the limit pays only the remainder, and later orders from the same customer don’t create a sale for that affiliate. Orders with no customer attached aren’t limited. Use this to protect margin on unusually large orders and on repeat buyers, and to keep payouts predictable. It pairs especially well with a percentage model, which would otherwise scale without limit.

A 15% rate is fine on a typical $80 basket, but the same rate on a $2,000 order would pay $300, likely more than that order earns in profit. A maximum of 100 means that customer’s order pays $100 instead, keeping you in the black regardless of basket size.

Section titled “Attribution window (cookie)”

The cookie value is the number of days a click stays attributed to an affiliate. If a customer clicks an affiliate link and buys within the cookie window, the sale counts for that affiliate. The default is 30 days. Set it per campaign — a longer window suits considered, slower purchases (high-ticket or B2B), while a shorter one suits impulse buys.

A long window (60–90 days) credits the affiliate even for purchases weeks after the click, rewarding partners who plant the first seed. A short window (7–14 days) credits only quick conversions, keeping attribution close to the moment of influence. The 30-day default is a reasonable middle ground for most stores.

Auto-apply discount

Section titled “Auto-apply discount”

A campaign can carry an auto-apply discount: when enabled, customers who arrive through an affiliate link automatically get the configured discount code applied. This pairs a customer incentive with the affiliate’s promotion, which often lifts conversion enough to justify the extra cost.

Section titled “Related”