Affiliate program glossary
14 terms around the second tier of an affiliate program. Each one is answered in two lines, with one worked number and how ViralPayouts handles it.
Clawback (commission reversal)
A clawback takes back a commission after the sale behind it is refunded, charged back or rejected. A fair one takes back only the refunded share, and takes the recruiter’s override and the platform’s fee back with it.
Commission base
The commission base is the amount a percentage commission is taken from. “20%” means little until you know whether it is 20% of the order total, the subtotal after discounts, the profit, or someone else’s commission.
Cookie window (attribution window)
The cookie window is how long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate. A 30-day window credits a purchase made up to 30 days after the click.
Hold period
A hold period is how long an approved commission waits before it can be paid out. It gives refunds and chargebacks time to arrive before money leaves.
Multi-level marketing vs two-tier
Multi-level marketing pays people several levels up a chain, and often pays for recruiting, buying stock or hitting team volume. A two-tier affiliate program pays two people per sale, the seller and their direct recruiter, and only when a real customer buys.
Override commission
An override commission is a commission paid on someone else’s sales, usually to the person who recruited or manages them. It can be a share of their commission, a share of the sale, or a fixed amount.
Payout threshold
A payout threshold is the smallest balance an affiliate must reach before they are paid. Anything below it carries forward to the next payout.
Postback URL
A postback URL is an address the affiliate platform calls when a conversion happens, so an affiliate’s own tracker can count it. Placeholders in the address are filled with the sale’s details.
Recruiter override
A recruiter override is what an affiliate earns on the sales of the affiliates they recruited. The brand pays it on top of the seller’s commission, only on sales it approves.
Recurring commission
A recurring commission pays the affiliate again each time a customer they referred renews a subscription. Programs set how long: first payment only, a number of months, or for the life of the customer.
Sub ID
A sub ID is a label an affiliate adds to their own link to tell their traffic sources apart. The platform stores it with the click and the sale, so the affiliate can see which video, post or ad sold.
Sub-affiliate
A sub-affiliate is an affiliate who joined a program through another affiliate’s recruit link. The sub-affiliate earns their own commission, and the affiliate who recruited them earns an override on the sub-affiliate’s sales.
Tier compression
Tier compression skips an inactive person in a chain of uplines and pays their share to the next active one above. ViralPayouts does not do it: if a seller’s recruiter cannot be paid, the override is simply not paid.
Two-tier affiliate program
A two-tier affiliate program pays two people on a sale: the affiliate who brought the customer, and the affiliate who recruited that affiliate. It stops there: nobody further up is paid.