Commission Plugins

Available in:

Post Affiliate Pro , Post Affiliate Pro Ultimate , Post Affiliate Network

What are Commission Plugins?

Commission plugins in Post Affiliate Pro are specialized extensions that enhance and customize the standard commission calculation process. These plugins allow merchants to implement sophisticated commission structures that go beyond basic percentage or fixed-rate commissions.

Whether you need to reward affiliates with bonuses for high-value sales, limit the number of commissions per customer, implement complex multi-tier distributions, or prevent self-referral fraud, commission plugins provide the flexibility to create the exact commission structure your affiliate program requires.

Overview of Available Commission Plugins

Commission Bonus Plugin

The Commission Bonus plugin allows you to add bonus commissions to affiliates when a sale exceeds a specified value. This is particularly useful for incentivizing affiliates to promote higher-value products or upsells.

How It Works

When a sale is tracked, the plugin checks if the total cost meets or exceeds your configured minimum threshold. If it does, an additional bonus commission is added to the affiliate’s earnings.

Configuration Options

Configuration Details

• Minimum sale value: Use -1 for undefined (plugin disabled), 0 to apply to all sales, or any positive number as the threshold
• Separate transaction mode: Enable this option if you use Performance Rewards or need to recompute commissions, as it creates the bonus as a distinct transaction record
• Commission groups: When enabled, you can configure different bonus amounts for affiliates in different commission groups

Example Use Case

If you want to reward affiliates who refer sales over $500 with an extra $25 bonus:

1. Enable the Commission Bonus plugin
2. Set minimum sale value to 500
3. Set bonus commission value to 25
4. Every qualifying sale automatically includes the $25 bonus

Note: It is not recommended to activate this plugin at the same time as the Split Commission feature, as they may conflict.

Top Level Affiliate Commission Plugins

Post Affiliate Pro offers two plugins for rewarding top-level affiliates (affiliates without a parent in the referral hierarchy). These plugins ensure that the highest-level affiliate in the chain receives special compensation.

Top Level Affiliate Commission

This plugin ensures that only the top-level affiliate in the referral chain receives a commission. The commission is calculated as a specific percentage of the affiliate’s tier commission.

Key Features:

• Works for both sale/action and click commissions
• Configurable percentage of the normal tier commission (default: 100%)
• Campaign filtering: apply to all campaigns or skip/include specific campaigns by ID
• Sub-affiliates (those with parent affiliates) do not receive commissions
• Falls back to first-tier commission if the specific tier commission does not exist

Top Level Affiliate Fixed Commission

This plugin awards top-level affiliates a fixed percentage of the sale amount, configured per commission type. Unlike the standard Top Level Affiliate Commission plugin, this uses a fixed commission percentage defined in the commission type settings.

Key Features:

• Requires the Commission Groups feature to be activated
• Commission percentage is configured per commission type (not globally)
• Option to use first tier commission for tier 1 transactions
• Works with both sales and clicks
• Ideal for network-style programs where top-level partners receive a fixed cut

Configuration:

The fixed commission percentage is set in the Edit Commission Type dialog for each commission type. Enter the percentage value that top-level affiliates should receive from each sale.

Note: Do not use both Top Level Affiliate plugins simultaneously as they may conflict with each other.

Maximum Commissions Per Referral

The Maximum Commissions Per Referral plugin allows you to limit how many commissions can be earned from a single customer or affiliate within a specified time frame. This is essential for subscription-based businesses, fraud prevention, or limiting promotional offers.

Configuration Options

How It Works

When a new sale is tracked, the plugin:

1. Counts existing commissions of the same type for the specified user (affiliate or customer)
2. Applies the time period filter if configured
3. Applies the product filter if enabled
4. If the count meets or exceeds the maximum, the commission is NOT saved

Example Configurations

Limit per affiliate (daily cap):

• Maximum commissions: 5
• Time period: 86400 (24 hours)
• Apply per: Affiliate
• Result: Each affiliate can earn maximum 5 commissions per day

Limit per customer (lifetime cap):

• Maximum commissions: 1
• Time period: -1 (all time)
• Apply per: Customer
• Transaction data field: Data 1 (containing customer email)
• Result: Only one commission per customer, ever

Limit per product per affiliate:

• Maximum commissions: 3
• Time period: 2592000 (30 days)
• Apply per: Affiliate
• Apply per product: Yes
• Result: Each affiliate can earn maximum 3 commissions per product per month

The plugin works with sale, action, and click commissions (click commissions work only in “per affiliate” mode).

Variable Tier Commissions

The Variable Tier Commissions plugin provides a sophisticated way to distribute commissions among all affiliates in the upline based on their individual commission group settings. Instead of fixed tier percentages, each affiliate receives a commission based on their own first-tier commission rate.

Requirements

• Requires the Commission Groups feature to be activated
• Minimum Post Affiliate Pro version: 5.10.16.1

How It Works

The plugin supports up to 99 tiers and calculates commissions dynamically:

1. The referring affiliate (tier 1) receives their full first-tier commission based on their commission group
2. Each parent affiliate receives the difference between their first-tier commission rate and what has already been paid to lower tiers
3. The process continues up the affiliate chain until:
   • The maximum commission has been distributed, OR
   • There are no more parent affiliates

Configuration

Example Scenario

Consider this affiliate structure with different commission groups:

Affiliate A (top level): 50% commission group
  └── Affiliate B: 10% commission group
       └── Affiliate C: 20% commission group
            └── Affiliate D: 10% commission group (makes the sale)

When Affiliate D refers a $100 sale:

Total distributed: $50 (the maximum based on Affiliate A’s 50% rate)

Key Behaviors

• Creates individual transaction records for each tier
• Respects the highest possible commission defined across all commission groups
• Does not override custom commission values set via API
• Adds “Variable Tier Commissions” to the system note of created transactions

Lifetime Commissions

The Lifetime Commissions plugin creates permanent relationships between customers and affiliates. Once a customer is referred by an affiliate, all future purchases from that customer are credited to the same affiliate, regardless of how they return to your site.

