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.
Also called: sub affiliate, second-tier affiliate, recruited affiliate.
Worked example: One $100 sale by a sub-affiliate
- Sub-affiliate (20%)
- $20
- Their recruiter (5% of the sale)
- $5
- Brand pays partners in total
- $25
In more detail
The recruiter is sometimes called the parent or upline, and the sub-affiliate the child or second tier. The override is paid by the brand on top of the sub-affiliate’s commission, so the sub-affiliate does not earn less for having been recruited.
Good sub-affiliate tracking keeps recruit links separate from customer links, so a customer never becomes a recruit by accident, and records the recruiter before the first sale.
How ViralPayouts handles it
Each partner has a customer link and a recruit link per program. A recruit is attached only if the recruiter is approved in that same program.
Sub-affiliate software