Quickstart

Your commission rule

This one is ticked when you arrive. A commission rule decides what a partner earns on a sale.

1. Change it opens the rule, if 20% isn't right.
2. The card shows the rate your rule pays today.

Connect Stripe in test mode

Stripe has two modes. Test mode uses fake cards and fake money.

1. Connect Stripe on the card sends you to Stripe.
2. Check the mode at the top of Stripe's screen. Pick your test account.
3. Install on Stripe's screen. It lists eight read permissions. There is no write permission on it.
4. You land back on Getting started with step 2 ticked.

The button installs the AffiliateRail app on your Stripe account. Reading is all it can do, so there is nothing in your Stripe we could change.

Test mode works the same as live. What you prove now holds when you go live.

Open your own partner portal

This makes you a partner in your own program. You'll see what partners see.

1. Send me my link on the card.
2. Open the email and sign in. The link works once, for one hour.
3. Copy your link from the card. It looks like yoursite.com/?ref=your-handle.

Steps 4 and 5 both use this link.

Email didn't arrive? Press Retry email, or open portal sign-in and ask for a code.

Put the tag on your site

The tag is one line of code. It notes which partner sent each visitor.

1. Copy the tag with the copy symbol in its box.
2. Paste it before </head> on every page. In Webflow, Framer or WordPress, use the site-wide custom code box.
3. Publish your site.
4. Click your own link from step 3. The card listens for two minutes.

Done when the card says Click received.

Someone else runs your site? Type their email under the tag and press Email it. They get the tag and where it goes.

One tag covers your domain, www and every subdomain. Is your app on a different domain, like getacme.io beside acme.com? Add it to the tag's data-domains.

The card also has Check my install. It reads your page and tells you what's missing. Verifying your install explains each answer.

Make a test sale

This proves a sale reaches your commission rule.

1. Open your link from step 3.
2. Buy your own product with Stripe's test card: 4242 4242 4242 4242.
3. Use any future date and any three digits for the CVC.
4. Wait on the card. It listens for two minutes.

Done when the card says Test sale attributed.

Not there? Open Reports, then the Attribution tab. The row says what was missing.

You'll also find the commission under Commissions, with a Test chip. Open it to see which rule priced it. Test sales never count toward revenue, balances or payouts.

Checkout, Payment Links, Pricing Tables and Buy Buttons need nothing more. Does your own code create subscriptions with Stripe Elements? Add three lines of code.

Invite your first partner

This is the step that brings in sales.

1. Copy the signup link on the card.
2. Send it to one person who'd recommend you.
3. They sign up and get their own link in a minute.

Want to add someone yourself? Open Partners and add them by email.

Moving a program that has partners already? Bring an existing program opens Import.

Make the portal yours

1. Add your logo on the card.
2. Pick your colours. The preview shows what partners will see.

Put the portal on your own domain

This step is optional. Partners can sign in at your affiliaterail.io address.

1. Open Domains.
2. Type a subdomain, like affiliates.yourdomain.com.
3. Add the DNS record it shows, where you bought the domain.

Pick a name nothing uses. If app.yourdomain.com is your product, don't use it.