Brief Introduction #
AffiliateWP is a powerful WordPress affiliate marketing plugin that helps marketplace owners create and manage affiliate programs directly from their website.
With the AffiliateWP integration in MultiVendorX Pro, marketplace admins and store owners can associate affiliates with products and stores, track referral earnings, manage commissions, and automate affiliate-based product promotions.
This integration helps marketplaces expand their reach through affiliate marketing while allowing both admins and store owners to manage affiliate-related earnings and payouts efficiently.
Requirements #
Flow from the admin dashboard #
Before store owners can start managing affiliates and generating referral commissions, the admin must first enable and configure the AffiliateWP integration properly.
This setup process involves two parts:
- Enabling the MultiVendorX AffiliateWP integration module
- Configuring AffiliateWP integration settings
Once both configurations are completed, affiliate tracking and referral management will become active across the marketplace.
Enable the affiliatewp module #
To begin the setup process:
- Log in to the WordPress Admin Dashboard
- Navigate to MultiVendorX
- Select Modules
- Scroll down to the Integration section
- Locate the WP Affiliate module
- Enable the toggle option
Configure affiliatewp integration settings #
After enabling the MultiVendorX module, the admin must also configure the integration directly from the AffiliateWP settings.
To configure AffiliateWP:
- Navigate to the AffiliateWP menu from the WordPress admin sidebar
- Select Settings
- Open the Integrations section
Inside the Integrations page:
- Enable the WooCommerce integration
- Enable the MultiVendorX Pro integration
These integrations are required for AffiliateWP to properly track referrals and commissions for marketplace products and store owners.
Once enabled:
- Affiliate referrals start tracking WooCommerce product purchases
- MultiVendorX products become eligible for affiliate commissions
- Referral records become visible inside the AffiliateWP management section
Important:
Both WooCommerce and MultiVendorX Pro integrations must be enabled inside AffiliateWP for the affiliate system to function properly.
Configure affiliate payout responsibility #
After completing the integration setup, the admin can decide who will bear the affiliate commission cost for referred product sales.
This configuration helps control how affiliate commissions are distributed across the marketplace.
To configure affiliate payout responsibility:
- Navigate to MultiVendorX
- Select Settings and go to Marketing
- Open the Affiliate section
From here, the admin can choose whether:
- The admin will bear the affiliate commission cost
- Or the affiliate commission will be deducted from the store owner’s earnings
Understanding affiliate payout distribution #
Affiliate commission distribution depends on the marketplace commission structure configured by the admin.
Example payout calculation #
Suppose:
- Product price = 100
- Store owner commission = 70%
- Affiliate commission = 20
If the admin enables the option where the store owner bears the affiliate commission:
- The affiliate commission amount gets deducted from the store owner’s earnings
- The affiliate receives the configured referral commission
- The remaining balance is assigned to the store owner
This setup helps the marketplace maintain flexible affiliate payout management depending on business requirements.
Add affiliate users for store owners #
Once the AffiliateWP integration is fully configured, affiliate users can be associated with specific store owners and products.
Affiliates earn commissions whenever customers place successful orders using their referral links.
Before an affiliate can promote a store owner’s products, the affiliate user must first be connected to that store owner.
This association can be managed by both the admin and the store owner.
Assign affiliates from the admin dashboard #
The admin can manually assign affiliate users to store owners directly from the backend.
To manage affiliate referrals:
- Navigate to Affiliates
- Select Referrals
From this section, the admin can:
- Manage affiliate relationships
- Monitor referral activity
- Track affiliate-generated sales
- Review referral commission records
The admin can also create new affiliate accounts directly through AffiliateWP.
Note:
For detailed affiliate account creation instructions, refer to the official AffiliateWP documentation.
Flow from the store dashboard #
Once the admin completes the AffiliateWP configuration, store owners can start managing affiliates directly from their Store Dashboard.
Store owners can:
- Associate existing users as affiliates for their store
- Request the admin to add affiliate users if needed
- Monitor affiliate performance and referral earnings
- Configure product-level affiliate commission rates
This gives store owners more flexibility in managing their own affiliate partnerships and promotional campaigns.
Manage affiliate performance #
Using the affiliate management section, store owners can monitor affiliate activity and referral performance directly from their Store Dashboard.
Store owners can view:
- Assigned affiliates
- Add new affiliates
This helps store owners identify which affiliates are generating the most conversions and revenue.
Note:
Detailed analytics and advanced reporting are handled through the AffiliateWP reporting system.
Remove affiliate assignments #
If required, store owners can remove affiliates from their store at any time.
Using the Delete option:
- Affiliate relationships can be unassigned
- Future referrals from those affiliates will no longer apply to the store owner’s products
This helps store owners maintain full control over their affiliate partnerships.
Configure product-specific affiliate rates #
AffiliateWP also allows store owners to configure referral commission rates individually for specific products.
This helps create customized affiliate incentives for selected products.
Configure affiliate rates for a product #
To configure product-specific affiliate commissions:
- Open the product edit page
- Navigate to the AffiliateWP section
Inside this section, store owners can configure:
- Affiliate Rate
- Affiliate Rate Type
The rate type may include:
- Percentage-based commissions
- Flat commission amounts
Once configured:
- The selected referral rate applies only to that specific product
- Affiliate commissions are automatically calculated during referred purchases
Disable referrals for specific products #
Store owners can also exclude selected products from affiliate referral tracking.
Using the Disable Referrals option:
- Referral tracking becomes inactive for that product
- No affiliate commission will be generated even if customers purchase through referral links
This is useful for:
- Low-margin products
- Promotional campaigns
- Excluded product categories
Customer referral and order workflow #
Once affiliates are connected and referral tracking becomes active, the complete affiliate workflow functions automatically.
Referral workflow process #
- Affiliates share referral links with customers
- Customers visit the marketplace through those referral links
- Customers place orders for eligible products
- AffiliateWP automatically tracks the referral activity
- Referral commissions are generated after successful purchases
- Referral records become visible from the backend referral management section
Depending on the configured payout settings:
- Affiliate commissions are either handled by the admin
- Or deducted from the store owner’s commission earnings
This creates a fully connected affiliate marketing workflow across the marketplace.
