> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sellauth.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Affiliates > Let customers promote your shop for a commission, set tiers and buyer discounts, and pay affiliates out. An affiliate shares a code or link, and earns a share of the orders it brings in. Configure the programme under [**Affiliates**](https://dash.sellauth.com/affiliates) in the dashboard. ## Programme settings **Enable Affiliate Program** turns it on. Nothing below applies until it is enabled. ### Who becomes an affiliate | Enrollment mode | Behaviour | | - | - | | **Manual** | Only you create affiliates, by inviting them by email or setting an affiliate code on a customer | | **Open** | Every customer automatically receives an affiliate code in their customer dashboard | Open makes every customer a potential promoter, without any control over who ends up representing your shop. Manual suits programmes where you want to approve each affiliate. **Allow Affiliates to Edit Their Code** lets affiliates pick their own code from their customer dashboard, which matters to anyone promoting under a brand name. ### Where affiliates find their code Affiliates get their code from the **customer dashboard** on your storefront, by logging in with their email address. They do not need to have bought anything first. That page shows their affiliate code and referral link, their tier and the buyer discount it carries, their balance and lifetime earnings, their referred customers, and their balance history. It is also where they edit their code if you allow it, transfer affiliate balance to store balance, and request a payout, where those options are enabled. On **Open** enrollment every customer sees a code there automatically. On **Manual** enrollment the page tells customers to contact you to join, and you create the affiliate yourself in one of two ways: * **Invite an affiliate** by email address from the dashboard. This creates the customer profile if the address has never bought from you, so you can recruit someone from outside your existing buyers. * **Set an affiliate code** on an existing customer record. Either way the code appears in their customer dashboard once they log in. You can also just send someone their code directly. There is nothing to activate on their side, and any order using it is attributed either way. **The affiliate section is missing from the customer dashboard.** The customer dashboard is part of your storefront theme, so an older theme version will not have it. Update your theme if affiliates cannot find their code, or if the section looks broken. See [keeping your theme up to date](/guides/storefront-basics#keep-your-theme-up-to-date). ### Which orders earn commission | Attribution mode | Behaviour | | - | - | | **Per order** | Commission is earned only when the affiliate code is applied to that order | | **Lifetime: last code wins** | Referred customers stay bound to their affiliate, and a newer code rebinds them | | **Lifetime: first code wins** | The first referring affiliate keeps the customer permanently | Per order pays for the sale the affiliate directly caused. Lifetime pays for the customer they brought in, which affiliates prefer and which costs more over time. **Attribution window** is how many days a referral code from an affiliate link is remembered in the buyer's browser before checkout. Both settings can be overridden per tier, so a top tier can promise lifetime attribution or a longer window while the rest of the program stays per order. The mode that applies is always the affiliate's own tier mode. When a buyer already bound to one affiliate uses another affiliate's code, the binding moves only if the new code's tier is last code wins and the current affiliate's tier is not first code wins. ### Limits **Minimum order value** excludes orders below a total from earning commission. Set 0 for no minimum. Orders in other currencies are converted at the order's exchange rate. **Maximum commission per order** caps what one order can pay out, no matter its size. Set 0 for no cap. A cap matters if you sell anything expensive, since an uncapped percentage on a large order can exceed what the order earned you. ### Where commission goes | Balance mode | Behaviour | | - | - | | **Shared: store balance** | Commission is credited to the affiliate's store balance, spendable at checkout | | **Separate: affiliate balance** | Commission accumulates in a dedicated balance that can be transferred or paid out | Shared keeps the money in your shop, since the affiliate can only spend it with you. Separate is what affiliates expecting cash will want. With separate balances you can also allow: * **Balance transfers**, letting affiliates move affiliate balance to store balance and spend it at checkout * **Payout requests**, letting affiliates request a cash payout that you review and pay manually, with a minimum payout amount in USD ## Tiers Tiers set what an affiliate earns and what their buyers get. How many tiers you can create, and how many affiliates you can have in total, both depend on your plan. | Field | Meaning | | - | - | | Name | The tier's label | | Commission | Share of each attributed order the affiliate earns | | Buyer discount | Discount buyers receive when using a code from this tier | | Sort order | Position in the list, lowest first. Orders the tiers both in your dashboard and on your storefront affiliate page | | Public tier | Public tiers are shown on your storefront affiliate page | | Attribution mode | Optional. Overrides the program's attribution mode for affiliates on this tier | | Attribution window | Optional. Overrides the program's attribution window for links using this tier's codes | The buyer discount is what gives an affiliate something to offer. A code with no discount attached is only a tracking link, and converts accordingly. Only tiers marked public appear on the storefront affiliate page, in sort order, showing their commission and buyer discount. Put the tier you want people aiming for where they will read it first. **Product overrides** set different commission on specific products within a tier, which is how you protect margin on low-margin lines while paying well on the rest. ## Payouts Affiliate payout requests appear in the dashboard for you to review. You pay them outside SellAuth, through whatever method you agreed with the affiliate, then record the payout. Commission on a refunded order can be reversed from the invoice page. Leave it alone when the refund was not the affiliate's doing, since affiliates tend to leave over commission reversed on legitimate referrals. See [Refunds](/guides/refunds). ## Next steps Store balance, which affiliate commission can be paid into. Discounting without a referral attached. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.