Shopify Collabs

How to find creators for your Shopify Collabs programme

By the RecruitAffiliates.ai team · Published 22 October 2026 · Checked on 22 October 2026 · 7 min read

Facts about other tools come from their own sites, with the date we checked. We make RecruitAffiliates.ai, one of the tools named here. Editorial policy · About us.

To find creators for Shopify Collabs, search inside Collabs first, then look outside it: your own customers, and the blogs, review sites and creators who already promote your rivals. Send creators your store's Collabs application page. New creators can't sign up to Collabs on their own right now, but they can still apply to you. Send bloggers and newsletter writers an affiliate sign-up link.

A creator is someone with an audience on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. An affiliate is anyone who sends you buyers for a cut of each sale, including blogs and newsletters. Collabs is built for creators, but blogs and newsletters can promote a shop too.

Where do Collabs creators come from?

There are five sources. The first two live inside Collabs. The last three work around its limits.

The costs come from Modash's pricing page and our live plans, both checked on 22 October 2026. We make RecruitAffiliates.ai. Collabs itself is free to install, with a 2.9% fee on each automatic commission payment (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026).

How do I use the Collabs Recruiting search?

Open Collabs, then go to Recruiting. Shopify lets you filter creators four ways (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026):

• Keywords that match a creator's username, bio or posts
• Location, for creators who list one
• Social account, such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Twitch or Twitter
• Audience, the creator's combined followers across their linked accounts

You can sort by relevance or by audience size. The search is part of the free app. Search the words your buyers use. Let's say you sell linen bedding. "Sleep", "slow living" and "bedroom makeover" will beat "bedding brand".

Two limits shape this. You can invite up to 100 creators in any 7-day period. And Collabs "isn't accepting new creator signups at this time", so the search only shows people who already have a profile (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). Our page on the invite limit and paused sign-ups explains both.

How do I get creators to apply to me?

Make it easy for the right people to find your programme.

1. Set up the application page. Collabs can add a page that "lets creators and brand fans discover your program and apply directly on your online store" (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). A new creator can still make a Collabs account by applying (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026). Link the page from your footer with the words "Become an affiliate".
2. Use an open offer. Collabs lets you share an instant commission offer through an open access programme. Creators who already have a Collabs account can then make a link without waiting for approval (Shopify Help Center, checked 22 October 2026).
3. Tell your customers. Add one line to your order email: "Love it? Earn when friends buy." Your buyers already know the product.
4. Pin it on your socials. Put the link in your Instagram and TikTok bios for a week.

The catch with all four is the same. You wait for people to come to you, and you can't choose who applies.

How do I find creators who promote my rivals?

Use your rivals as a map. Anyone who has written or posted about a shop like yours already covers your kind of product.

Search Google for these, with your rivals' names and your product:

• "best [product]"
• "[rival] review"
• "[rival] discount code"
• "[product] gift guide"

Then search YouTube and TikTok for "[rival] review" and "[rival] haul". A haul is a video where someone unboxes what they bought.

For each result, note three things. Who made it, whether the link earns them money, and how to reach them. A link with a code or a network name in it may mean the writer is already an affiliate. We haven't measured how often. Those people know how deals work.

This is slow by hand. Say you have ten rivals. Searching each by name for review, discount code and gift guide is 30 Google queries before you've opened one page. Then you still need an email for each person.

What did our scans find?

Our scanner does this step automatically. We ran it on 30 public Shopify brands. Here's how many people came back, and what kind.

We ran this · 22 October 2026

64% of the people shown have a review or roundup page.

• 64% of 2,924 people shown had a review, roundup or comparison page as their best evidence.
• Supplements brands had the most podcasts, a median of 28 per brand.
• TikTok gave 49 people and Instagram 17, mostly in fashion and beauty.
• Median 30 per brand had an email address on record.

A first search for a brand, 22 Oct 2026, 30 public Shopify brands in all. It stopped at finding addresses and ran no email checks, which the product runs when a campaign starts (what each result means). In a 30-row check, 9 were not promoters (likely 17% to 48%). Full method and limits.

We expect a gift-guide blog or a newsletter not to turn up in the Collabs search, which lists creators. We didn't test that. You reach these people by email, then send them an affiliate sign-up link. We haven't tested whether non-creators can apply through Collabs.

How do I invite people who aren't on Collabs?

Write a short email that's about them, not you.

• Line one: where you saw them. "You reviewed [rival]'s sheets in your spring sleep guide."
• Line two: why your product fits their readers.
• Line three: the offer. Name the commission and offer a free sample.
• Line four: one link. Your Collabs application page for a creator, or an affiliate sign-up link for a blogger.

Our suggestion: keep it under 100 words, and send one gentle follow-up after four or five days.

If you'd rather not do this by hand, RecruitAffiliates.ai runs the whole step. It finds people who promote your rivals. That means websites, blogs, review sites, newsletters and podcasts. It also covers YouTube channels, and Instagram and TikTok creators. It gets the email found for each person and sends a personal outreach sequence from your inbox. All you do is reply.

A new domain starts at 5 first emails a day and builds up. A mailbox you already use can send up to 30 a day (our security page, checked 23 October 2026). Every email carries your own sign-up link, and nothing connects to Collabs itself. If you're weighing tools, our Collabs alternatives page compares six.

Which creators are worth inviting?

Check four things before you spend an invite or an email.

1. They recommend things. Their posts name products and say why. A feed with no products in it gives you nothing to judge.
2. Their audience buys what you sell. A fitness creator suits a supplement brand better than a candle brand.
3. They're active. They posted in the last month.
4. They aren't a coupon site. A coupon site lists discount codes for traffic that was about to buy anyway. It can take credit for sales you'd have had.

Questions people ask

Can I find creators on Shopify Collabs for free?

Yes. The Recruiting search is part of the free app. You can filter by keyword or location, and narrow by platform or audience size. You can invite up to 100 creators in any 7-day period.

Why can't a creator I found sign up to Collabs?

If they tried to sign up on their own, that's why. Shopify has paused open sign-ups, but a new creator can still make an account by applying to you or accepting your invite. Send them your store's application page if they're a creator.

Do I need a creator search tool for Collabs?

Not to start. Collabs search and Google searches cost nothing. A tool saves time once you want more than a few people a week, or want their emails found for you.

Where else can I find affiliates for a Shopify store?

Gift guides, review sites, niche blogs, newsletters and podcasts all promote physical products. Our guide to finding affiliates for your Shopify store covers each one.

Does RecruitAffiliates.ai work with Shopify Collabs?

It works alongside it, with no integration. It finds people and emails them your own Collabs or affiliate sign-up link. They join through that link.

Sources

All checked on 22 October 2026, except our security page, checked 23 October.

• Shopify Help Center, Shopify Collabs, creator sign-ups not accepted, application page, open access offers.
• Shopify Help Center, creator setup, new accounts by invite or application only.
• Shopify Help Center, online store page, the application page.
• Shopify Help Center, recruiting creators, search filters, 100 invites in any 7 days.
• Shopify Help Center, Collabs payments, 2.9% processing fee.
• Modash, pricing, Essentials from $199 a month billed yearly.
• Our security page, the sending limits, checked 23 October 2026.