Sub-Affiliate Program (Two-Tier Commissions)

Let your affiliates recruit other affiliates. Each recruiter earns an override — a percentage of the approved payout their referrals generate — paid by your network on top of what the referrals earn. This page covers the network side: setting rates, how overrides are booked and how to pay them.

How It Works

Every affiliate gets a unique referral link in their portal under Sub-Affiliates. Anyone who signs up through it becomes that affiliate's sub-affiliate (their downline). From then on:

Formula
override = sub-affiliates' approved payout × override %
  • The override is a single tier: a recruiter earns on the affiliates they referred directly, not on their referrals' referrals.
  • Only approved payout counts. Pending, rejected and reversed conversions never generate an override.
  • The override is an extra cost to the network. It is never deducted from the sub-affiliate's own earnings.
Sub-affiliates vs. sub IDs

A sub-affiliate is another affiliate account in your network. Sub IDs (sub_aff1–sub_aff10, source) are tracking parameters an affiliate adds to their own links to tell their placements apart — see Macros Reference.

Setting the Override Rate

The rate is resolved in this order — the first one that is set wins:

LevelWhere to set itUse it for
Per affiliateAffiliates → All Affiliates → Edit → Sub-Affiliate Override %Super-affiliates, agencies and sub-networks you have negotiated a rate with.
Network defaultSettings → Affiliate Portal → Signup & Portal → Sub-Affiliate Program → Default Override %The standard rate every affiliate earns.
None—With neither set, the rate is 0% and no override is booked.

Rates accept 0–100 with two decimals. Leave the per-affiliate field blank to fall back to the network default. Industry rates for two-tier programs usually sit between 2% and 10% of the sub-affiliate's payout.

How Referrals Are Linked

  • The link points to your affiliate sign-up page with the recruiter's code, for example https://yourbrand.affclix.com/affiliate-signup?ref=AB12CD34. It also works on your custom portal domain.
  • The code is remembered for the visit, so the sign-up is credited even if the visitor browses before registering.
  • Only public self-sign-ups are linked. Affiliates you create in the dashboard or by bulk import are not attached to a recruiter.
  • A referral is linked once, at sign-up. Approving or rejecting the new affiliate works exactly as for any other application.

Monthly Accrual

On the 3rd of every month the platform books last month's override for every recruiter who earned one. Each booking records the period, the sub-affiliates' approved payout, the rate used and the override amount. The recruiter sees the same rows in the Override Statement on their Sub-Affiliates page.

Accrual is idempotent: re-running a period updates the row in place, and a row already invoiced or paid is never changed.

Paying the Override

  1. Create an affiliate invoice for the recruiter

    Go to Affiliates → Affiliate Invoices → Create Invoice, pick the affiliate and set the report period (a full calendar month matches the monthly accrual).

  2. Click Add Sub-Affiliate Override

    A line item with the override for that period is added for you. Remove the row if you do not want to bill it on this invoice.

  3. Save and pay as usual

    Saving marks the period's ledger rows as Invoiced, so the same override cannot be billed twice. When the invoice is marked Received — by hand, in a mass payment or by Tipalti — the rows become Paid.

Invoice whole months

Overrides are booked per calendar month. An invoice period that cuts a month in half cannot be matched to the booked row, so bill overrides on month-aligned invoices.

Ledger Statuses

StatusMeaning
AccruedEarned for the period and not yet billed.
InvoicedIncluded on an affiliate invoice that has not been paid yet.
PaidThe invoice carrying it was paid in full.
VoidWill not be paid.

Cancelling an invoice puts its override rows back to Accrued, so they can be billed on a new invoice.

FAQ

Can I see who referred an affiliate?
Yes. The recruiter sees their full downline in their portal; the relationship is stored on the sub-affiliate's account.

Does a reversal after accrual reduce the override?
Accrual reads approved payout at the time it runs. A conversion rejected later is taken back from the sub-affiliate's earnings — see Balances & Reversals.

How do I switch the program off?
Set the network default to 0 and clear any per-affiliate rates. Existing ledger rows stay so you can still pay what was earned.

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