Multi-level commissions let you reward affiliates not just for their own sales, but also for the sales made by affiliates they recruit. When a sub-affiliate generates a sale, their parent affiliate automatically earns a commission — up to 3 levels deep.
How it works: Affiliate A recruits Affiliate B. When Affiliate B makes a sale and earns a $100 commission, Affiliate A automatically receives a multi-level commission based on your configured rate. If Affiliate B then recruits Affiliate C, the chain continues — Affiliate A earns from Affiliate C's sales too.
Setting Up Multi-Level Commissions
- Go to your Groups & Rewards settings
- Select the group you want to enable multi-level commissions for
- In the Multi-Level Commissions section, click "Add Level"
- Choose the calculation type and set the rate
- Optionally add Level 2 and Level 3 for deeper referral chains
Levels must be added in order — you can't add Level 2 without Level 1. Removing a level automatically removes all higher levels.
Calculation Types
Percentage of Commission
The parent earns a percentage of the sub-affiliate's commission amount. This is the default and most common setup.
Example with 10% at each level:
- Sub-affiliate earns $100 commission from a sale
- Level 1 parent earns $10 (10% of $100)
- Level 2 grandparent earns $1 (10% of $10)
- Level 3 great-grandparent earns $0.10 (10% of $1)
With this mode, commissions naturally decrease at each level since each level is a percentage of the previous level's earning.
Percentage of Sale
The parent earns a percentage of the original sale amount, regardless of the sub-affiliate's commission rate.
Example with 5% at each level on a $200 sale:
- Sub-affiliate earns their normal commission
- Level 1 parent earns $10 (5% of $200)
- Level 2 grandparent earns $10 (5% of $200)
- Level 3 great-grandparent earns $10 (5% of $200)
With this mode, every level earns the same amount since it's always based on the original sale.
Per-Affiliate Overrides
You can customize multi-level rates for individual affiliates. This is useful for top performers or partners with special agreements.
- Go to the affiliate's detail page
- In the Multi-Level section, add or modify rates for specific levels
- The override takes priority over the group-level configuration
Overrides follow the same level rules — no gaps allowed, and levels can't exceed the group's maximum configured level.
How Affiliates Recruit
When multi-level commissions are active, affiliates automatically see a recruitment link in their portal under the Sub-Affiliates tab. Anyone who signs up through this link becomes their sub-affiliate. Affiliates can track their recruited sub-affiliates, see their sales activity, and monitor their multi-level earnings — all from their portal dashboard.
Manually Assigning Parent Affiliates
You can also manually set up parent-child relationships:
- Go to the affiliate's group page
- Click on the affiliate and select "Assign Parent"
- Search for the parent affiliate by name or tracking ID
- Confirm the assignment
The system prevents circular references — you can't assign an affiliate as a parent if it would create a loop in the referral chain.
Refund Handling
When a sale is refunded, multi-level commissions are handled automatically:
- Full refund: All related multi-level earnings are set to REFUNDED
- Partial refund: Multi-level earnings are proportionally reduced based on the refund ratio
- Declined/disputed: All related multi-level earnings follow the same status
Things to Know
- Multi-level commissions only apply to monetary commission incentives (not credits, free months, or points)
- Parent affiliates must be in ACTIVE status to receive multi-level earnings
- If a parent affiliate in the chain is inactive, the chain stops at that level
- Multi-level earnings inherit the same hold period and approval settings as the direct commission
- Multi-level commissions are included in regular payout calculations
Ready to grow your affiliate network? Visit your Groups & Rewards settings to enable multi-level commissions.
