Affiliate Marketing: let others sell for you

Affiliate Marketing lets other people sell for you. Each affiliate gets their own link, and when someone buys through it, a commission is recorded for you to approve and pay. Here's how it works.

It lives in your online store. From the Wildfire merchant area, open Store Settings and click Affiliate Marketing.

Start in Program settings. Switch the program on and set the commission rate: the default share of each order. Decide whether people can apply from your storefront, whether they are approved automatically, and how many days a commission is held before it can be paid. Save.

Back on the main page, four tiles sum it up: affiliates, orders referred, revenue referred, and what you owe. Below them, one row per affiliate with their code, status, visitors, orders and earnings.

To add someone you know, click Add affiliate. Start from an existing customer or type a name, add an email or phone, and optionally give them their own rate. Save, and their links appear.

Every affiliate gets two links. The short share link is public: anyone who buys after following it earns them commission. The dashboard link is private and needs no password, so send it privately. One click sends both on WhatsApp.

If self-signup is on, you also get a public join page. Applicants see your rate and terms, apply, and get their links on the spot. With auto-approval off they wait as Awaiting until you click Approve.

Commissions lists every referred order. Pending ones clear your hold window, then you approve them, together or one by one. Reject an order that never went through; reverse one that was refunded after approval.

An affiliate's own page shows their figures, both links, and their commissions. Give them a different rate here, reset a leaked dashboard link, or suspend them.

When you pay them, by transfer, cash or mobile money, click Record payment, enter the amount, how you paid and a reference. Their approved commissions are marked paid, and what you owe drops.

This is what your affiliate sees: their share link with WhatsApp and Facebook buttons, their visitors, orders and earnings, every order through their link, and the payments you've recorded. Same numbers as yours, no customer details.

Set the rate, hand out links, approve and pay. That's Affiliate Marketing in MatSmartShop.