Understand how Affilyn works—without learning the jargon first.

A merchant configures the program and brings in partners. A partner shares an Affilyn-tracked link or storefront. When a shopper places an eligible Shopify order, Affilyn records the attribution and calculates commission using the applicable rules. After review and any hold period, eligible earnings can move into the payout workflow.

Merchants install and open Affilyn from Shopify admin. Partners do not need Shopify admin access; they use Affilyn’s dedicated Partner Portal. Shoppers simply visit a merchant product page or a published partner storefront.

Partners use the dedicated Partner Portal and can sign in through Affilyn’s magic-link flow. Their access is separate from Shopify admin, so a merchant does not need to create a Shopify staff account for them.

The merchant enables partner applications in Affilyn, then adds the Partner Apply Button block and enables the Partner Application Modal in Shopify Theme Editor. Both the Affilyn setting and the published theme placement matter.

The application queue supports search and filtering, date ranges, bulk actions, and export. On an individual request, a merchant can review submitted details and social validation, reply, approve or reject the applicant, and undo an approval when needed.

Yes. Merchants can create a partner manually or send an invitation. During partner management they can assign a tier, record social profiles, set a partner-specific commission rate, and manage the relationship from the partner directory.

Tier locking keeps a partner at a merchant-selected tier instead of allowing automatic promotion or demotion rules to change it. It is useful for negotiated relationships or partners whose access should remain stable regardless of automated evaluation.

Yes. A merchant might call Tier 1 “Ambassador” and Tier 2 “Creator Partner.” The labels can change, but the underlying Tier 1 and Tier 2 access model remains the same.

Yes. Tier belongs to a partner’s relationship with a particular merchant store, not to the person globally. The same partner can be Tier 1 in Store A and Tier 2 in Store B, with different tools, rates, products, contracts, and payout context in each.

The active store controls the tier label, commission rules, available products and tools, links, analytics, storefront settings, contracts, and payout context shown in the dashboard. If something appears in one store but not another, first check the active store.

Promotion changes the store relationship to Tier 2 and can provision VIP access and a storefront record, but it does not automatically publish a finished storefront. Demotion removes Tier 2 access; storefront content is preserved and returns to draft when no other active Tier 2 relationship keeps it available.

Depending on enabled access, a VIP Partner can manage hero media, welcome and thank-you messages, section order and visibility, partner imagery, featured products and notes, video, themes, access controls, discounts, category discounts, and SEO fields.

A bundle is a curated group of products a VIP Partner presents together as a look or collection. Partners with access can create, edit, publish, and archive bundles; bundle and discount availability still follows the merchant’s plan and feature configuration.

No. Promotion can create the storefront record and unlock its tools, but the partner still needs to prepare content, choose products, configure access and publish it. Draft, protected, and public are separate storefront states.

No. The storefront is a curated discovery and attribution layer. Shopify remains responsible for the product catalog, cart, checkout, payment, and order. Shoppers can browse a partner’s selections and then complete the purchase through the merchant’s Shopify experience.

Yes. Tier 1 is designed for earning through tracked links and attributed eligible orders. A storefront is not required for standard affiliate promotion or commission.

Not necessarily. The tier rate is a default. A partner-specific override or campaign rate can change the effective rate, while attribution settings, commission basis, refunds, fraud review, hold periods, and payout policy affect what ultimately becomes payable.

Commission can be adjusted or held according to the merchant’s refund, fraud, and payout rules. A recorded referral is not the same as immediately payable earnings; eligibility and review still apply.

Affilyn’s merchant settings cover the attribution model, cookie duration, tracking pixels, commission hold period, and commission basis. The active subscription determines whether configurable options beyond the plan defaults are available.

Merchants can record manual payouts and, when their plan and gateway configuration allow it, use Stripe Connect or PayPal for automated partner payouts. The merchant configures the available rail; partners complete the corresponding payout details in their portal.

Partners can view payout history, open request details, and follow the request status timeline. Cancellation is available while the request is still in a cancellable state; once processing has advanced, the merchant’s payout workflow controls the next action.

Merchants upload and activate versioned contract templates, then issue contracts through the partner relationship. Partners can review and download the agreement, confirm their legal name and consent, and sign it from the Partner Portal.

Merchant reporting includes program-level revenue and orders, ROI, click and conversion rates, exports, partner leaderboard views, and engagement analysis. Available history and advanced views depend on the merchant’s plan.

Affilyn can flag activity for merchant review using enabled prevention rules and thresholds. Merchants can examine fraud events, add notes, and record review outcomes. A flag supports operational review; it should not be confused with an automatic final judgment about a partner.

On eligible plans, merchants can build partner audiences, create and preview campaigns, send tests, schedule delivery or send immediately, and review campaign analytics. Sending limits and available integrations follow the subscription plan.

Enabled VIP tools can provide brand talking points, product images and downloadable assets, consent-managed UGC-rights requests, and welcome-gift status. Partners can review or revoke applicable rights and maintain the shipping address used for gifts.

Premium access has three gates: the partner must have an active relationship with the selected store, the feature must be enabled for that tier in that store, and the merchant’s subscription must include it. The VIP label alone does not override those gates.

No. Affilyn provides a default Tier 2 feature mapping, but merchants can change it per store. The merchant also needs a plan that includes the underlying capability, so two VIP partners in different programs may see different tools.

Plans determine which merchant capabilities and capacity limits are available. Tier configuration decides which eligible features a partner tier receives. Both conditions matter: enabling a feature for Tier 2 does not add it to a merchant plan that does not include it.