Affiliates are people or pages outside your store (an Instagram creator, a blogger, a reseller) who send you customers for a commission. Mercayo tracks their orders by link and by code, holds the commission until the order is delivered and safe from returns, and keeps a record of what you paid. Mercayo never moves the money: you pay affiliates yourself and record it. Open Marketing › Affiliates. Seeing it needs the affiliates right; adding affiliates and recording payouts need the right to manage them (the owner and admins).
Turn It On
Affiliates are off for a new store ("Affiliates Are Off": links and codes do not count). Switch them on in Settings › Rewards and Credit (SETTINGS on the screen), where the store's rules are:
| Setting | What It Does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Affiliates | People outside your store share a link or a code; you pay them a commission on the orders they bring | Off |
| Commission | On the goods' value before GST, after offers, without delivery; an affiliate can have their own rate (0.01% to 50%) | 10% |
| Days a Link Counts | An order placed this many days after the shopper opened the link still counts (1 to 90) | 30 |
| Days to Wait After Delivery | A commission is approved this many days after the order arrives, so a return can still cancel it (0 to 90) | 14 |
| Smallest Payout | Affiliates owed at least this show as due on the payout report; it never blocks a payout | ₹500 |
Add an Affiliate
ADD AFFILIATE: Who (Name, Email, Phone: "An order from this phone or email earns them nothing."), Link, Code and Commission (a Link Code: their link is your store's address with ?aff=<code>; optionally a Discount Code from your discounts; their Commission, empty for the store's rate) and How You Pay Them (Payout Method: UPI, Bank Transfer or Other, and Payout Details). "Only your team adds affiliates. They never see your admin." Their sheet has the Link to Share.
How Orders Are Counted
- An order with the affiliate's discount code is theirs.
- Otherwise, the link: a shopper who opened it is remembered in their browser for the days set, and their order counts. The latest link wins; a code beats a link.
- An affiliate's own orders do not earn commission.
When Commission Is Earned
The commission is the rate times the goods' value after offers (no GST, delivery or fees). It waits as pending until the order is delivered and the hold days pass, then is approved on what is left after any refunds. A cancelled, returned or fully refunded order cancels it, as does the affiliate's own order.
Paying
RECORD PAYOUT ("Record a Payout": "… is owed … for … approved orders. Record it after you have paid them.") takes everything approved and unpaid for one affiliate, with a Payment Reference and Paid On, and marks it paid. "Mercayo does not send the money." The tabs (All, Active, Payout Due, Paused, Archived) and EXPORT PAYOUT REPORT (a CSV for a period) show who is owed. CANCEL COMMISSION on an order, with a reason, stops one commission.
Questions
Is this the same as Refer and Earn?
No. Referrals reward your own customers with store credit; affiliates are outside partners paid a commission.
Does the affiliate link use cookies?
No. It is kept in the shopper's browser storage, so your cached pages stay the same for everyone.