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What to check when an affiliate commission isn't generated
  Last Edited - 06/16/2015 11:27am PDT
  Category Path - Shopping Cart Software Components > Administration Area > Modules > Affiliate Marketing > FAQs & Tutorials
 
There several reasons for an affiliate commission to not be generated when an order is placed. Below is the checklist that Modular Merchant's tech support team starts with when investigating missing affiliate commissions. This checklist has proven to be very effective in diagnosing commission problems, so we've posted it here for our clients to use too. Let's review each item that can prevent affiliate commissions from being generated:
 
Affiliate cookie not present in the customer's browser

When a customer clicks an affiliate link, the shopping cart attempts to place an affiliate cookie in the customer's browser. The affiliate cookie is what triggers the affiliate commission, so if the cookie isn't present when the customer places an order, then the shopping cart won't generate a commission for that order.

The four most common causes for an affiliate cookie to not be present are as follows:
  1. The customer's browser has security settings to delete or refuse cookies.
    tip
    The following Wikipedia article provides more information about cookies and related browser settings:
    HTTP cookie

     
  2. The affiliate link was clicked on one device or in one browser, and the order was processed on a different device or in a different browser.
     
  3. The affiliate link was incorrectly formatted. It's not uncommon for an affiliate to accidentally use the landing page URL instead of the tracking HTML. Unfortunately, the landing page URL isn't capable of placing an affiliate cookie.
    tip
    The Affiliate TID Editor includes both the landing page URL and the tracking HTML, as described in the following Knowledge Base article:
    Tracking ID Editor

     
  4. The affiliate cookie has expired.
    tip
    The Affiliate Cookie Term option in the Affiliate Module Settings determines when affiliate cookies will be set to expire, as explained in the following Knowledge Base article:
    Affiliate Module Settings

     
exception: place an order tool
When an admin uses the Place an Order tool to generate a new order for a customer, the shopping cart is obviously unable to access any affiliate cookie that may be present in the customer's browser. Additionally, the Place an Order tool intentionally ignores any affiliate cookie present in the admin's browser. Instead, the admin may use the Affiliate Tracking ID field at the right side of the Place an Order pages to manually apply an affiliate TID to the order. (Note that the value entered in the field must be the affiliate TID number, not the affiliate's SID number.)
 
Affiliate TID is inactive

If the affiliate cookie is from an inactive TID, then the affiliate who owns that TID won't earn a commission on the order. However, if that affiliate has a parent TID that is active, then the affiliate who owns the parent TID will earn a commission (as long as the order is not affected by any of the other items on this checklist).

An affiliate cookie is active if its Active toggle is set to YES, or is inactive if its Active toggle is set to NO. The Active toggle may be viewed and adjusted in the Affiliate TID Editor.
 
Affiliate account has been deactivated

If the affiliate cookie is from an affiliate account that has since been deactivated, then that affiliate won't earn a commission on the order. However, if that affiliate has a parent TID that belongs to an affiliate account that is active, then the affiliate who owns the parent TID will earn a commission (as long as the order is not affected by any of the other items on this checklist).

An affiliate account is active if the Is an Affiliate? toggle in the Customer Editor is set to YES, or is inactive if the Is an Affiliate? toggle is set to NO.
 
Affiliate account is not approved

If the affiliate cookie is from an affiliate account that has not been approved, and the Require Admin approval for new Affiliates? toggle is set to YES, then that affiliate won't earn a commission on the order.

An affiliate account's approval status is indicated by the Admin Approved toggle in the Customer Editor. And the Require Admin approval for new Affiliates? toggle is located in the Affiliate Module Settings.
 
Allow affiliate "bumping"

On its own, the Allow affiliate "bumping"? option won't prevent an affiliate commission from being generated, but it will affect which affiliate earns the commission.

If the Allow affiliate "bumping"? option is set to YES, then the affiliate who owns the TID from the affiliate cookie present in the customer's browser at the time of the order will earn the commission.

If the Allow affiliate "bumping"? option is set to NO, then the affiliate who owns the TID from the affiliate cookie present in the customer's browser will only earn the commission if that customer does not have any prior order that generated an affiliate commission. If the customer does have any prior order that generated an affiliate commission, then the affiliate who earned a commission on the prior order will also earn a commission on the new order, and the affiliate who owns the TID from the current affiliate cookie will not earn a commission.
 
Earn commissions on existing customers

If the Earn commissions on existing customers? option is set to NO, then an affiliate commission won't be generated if the customer has ever placed an order that did not generate a commission.
 
Product's Default Commission Value is zero or blank

If none of the products in the order have a default commission value, then the shopping cart won't generate any affiliate commission for the order.

The Default Commission Value option is located in the Affiliate Marketing section of the Product Editor.
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