Key Features

Configuration Options

Relationship Expiration Options

When lifetime relationships have expiration dates, configure what happens after expiration:

Custom Lifetime Commission Rates

Configure per commission type:

• Custom level 1 commission: Rate for lifetime sales (e.g., “10%” or “5”)
• Custom level 2 commission: Alternative rate after specified days
• Days after first sale: When to switch from level 1 to level 2

Prohibit Commission If Affiliate Is Purchaser

This plugin prevents affiliates from earning commissions on their own purchases by comparing purchaser information with affiliate profiles. It is essential for preventing self-referral fraud.

Configuration Options

How Identification Works

The plugin compares up to 5 transaction data fields against affiliate profile fields:

Operating Modes

Custom Commission Mode:

1. Affiliate’s email matches customer email in transaction data
2. Plugin sets the commission to the configured custom value (can be 0)
3. Transaction is saved with modified commission
4. Optional email notification sent

Skip Affiliate Mode:

1. Affiliate’s email matches customer email in transaction data
2. Commission is shifted to the parent affiliate
3. All tier commissions move up one level
4. If no parent exists, commission is not saved

Campaign-Specific Control

Enable or disable the plugin per campaign using the campaign settings. This allows you to:

• Disable self-referral prevention for specific programs
• Apply different rules to different affiliate segments

Recurring Commission Support

The plugin also applies to recurring commissions, ensuring self-referral prevention works consistently for subscription-based purchases.

Partner Commission (Full Total Cost Distribution)

The Partner Commission plugin ensures that the entire sale amount is distributed as commissions among affiliates. The top-level affiliate (one without a parent) receives whatever remains after lower tiers have been paid.

How It Works

The plugin calculates the top-level affiliate’s commission as:

Commission = Total Cost - Fixed Cost - Sum of Lower Tier Commissions

This guarantees that 100% of the sale value is distributed to affiliates.

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Standard Multi-Tier (50%/30%/20%)

*Modified by plugin

Scenario 2: Partial Distribution (30%/20%/10% = 60% normally)

*Modified by plugin to reach 100%

Use Case

This plugin is ideal for:

• Partner/reseller programs where affiliates take the full margin
• Network marketing structures requiring complete commission distribution
• Affiliate programs where the merchant retains no portion of sales

Note: Use this plugin only if you intend to pay 100% commission to your affiliates on all qualifying sales.

Sub-Affiliate First Sale Bonus

This plugin rewards parent affiliates with an extra bonus when their sub-affiliate makes their first sale. It incentivizes affiliates to actively recruit and nurture new sub-affiliates who become productive sellers.

Configuration Options

How It Works

When a second-tier commission is being calculated:

1. The plugin identifies the sub-affiliate who made the sale
2. Checks if this is the sub-affiliate’s first approved or pending sale/action transaction
3. Verifies the sub-affiliate registered within the configured validity period
4. If conditions are met, adds the bonus to the parent’s second-tier commission

Conditions for Bonus

• Must be a second-tier commission (sub-affiliate made the sale)
• Must be the sub-affiliate’s first sale or action (no prior approved/pending transactions)
• Sub-affiliate must have registered within the validity period

Example

Configuration:

• Validity period: 90 days
• Bonus type: %
• Bonus amount: 20

Result: When a sub-affiliate (registered less than 90 days ago) makes their first sale, their parent affiliate receives their normal second-tier commission PLUS 20% of the sale total cost as a bonus.

Note: This plugin requires second-tier commissions to be configured in your campaign. If no second-tier commission exists, the bonus will not apply.

Monthly Action Commission

The Monthly Action Commission plugin automatically creates action commissions for all approved and pending affiliates once per month. This is useful for paying regular monthly fees, membership rewards, or activity bonuses to your affiliate network.

Configuration Options

Requirements

For this plugin to work properly:

1. Enable zero-order saving: In the commission type settings, enable “Save transaction also for zero orders”
2. Use fixed commission: The commission value must be fixed amount, not percentage (total cost is zero)
3. Configure scheduled tasks: Ensure your server’s cron job runs the Post Affiliate Pro scheduled tasks
4. Create action commission type: Set up the action commission in the specified campaign

How It Works

1. On the configured day each month, a scheduled task runs
2. The plugin iterates through all approved and pending affiliates
3. For each affiliate, it creates an action commission using the configured campaign and action code
4. The commission amount is determined by the campaign’s commission settings

Use Cases

• Monthly activity bonuses for active affiliates
• Recurring membership fees paid to affiliates
• Monthly retainer payments for premium affiliates
• Regular network maintenance rewards

Choosing the Right Commission Plugins

When selecting commission plugins for your affiliate program, consider these factors:

By Business Model

By Goal

Plugin Compatibility

Some plugins should not be used together:

Always test your plugin combination in a staging environment before deploying to production.

Activating Commission Plugins

To activate any commission plugin:

1. Navigate to Configuration > Plugins in your merchant panel
2. Find the desired plugin in the Plugin Directory
3. Click Activate to enable the plugin
4. Configure the plugin settings as needed
5. Test with a sample transaction to verify correct operation

For detailed setup instructions, consult the Post Affiliate Pro support documentation or contact our support team.

Related Features

• Types of Commissions - Overview of all commission types
• Performance Rewards - Automated bonus triggers
• Commission Groups - Group-based commission structures
• Multi-Tier Commissions - Hierarchical commission structures
• Filtering Rules Plugins - Transaction validation and filtering
• Lifetime Commissions - Detailed lifetime referral guide