# What commission should my Shopify affiliate program pay? Source: https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay # What commission should my Shopify affiliate program pay? By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · Published 23 October 2026 · Checked on 23 October 2026 · 5 min read Facts about other tools come from their own sites, with the date we checked. [Our editorial policy](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/editorial-policy) · [About us](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/about). In short A Shopify affiliate program should pay a base commission you can afford out of profit. The public median is 10%, and the middle half of 168 programs we read pay 8% to 15%. Beauty and skincare is higher at 15%. Set the rate from your margin, not from a table, and use a 30-day cookie. A Shopify affiliate program should pay what you can afford out of profit. The median we found is 10%. We read the public affiliate pages of 168 Shopify brands on 23 October 2026. The middle half pay a base rate between 8% and 15%. An **affiliate** is someone who promotes your product and earns a cut of each sale they send. That cut is the **commission**. The **base rate** is the lowest rate you promise a new affiliate. **On this page 8 sections** 1. [What do other Shopify brands pay?] 2. [How do I check a rate against my margin?] 3. [Should I pay more to start?] 4. [What cookie window should I set?] 5. [Where do I find the people to offer it to?] 6. [Frequently asked questions] 7. [Find people to offer your rate to] 8. [Sources] ## What do other Shopify brands pay? For 137 of the 168 programs, the page names a base rate. Here is what those pages say, by category. | Category | Programs read | With a base rate | Median base rate | Middle half | |---|---|---|---|---| | Beauty and skincare | 29 | 24 | 15% | 10% to 15% | | Health and supplements | 27 | 22 | 10% | 10% to 15% | | Fitness and sports | 21 | 17 | 10% | 5% to 10% | | Fashion and apparel | 18 | 14 | 10% | 10% to 13.8% | | Home and garden | 17 | 14 | 10% | 8% to 18.5% | | All programs | 168 | 137 | 10% | 8% to 15% | The most common number is 10%. 60 of the 137 programs (44%) state exactly that. Only 6% state a base rate under 5%, and 12% state 20% or more. ![Bar chart of the median base commission by category. Beauty and skincare is 15%. Health and supplements, fitness and sports, fashion, home and garden and food and drink are 10%. Tech and gadgets is 8.5%. | Median base commission by category, 168 public Shopify programs, 23 October 2026. Source: RecruitAffiliates.ai.](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/img/blog/commission-median-by-category.svg) The full method, limits and CSV are on the [commission rates data page](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026). These are rates on pages, not what brands pay in practice. A brand that hides its rate behind a sign-up form is not in the sample. Treat the table as a map of what affiliates see, not a rule. Shopify's own guide puts physical goods at 5% to 15%, which is close ([Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/blog/affiliate-commission), checked 22 October 2026). ## How do I check a rate against my margin? Work backwards from profit. Don't copy a number. Our free [affiliate calculator](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/free-tools/affiliate-calculator) turns a sales goal into a commission bill. Let's say a mattress topper sells for $100. After the product, shipping and card fees you keep $40. That is your profit per order before you pay anyone. Now test a rate against it. 1. **Take the profit.** $40. 2. **Pick a share you would give up.** Our view is a third to a half of it, for a sale that came from outside. Half of $40 is $20. 3. **Turn it into a rate.** $20 is 20% of the $100 price. That is your ceiling. 4. **Start below the ceiling.** Say 12%. The affiliate gets $12 and you keep $28. If you would have spent $30 on ads to win that sale, 12% is cheaper. If your profit is $15, the same sum gives a ceiling of 7.5%, and 10% is too high. The sum may also be why beauty pays 15%. A high-margin product leaves more room to share. ## Should I pay more to start? Only if you can afford it. A higher rate may get you more yeses in the first email, but it is hard to take back later. A safer shape is a base rate with a step up. You might say "10% to start, 15% once you have sent 20 sales." Affiliates see a floor and a reason to work harder. Watch the "up to" trap. 18% of the pages we read show only an "up to" rate, such as "earn up to 15%". A new affiliate cannot tell what day one pays, so some will walk. State your base rate first. ## What cookie window should I set? A **cookie window** is how long after a click a sale still counts for the affiliate. Say someone clicks a review on Monday and buys three weeks later. A 30-day window still pays the reviewer. A 7-day window does not. Of the 73 pages that state a cookie length, 78% say 30 days. Twelve say 45 to 90 days, and four say 21 days or less. Start at 30 days. Go longer if your buyers take a while, such as for a mattress. ## Where do I find the people to offer it to? A rate nobody sees pays no one. Once you have a number, the next job is asking the right people. Search your rivals' names next to "review" and "discount code", then email the writers. Our guide on [how to find affiliates for your Shopify store](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-for-shopify-store) walks through it. For the first ten, read [how to land your first 10 affiliates](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/first-10-affiliates-in-14-days). If you sell software rather than products, rates run higher, often 20% to 30%. See [what to offer SaaS affiliates](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-to-offer-affiliates). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is a good commission rate for Shopify affiliates? The public median is 10%, and the middle half of programs say 8% to 15%. A good rate is one that leaves you profit and still gives an affiliate a reason to bother. Check it against your margin. ### Is 10% enough? It is the most common base rate (44% of pages that state a rate), so it matches what many affiliates see. If your profit per order is high, you can offer more. If it is thin, 10% may already be too high. ### Do beauty brands pay more? Yes. The median base rate for beauty and skincare pages is 15%. Other large categories are 10%. High margins are a likely reason, but the data does not show it. ### What cookie window should I use? 30 days. Of the 73 pages that state a cookie length, 78% say 30 days. ### Should I show "up to" or a fixed rate? Show a fixed base rate first. You can add "rising to 15%" for top performers. ## Find people to offer your rate to [We find your first 20 emails free](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=blog-what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) with RecruitAffiliates.ai. It's 7 days free, no card. ## Sources - Our read of 168 public Shopify affiliate programs, 23 October 2026: [method, limits and aggregates](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/research/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026) and the [CSV](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/data/shopify-affiliate-commission-rates-2026-10-23.csv) - Shopify, affiliate commission guide (physical goods 5% to 15%): [https://www.shopify.com/blog/affiliate-commission](https://www.shopify.com/blog/affiliate-commission) (checked 22 October 2026) ## Keep reading - Finding affiliates ### [How to find affiliates for your Shopify store (and who to ask)](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/find-affiliates-for-shopify-store) Find affiliates for your Shopify store: who promotes physical products, how to find the ones covering your rivals, what to pay, and what a scan of 30 shops found. 10 min read - Offers and rates ### [What to offer affiliates for your SaaS: commission, duration and cookie window](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/what-to-offer-affiliates) What commission rate and duration SaaS affiliates expect, recurring vs one-off, cookie windows, and why paying on time matters most. 6 min read - Finding affiliates ### [Your first 10 affiliates in 14 days: the plan and the numbers](https://recruitaffiliates.ai/blog/first-10-affiliates-in-14-days) A day-by-day plan to sign your first 10 affiliates, with the math on how many people to email, what a first search shows, and what to expect by day 14. 8 min read ## Your 7-day free trial includes 20 email lookups [Find my affiliates](https://app.recruitaffiliates.ai/signup?from=blog-what-commission-should-my-shopify-affiliate-program-pay) If we don't find an email, you get the lookup back. No card. [How lookups are counted](https://docs.recruitaffiliates.ai/credits#what-each-result-means).