Affiliates Tab

From WHMCS Documentation


The Affiliates tab allows you to configure the WHMCS affiliate system.

You can access this tab at Configuration () > System Settings > General Settings or, prior to WHMCS 8.0, Setup > General Settings.

Override Settings
You can override these settings on a per-affiliate basis at Clients > Manage Affiliates.

Enable/Disable

Check to enable the affiliate system. Activated affiliates will receive rewards when they refer new customers to you using their unique affiliate link.

For steps to activate affiliates, see Affiliates.

Affiliate Earning Percentage

This is the default percentage to pay as commission on all products and services. For example, if you set this to 5, the affiliate will earn five percent of each invoice their referred customer pays you.

You can override this commission at the product level and individual affiliate level so that different commissions are received for specific cases.

Affiliate Bonus Deposit

This is the default amount to set as a new affiliate's starting balance when they join your affiliate program. This allows you to offer an incentive to new affiliates and lets them reach their first withdrawal level more quickly.

Affiliate Payout Amount

This is the minimum amount required to allow affiliates to withdraw their commission balance (for example, requiring a balance of $50 or more in order to make a withdrawal).

When a customer’s commission balance is below this level, they cannot withdraw the money and will not see the Request Withdrawal button.

Affiliate Commission Delay

This is the number of days between the date of sale and the availability of the commission payment. The Affiliate Commission Delay setting helps you avoid paying commission on transactions that are later disputed, cancelled, or refunded within a few days of payment. This setting applies to commissions for both initial orders and renewals.

Set this value to a number of days after which you believe most fraudulent transactions would have been reported to you.

  • We recommend a minimum Affiliate Commission Delay value of 1.
  • We recommend setting this to 30 or 60 days.
  • Setting this value to 0 will cause commissions to clear immediately, skipping the Pending status.

At the time of payment, the affiliate's Pending Commissions Balance will increase by the amount of commission for the order but their Available to Withdraw Balance will not. WHMCS only awards commission if the product or service is in the Active status when payout would occur according to your settings.

  • This is either at the end of the delay period or, if you did not set a delay period, immediately.
  • If it is in another status, the commission will be removed and can only be awarded manually.  

Affiliate Commission Reversals

In WHMCS 8.3 and later, in addition to the Affiliate Commission Delay setting above, you can perform reversals on commission.

When you refund a transaction at Billing > Invoices that incurred an affiliate commission and uses a payment gateway that supports reversals, one of the following scenarios will occur:

  • If you are giving a full refund, WHMCS will perform the reversal automatically.
  • If you are giving a partial refund, you can choose whether to perform the reversal.

Payout Request Department

When a client requests a payout a support ticket will be created, use this option to select in which department these tickets are created.

Affiliate Links

The banner codes that your affiliates can use to refer customers to you. The syntax is explained beneath the text area.

For more information, see Affiliates.