Affiliates
Manage affiliate tracking and commissions for your storefront.
The Affiliates page lets you create and manage affiliate partners who refer customers to your storefront. Each affiliate receives a unique tracking code that can be appended to any storefront URL. When a referred customer places an order, the affiliate earns a commission based on a flat rate or percentage of the order total. Affiliates can also be linked to user groups so that referred customers are automatically assigned to a specific pricing or permission group upon registration.
PrintNow tracks affiliate referrals using a secure, encrypted cookie that persists for a configurable number of days. When the referred customer completes checkout, the system attaches the affiliate to the order, calculates the commission, and sends the affiliate a notification email with the order and commission details.
View Affiliates
- From your Unified Admin, go to Settings > Affiliates.
- The affiliate list displays all active affiliates for the current storefront in an AG Grid table.
- To search affiliates, use the search panel above the grid. The quick filter matches across all visible columns.
- To add a new affiliate, click the Add Affiliate button.
- To export affiliates, click the overflow menu (three-dot icon) and select Export. This downloads all affiliates as an Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet.
- To import affiliates, click the overflow menu and select Import. Upload an .xlsx file matching the export format to bulk-create or update affiliates.
Affiliate List Columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Affiliate # | Unique numeric identifier for the affiliate record. |
| Company | The affiliate's company or organization name. |
| Code | The tracking code used in referral URLs (e.g., ?ref=CODE). |
| First Name | Affiliate contact's first name. |
| Last Name | Affiliate contact's last name. |
| Affiliate contact email. Used for commission notification emails. | |
| User Group | The user group assigned to customers referred by this affiliate, if any. |
| Type | Commission type: FlatRate or Percentage. |
| Rate | The commission amount (dollar amount for FlatRate, percentage for Percentage). |
| Active | Whether the affiliate is currently active and tracking referrals. |
| Action | Edit or Delete the affiliate record. |
Add/Edit Affiliate
- From the Affiliates list, click Add Affiliate to create a new affiliate, or click Edit in the Action column of an existing affiliate.
- Fill in the affiliate details across the two-column form.
- Click Save to create or update the affiliate. Click Cancel to return to the list without saving.
Affiliate Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Company | The affiliate's company or organization name. Displayed in the affiliate list and used for identification. |
| Code | A unique tracking code for this affiliate. Customers visit your storefront with ?ref=CODE appended to any URL to trigger affiliate tracking. Must be unique across all affiliates in the storefront. |
| First name | The affiliate contact's first name. |
| Last Name | The affiliate contact's last name. |
| The affiliate's email address. The system sends commission notification emails to this address when a referred customer places an order. | |
| User Group | Optional. Select a user group to automatically assign to customers who register through this affiliate's referral link. Choose "None" if no group assignment is needed. Only user groups configured for the storefront are listed (excludes the default RETAIL group). |
| Type | The commission calculation method: FlatRate -- a fixed dollar amount per order. Percentage -- a percentage of the order total. |
| Rate | The commission value. For FlatRate, this is the dollar amount earned per order. For Percentage, this is the percentage of the order total (e.g., 10 = 10%). |
| Cookie Duration | The number of days the affiliate tracking cookie persists in the customer's browser. If a customer visits via an affiliate link and places an order within this window, the affiliate receives credit. Default is 1 day. Increase this for longer attribution windows (e.g., 30 days). |
| Active | Toggle whether this affiliate is currently active. Only active affiliates can track referrals and earn commissions. Deactivating an affiliate stops new tracking but does not affect existing order commissions. |
Import and Export
Export
Click the overflow menu and select Export to download all affiliates as an Excel (.xlsx) file. The spreadsheet includes the following columns: Id, FirstName, LastName, Email, Company, Code, Active, Rate, RateType, UserGroup, and CookieDuration.
Import
Click the overflow menu and select Import to open the import dialog. Upload an .xlsx file with the same column format as the export. The import process:
- Updates existing affiliates when the Id column matches an existing record.
- Creates new affiliates when the Id does not match any existing record.
- Only .xlsx files are accepted.
This is useful for bulk-managing affiliates or migrating affiliate data between storefronts.
How Affiliate Tracking Works
- An affiliate shares a link to your storefront with their tracking code appended as a query parameter:
https://yourstorefront.com?ref=CODE. The code can be appended to any page URL. - When the customer visits the link, the system looks up the affiliate by code, validates that the affiliate is active, and sets an encrypted tracking cookie (
AREF) in the customer's browser. - The cookie persists for the number of days specified in the affiliate's Cookie Duration setting.
- If the customer completes checkout while the cookie is still active, the system attaches the affiliate to the order and calculates the commission based on the affiliate's rate type and rate.
- The affiliate receives an email notification with the order details and commission amount.
If the affiliate has a User Group configured, customers who register through the affiliate's referral link (via the self-registration or guest checkout forms) are automatically assigned to that user group. This allows affiliates to provide their referrals with special pricing or permissions.
Associations
Print Store
| Area | Effect |
|---|---|
| Storefront URLs | Any storefront page URL with a ?ref=CODE query parameter triggers affiliate cookie tracking. The system processes this on every page request. |
| Checkout | When a customer with an active affiliate cookie completes checkout, the order is tagged with the affiliate ID and the calculated commission amount (AffiliateTotal). |
| Customer Registration | If an affiliate has a User Group configured, customers who register via self-registration or guest checkout with the affiliate's code are automatically assigned to that user group. |
| Email Notifications | The system sends an automatic email notification (AffiliateNewOrder) to the affiliate's email address when a referred order is placed, including commission details. |
| Reports | Affiliate data is available in the Affiliates report under Reports, showing referral activity and commission totals. |
| Activity Log | All affiliate create, update, delete, and import actions are recorded in the Activity Log for audit purposes. |
Related Pages
- Reports — view affiliate referral activity and commission totals
- Users — manage user groups that affiliates can auto-assign to referred customers
- Order Status — track orders placed through affiliate referral links
- Email Notifications — configure the Affiliate Order New email template
- Activity Log — affiliate create, update, and import actions are logged here