ThriveCart is not a marketplace, not the merchant of record, and not a payment processor. At no point does ThriveCart hold commissions or money in our systems.
All commissions are paid to you (an affiliate) directly from the vendor you’re promoting for.
In this article we’re going to look at how you, as an affiliate, can get an understanding of when you can expect payment from the business you’re promoting for, so you can focus on building great relationships and boosting your affiliate commissions with confidence!
Typically, a business is going to have an affiliate onboarding area on their website which breaks down key information for their affiliates and it’s usually there you’ll get the finer details of what your commissions will be and how you will be paid.
We also break down some of this information in your affiliate dashboard, based on what the vendor has set for their products.
Finding my commission rate & payout schedule
You’ll want to head over to your Products tab in your account and then if you’re promoting for multiple vendors, select the specific vendor you’re wanting to get further details for.
From there, you can select any of the products you’re approved to promote.
Next to the affiliate link section, there is a blue information icon.
Clicking this information icon will open a modal window with the commission details of the product and any bump or upsells which may be attached.
It will detail how much commission you will be paid, when you will be paid, and how your sales are tracked (first or last cookie).
You will also see how the vendor has proposed to pay you here. In most cases vendors opt to use the native PayPal method of commission payouts. This is where their PayPal account will send funds to your connected Business PayPal account in your dashboard.
Some businesses may opt to pay you manually via another method.
If you have any specific questions on commission payouts or the vendor’s affiliate policies, you will want to contact the business you’ve earned commission for directly.
ThriveCart support cannot process commission payments on their behalf or provide further information than what is already in your dashboard.
Understanding the Commission history tab
When you earn commissions and they are paid by the business you’re promoting for, you’ll receive emails from ThriveCart confirming these events. You can also track this data in your affiliate dashboard under the Commission history tab.
Let’s break this down so you can better understand the data here and what each record type and icons mean.
In the first column, you have the type of record and the data that follows is based on that.
Commission
The commission record is tracked when one of your referred customers completes their order and you have commissions associated with your account.
This is not confirmation of a payment. But simply confirms when your referred customer purchased (date/time), the product that was purchased, and the commission amount you earned.
The last column for this row will have up to 2 icons. The payment processor icon here indicates how the customer paid the vendor for their order (Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net).
If this commission has been paid, there will also be a separate Paid tag under the payment processor icon.
If the vendor has set up a delay for commission payments, for example if their affiliate policy states that commissions will be paid out X number of days after a sale, then you will see a Payment Due line under the product name. This is the day that the commission will be due for payment, based on their product settings.
Payout
The payout record shows the date & time of when a commission was actually paid to you or when it was marked as paid by the vendor.
On the far-right, you’ll see one of 2 icons depending on how the vendor paid you.
- PayPal – A PayPal icon will show on the payout record if the vendor used the integrated Paypal method to make payment to your connected PayPal account.
- Manual – An icon showing ‘manual’ indicates that the vendor has simply marked the commission record in their account as being paid. This is normally reserved for when the vendor has agreed to make payment to you via another payment method, such as a bank transfer, or via another payment system.
If a payout is showing as paid via “Manual”, but you have not received those funds, you will want to confirm with the vendor how they paid those commissions.
Affiliate commissions cannot be paid out via Stripe or Authorize.net. These platforms do not support that functionality.
You will want to make sure that you have a Verified Business PayPal account connected to your affiliate dashboard to prevent any delays in payment processing. You can see the full steps to Verify your Business Account here.
If you have any specific questions on commission payouts, you will want to contact the business you’ve earned commission for directly.
ThriveCart support cannot process commission payments on their behalf or provide further information than what is already in your dashboard.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Q: The vendor says they paid commission, but it’s showing as “Manual”. Where is my commission?
- A: Commission paid using the “Manual” method is not processed through the system. The vendor has simply marked this payment as paid within their dashboard, and commissions would need to be paid to you externally (i.e. from within their PayPal account directly, via bank transfer, etc.). You will need to reach out to the vendor to follow-up.
- Q: My commission is showing but hasn’t been paid out yet, why not?
- A: This could be happening for a few reasons, all based on the way that the product is setup in the vendor’s account or their affiliate management policies. For example:
- It could not be due yet if the vendor has set a delay in payment processing (check for a “payment due” line on the commission).
- There could be issues paying to your PayPal account. Make sure it’s connected and is a fully verified business PayPal account.
- The vendor could have commissions set to be paid manually and has not yet actioned those manual payments. Follow up with the vendor for an update on when payouts will be paid.
- A: This could be happening for a few reasons, all based on the way that the product is setup in the vendor’s account or their affiliate management policies. For example: