Affiliate Commissions

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Overview

The Affiliate Commission feature enables developers to earn commissions on orders placed through stores that are part of various affiliate programs. By routing orders through affiliate networks, developers can capture commissions that will be paid out after confirmation. This feature is designed to be easy to adopt with minimal operational overhead.

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Key Concepts

• Affiliate Program Enrollment: To participate in the affiliate program, developers need to opt-in by directly contacting us. Once enrolled, they can start earning commissions on eligible orders.

• Eligible Orders: A Sell Anything order is eligible for affiliate commission if it is placed through a store that is part of a affiliate program. We automatically route such orders through the affiliate network to capture the commission.

• Affiliate Commission Lifecycle:

  1. Order Placement: After an order is placed by an enrolled developer, if the store is part of our affiliate program, the order is routed through the affiliate network.
  2. Tracking Commission Status: The experimentalAffiliateCommission endpoint allows developers to check the state of the affiliate commission. Developers will be notified via webhook whenever there are updates on our end regarding the order’s commission status.
  3. Payout: After the commission is finalized, it will be paid out to the developer through next invoice.

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Developer Experience

To help you integrate the Affiliate Commission feature into your applications, we provide a set of API endpoints that allow you to manage affiliate merchants and track commission statuses.

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1. Affiliate Merchant Management

The API enables developers to easily retrieve and filter the list of affiliate merchants that are part of the program.

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2. Order submission and checkout

To process checkout for affiliate products, you don’t need to do anything different. Simply follow our guide on how to manage the cart and perform checkout. We will automatically route eligible orders through the affiliate network to capture the commission.

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3. Commission Tracking

Monitor the status of commissions for orders placed through the affiliate network, including updates and finalization.

We strongly recommend that developers integrate with our webhooks to stay updated on the status of affiliate commissions. Webhooks provide real-time notifications whenever there are updates or changes to the commission status, such as when a commission is confirmed, updated, or finalized.

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Process and Timeline

When you place an order within Rye’s Sell Anything store network, Rye automatically routes the order through an affiliate program to capture a commission.

The affiliate network verifies the transaction to ensure it meets the conditions for commission eligibility. This process typically takes place within a day to a week after the order placement.

If the commission is confirmed within the same month, it’s included in the current month’s invoice. Otherwise, it’s carried over to the next month.

Rye issues an invoice between the 1st and 7th of each month, summarizing all confirmed commissions from the previous month. The commissions are then paid out to you via ACH/Wire transfer after subtracting Rye’s cut.

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Example Timeline

• April 17: A customer purchases an item on your site.
• April 18-25: The affiliate network confirms the commission.
• May 1-7: Rye sends you an invoice and initiates an ACH/Wire transfer for all commissions that occurred in April (including the commission from the April 17 order).

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Affiliate Commission States

An affiliate commission can transition through several states during its lifecycle. Understanding these states is essential for effectively tracking and managing commissions.

• Pending: When an order is submitted to a merchant and identified as eligible for an affiliate commission, it enters the Pending state. At this stage, we begin tracking the order with the affiliate network.

• Confirmed: Once the affiliate network confirms that the order has been recorded, the commission amount is calculated, and the order moves into the Confirmed state. This is a critical milestone as it signifies that the commission is recognized by the affiliate network.

• Unconfirmed: If the affiliate network does not confirm the registration of the order within 14 days, the order enters the Unconfirmed state. At this point, Rye ceases tracking the order with the affiliate network, and no affiliate commission will be awarded for this order.

• Updated: The order moves to the Updated state if the affiliate network modifies the commission amount. This state allows you to track any adjustments made to the initial commission calculation. This usually happens when the order is partially or fully cancelled or returned.

• Finalized: When the affiliate commission is fully settled and will no longer be subject to updates, the order is in the Finalized state. This indicates that the commission amount is locked in and will soon be paid out.

These states help you monitor the progress of affiliate commissions, from the initial tracking to final payout, ensuring transparency and control over your earnings.

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Direct Commission Capture with Sync API

If you have an existing relationship with a Shopify merchant, you have the option to use our Sync API to directly capture commissions on orders. This bypasses the need for affiliate network tracking and allows for more immediate commission capture, streamlining the process for merchants you already work with.

For more details on integrating with the Sync API, please refer to our Sync API documentation.

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How to Join

If you are interested in participating in the program, please reach out to us through Slack or dev@rye.com to opt in.