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Web payments and payouts

Stripe Affiliate Tracking for Web and App Sales

Insert Affiliate uses Stripe in two ways: to track web purchases made through Stripe Checkout, and to pay your affiliates.

How it works

Insert Affiliate is designed around mobile apps, with a secondary focus on SaaS and web products billed through Stripe. If you sell on your website as well as in your app, or only on the web, Stripe is how those sales are tracked.

Stripe is also how affiliates are paid, whichever purchase source your app uses. The two jobs are set up separately, so you can use either one or both.

This page covers what connecting Stripe involves, how Stripe coupons work with affiliates, and how payouts run.

Setting it up

  1. Step 1

    Turn on Stripe web payments

    In your Insert Affiliate settings, choose Stripe as your web transaction method.

  2. Step 2

    Connect your Stripe account

    Link an existing or new Stripe account through Stripe Connect and complete Stripe onboarding. Tracking is ready once the account shows as active.

  3. Step 3

    Pass the affiliate through your checkout

    Add the Insert Affiliate SDK to your site so the referring affiliate is known at checkout, and include it when you create the Stripe Checkout session. The docs show the code.

  4. Step 4

    Test with a real payment

    Stripe test mode and test cards are not supported, so make a real purchase. A Stripe promo code keeps the cost low. Then check your transactions dashboard.

How Stripe affiliate tracking works

A visitor arrives from an affiliate link or enters an affiliate short code, and your site remembers who referred them. When they pay through Stripe Checkout, Stripe processes the payment as it does today, and Insert Affiliate credits the sale to that affiliate and calculates the commission.

Once your Stripe account is connected, Insert Affiliate tracks:

  • Stripe Checkout purchases, both one-time and subscription
  • Initial subscription purchases
  • Subscription renewals

By default the full invoice amount earns commission. If an invoice has several line items and only some should count, for example a subscription but not a setup fee, you can limit commission to the products you choose.

Alongside a mobile app

Web tracking works independently of your mobile setup, so you can use it with any in-app purchase source. Mobile purchases are attributed through that source, web purchases are attributed through Stripe, and both appear in the same dashboard.

If you use RevenueCat for web billing, those sales are supported as well. The RevenueCat integration page covers that route.

Stripe coupons and promo codes for affiliates

You can give visitors who arrive from an affiliate a discount at checkout. Create a coupon or promotion code in your Stripe Dashboard, then set it in Insert Affiliate as your company-wide default or choose a different code for an individual affiliate. Visitors referred by that affiliate get the right discount at checkout without typing a code.

Paying affiliates with Stripe

Payouts run through Stripe whether your sales come from an app, the web or both.

  • Manual payouts. Your company and the affiliate each connect a verified Stripe account. You pay a transaction from your dashboard, and it is marked as paid once the payment goes through.
  • Automatic payouts. This is opt-in. You save a card and set a minimum payout, and a daily run pays every affiliate who is owed at least that amount and has finished Stripe onboarding. You get an email summary of each run, and you can still pay anyone manually.

Refunds are reflected in what each affiliate is owed.

What you get once it is connected

Attributed purchases create commission records automatically and appear in your transactions dashboard. From there you set commission rates per affiliate and pay what is owed.

Frequently asked questions

Does Insert Affiliate work as affiliate software for Stripe?
Yes. It tracks Stripe Checkout purchases, initial subscriptions and renewals against affiliates. It is designed around mobile apps, with a secondary focus on SaaS and web products billed through Stripe.
How does the Stripe affiliate integration attribute a sale?
A visitor arrives from an affiliate link or enters a code, and your site remembers who referred them. Stripe processes the payment and Insert Affiliate credits that affiliate.
Do I have to change how my checkout works?
No. You keep Stripe Checkout and your existing products. You connect your Stripe account and pass the referring affiliate along when a checkout is created.
Can I test Stripe affiliate tracking in Stripe test mode?
No. Stripe test mode is not supported, so you need a real payment. The docs suggest creating a Stripe promo code to make the test purchase free or very cheap.
Can each affiliate have their own Stripe promo code?
Yes. You can set a company-wide default Stripe coupon or promo code and choose a different one for specific affiliates.
Can I pay affiliates automatically through Stripe?
Yes. Automatic payouts are opt-in. You save a card and set a minimum payout, and affiliates who have completed their Stripe setup are paid in a daily run.

Documentation

Full setup instructions and code samples are in the docs.

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I want to help you setup your iOS or android affiliate scheme

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“I couldn't use affiliate marketing in my subscription app, so I built insert affiliate to solve this issue”
- Michael Butler, CEO
Michael Butler, CEO