How to Configure Standard and Referral Affiliate Commissions

DecoNetwork provides flexible commission settings that allow you to reward affiliates, sales reps, and referral partners while maintaining control over your pricing and profitability. In this guide, you'll learn how to configure standard commissions, referral commissions, and transaction fees, as well as how to override these settings at the store and product level.

Prerequisites

Why commission settings matter

Commission settings allow you to build scalable sales channels by rewarding affiliates, sales reps, and referral partners.

• Incentivize growth: Encourage affiliates to promote and sell your products
• Control margins: Balance profitability with competitive pricing
• Automate payouts: Reduce manual work with structured commission tracking
• Support partnerships: Reward referrals through hierarchical store relationships

Configure default commission settings

Step 1: Access commission settings

1. Go to Admin → Website Settings → Commission Settings

2. Select Standard Commission Rates

   

   Navigate to Commission Settings in Website Settings

Step 2: Configure default values

Set the default values that will apply across your affiliate stores:

• Standard commission rate
• Standard referral commission
• Affiliate transaction fee

Understand commission types

Standard commission

A percentage of the wholesale price, which includes the blank product cost plus decoration cost.

• Typically used for sales reps
• Less common in affiliate workflows
• Applies before any retail markup is added

Referral commission

A commission paid to a parent (referring) store when it brings in new affiliate stores.

• Can be a percentage or fixed amount
• Applied to all sales generated by referred affiliates
• Requires store hierarchy to be configured

Affiliate transaction fee

A percentage fee used to offset increased payment processing costs caused by affiliate markups.

• Helps cover payment gateway fees
• Commonly set between 3.5%–5%

Override commission settings for a store

Step 1: Open store administration

1. Go to Admin → Websites
2. Select the affiliate store you want to manage
3. Click Administration

Step 2: Adjust commission settings

1. Go to Store Commission Settings

2. Tick Override Default Referral Commission Rate and specify a value, if needed

   

   Override referral commission at the store level

Set commissions via product pricing

In most cases, commissions are built into product pricing through markups rather than standard commission rates.

Step 1: Set a default markup

1. Go to Admin → Product Pricing Settings
2. Set a markup (e.g., $5)

Step 2: Create or edit a decorated product

1. Go to Admin → Products → Add Decorated Product
2. Select a product and decoration method
3. Proceed through setup steps

Step 3: Review pricing

At the final step:

• Wholesale price: Blank + decoration cost
• Markup: Affiliate earnings
• Retail price: Wholesale + markup

Step 4: Override pricing (optional)

• Disable Use Default
• Set a custom retail price
• Commission adjusts automatically based on the difference

Pay and track commissions

Automatic payouts (PayPal)

1. Go to Admin → Websites → Commission Settings → PayPal Mass Payments
2. Enter your PayPal Mass Payments credentials
3. Configure PayPal API settings. (Click the link in the API authentication permissions panel and follow the instructions)

Commissions can then be paid automatically (e.g., monthly).

Manual payouts

1. In the affiliate store menu, go to Administration → Store Commission Settings
2. Select Record External Payment
3. Select commissions to pay
4. Record payment method

View reports

1. Go to Admin → Reports
2. Select Commission Payments

Configure affiliate hierarchy for referrals

Step 1: Access ownership settings

1. Go to Admin → Websites
2. Select a store you want to manage
3. Click Administration → Ownership

Step 2: Assign parent store

1. On the Ownership page, locate the Affiliate hierarchy section
2. Click Reset Parent Store
3. Set the Parent Store
4. Save changes

Set the parent store to enable referral commissions

Once configured:

• The parent store earns referral commissions
• All child store sales contribute to those earnings

Best practices

• Use markup-based commissions for most affiliate scenarios
• Keep transaction fees aligned with your payment gateway costs
• Use referral commissions to incentivize partner growth
• Regularly review commission reports for accuracy

Troubleshooting

• No referral commission applied: Check that a parent store is assigned
• Incorrect commission amount: Verify markup or overridden pricing
• Payments not sent: Confirm PayPal API configuration
• Missing commissions: Ensure orders are cleared before payout

FAQs

Do I need to use standard commission rates?
No. Most setups use markup-based pricing instead.

Can I override commissions per product?
Yes. You can override pricing and commission during product setup or later editing.

How are affiliate earnings calculated?
Typically as the difference between wholesale cost and retail price, minus any transaction fees.

Can I pay commissions manually?
Yes. Use the Record External Payment option to track manual payouts.

Additional resources

• Setting Up PayPal Mass Payments
• Managing Affiliate Stores
• Product Pricing and Markups