Affiliate earnings

Shopify Affiliates earn money based on contributions to the Shopify ecosystem in the form of referrals that are made by using your referral link. Your earnings as a Shopify Affiliate vary depending on the location of the merchants that you refer. Your earnings might be subject to taxes, depending on your location and applicable local tax regulations.

Note

Affiliate earnings, sometimes referred to as commission, are paid for full price plan referrals. Full price plan referrals are referred merchants who select and pay for one of Shopify's store plans at full price, after their trial period is over. Store plan referrals that don't result in full price payment for at least one month aren't eligible for affiliate earnings. Shopify reserves the right to reverse any commissions related to fraudulent or refunded stores.

Referral types eligible for commission

The following table indicates which plan referrals are eligible for commission earnings.

Overview of which plan referrals are eligible for commission earnings.

Store plan	Commission	Terms
Starter Lite Plus Enterprise Retail	Not eligible for commission.	Not applicable.
Basic Grow Advanced	Eligible for commission according to merchant location.	Full price plan referrals are eligible for commission, as detailed in the agreed-upon contract terms in Impact.

Store plan referral commission

Referrals earn commission payments if the merchant signs up by using your referral link. The amount of the commission depends on the merchant's location, and is paid after a merchant signs up for a store plan at full price.

Affiliate earning by merchant location for store plan referrals

The amount of the commission that's earned for a store plan referral is based on the merchant's location. The following table indicates earnings according to the merchant's location. Countries are listed according to their ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code in your Impact contract and reports. Please refer to your Impact partner agreement for the complete list of specific country codes in each region.

Overview of the commission amounts for store plan referrals according to merchant location.

Merchant location	Payout
United States (US, PR) Canada (CA) Australia (AU) New Zealand (NZ) China (CN) Hong Kong (HK) Japan (JP) United Kingdom (GB, UK) Denmark (DK) France (FR) Germany (DE) Ireland (IE) Italy (IT) Netherlands (NL) Spain (ES) Rest of Europe (AX, MK, RU, AL, AD, AM, AT, BY, BE, BA, BG, HR, CY, CZ, EE, FO, FI, GE, GI, GR, GL, GP, GG, VA, HU, IS, IM, JE, LV, LI, LT, LU, MT, YT, MD, MC, ME, NO, PL, PT, RE, RO, SM, RS, SK, SI, SJ, SE, CH, TR, UA, XK) Middle East (AZ, BH, IQ, IL, JO, KZ, KW, KG, LB, OM, PS, QA, SA, TJ, TM, AE, UZ, YE)	150 USD
Africa (CM, CI, GW, SZ, SH, DZ, AO, BJ, BW, BF, BI, CV, CF, TD, KM, CG, CD, DJ, EG, GQ, ER, ET, TF, GA, GM, GH, GN, KE, LS, LR, LY, MG, MW, ML, MR, MU, MA, MZ, NA, NE, NG, RW, ST, SN, SC, SL, SO, ZA, SS, SD, TZ, TG, TN, UG, EH, ZM, ZW, AC) India (IN) Latin America (BQ, MF, VC, AI, AG, AR, AW, BS, BB, BZ, BM, BO, BR, KY, CL, CO, CR, CW, DM, DO, EC, SV, FK, GF, GD, GT, GY, HT, HN, JM, MQ, MX, MS, NI, PA, PY, PE, BL, KN, LC, PM, SX, GS, SR, TT, TC, UM, UY, VE, VG) Rest of Asia (BN, KR, AF, BD, BT, IO, KH, CX, CC, CK, FJ, PF, ID, KI, LA, MO, MY, MV, MN, MM, NR, NP, NC, NU, NF, PK, PG, PH, PN, WS, SG, SB, LK, TW, TH, TL, TK, TO, TV, VU, VN, WF) All other countries	25 USD

Affiliate commission timeline for store plan referrals

You can start tracking your referrals in your reports as soon as a merchant that you've referred signs up for a free trial. The actions in the earning timeline are free trial, paid trial, online sale, actions lock, and payment. Referral commission isn't payable until the online sale action, when the merchant pays for an eligible store plan at full price.

Overview of the timeline for payment for store plan referrals.

Activity	Action Name in Impact	Details
Free Trial	Free Trial	This period starts when a merchant signs up for a free store plan trial by using your referral link.
Paid Trial	Paid Trial	This period starts when a merchant signs up for a paid store plan trial.
Full Price Shop	Full Price Shop	This period starts when a merchant signs up and pays for a store plan at full price.
Commission lock	N/A	To prepare for payment, actions are locked on the 21st day of the month for the previous month's actions. For example, if a merchant pays for a full-price store plan on March 26, then the action locks on April 21. Alternately, if the merchant pays for their plan on April 4, then the action locks on May 21.
Commission payment	N/A	Payments occur one day after actions are locked. Payment is processed and sent to your Impact account balance.

For example, suppose that you refer a merchant that signs up for a three-day free trial on January 1. From January 1 to January 3, the referral is in the free trial period.

The merchant then signs up for a 3-month paid trial for 1 USD on January 4. From January 4 to April 4, the referral is in the paid trial period.

Next, the merchant pays for a month of the Basic Shopify plan at full price on April 5. The referral now earns a commission.

On May 21, the action is locked in Impact to prepare for payment.

On May 22, payment for the referral is processed and sent to your Impact account balance.