Commission Models Explained

Not all affiliate dollars are created equal. A 75% commission sounds amazing until you realize the product costs $7 and nobody buys it. A 3% commission sounds terrible until you calculate that it's 3% of a $2,000 laptop purchase — $60 per sale, all day long.

The commission model determines how you get paid. Understanding the differences is the foundation of every smart offer decision you'll ever make.

CPA — Cost Per Action (The Flat Paycheck)

CPA is the simplest model: someone takes an action, you get a fixed dollar amount. Period. Doesn't matter if the customer spends $10 or $10,000 — your cut is the same.

Action Type	Typical Payout	Real-World Example
Sale	$5–$200+	Customer buys a VPN subscription → you get $40
Trial sign-up	$2–$50	Customer starts a Shopify free trial → you get $25
App install	$0.50–$15	Customer installs a mobile game → you get $2
Account creation	$1–$30	Customer creates a free trading account → you get $15

Why affiliates love it: Predictability. When you know every conversion pays $40, you can calculate exactly how much you can afford to spend acquiring that click. That's why CPA is the dominant model in paid traffic — media buyers need predictable math.

The catch: You don't benefit when customers spend big. If someone buys a $5,000 product through your link and you're on a $30 flat CPA, that extra $4,970 doesn't help you. RevShare would've paid you a percentage of the full amount.

Where to find CPA offers: maxbounty, Perform[cb], flexoffers, and most performance-focused networks.

CPC — Cost Per Click (The Rare One)

CPC pays you for every click, regardless of whether anyone buys. It sounds great in theory — guaranteed income per click! — but in practice, CPC rates in affiliate marketing are painfully low ($0.01–$0.50 per click) and very few legitimate affiliate programs use this model.

You'll see CPC in display ad networks (Google AdSense, Mediavine) rather than traditional affiliate programs. If a network is offering you CPC on affiliate links, it usually means the advertiser doesn't trust the traffic quality enough to pay for conversions — which tells you something.

When CPC Makes Sense

If you have a massive-traffic site (100K+ visitors/month) in a niche where purchase intent is low — like entertainment or news — CPC display ads might actually outearn affiliate links. But for most content creators with purchase-intent audiences, CPA or RevShare will always pay more.

CPL — Cost Per Lead (The Low-Friction Money)

CPL is where things get interesting. The customer doesn't need to buy anything — they just submit their information. An email address. A phone number. A zip code for an insurance quote. A form for a degree program.

Because the barrier is so low (no credit card, no purchase decision), CPL offers convert at dramatically higher rates than CPA sale offers. And some verticals pay serious money per lead:

Vertical	What the User Does	Typical Payout
Insurance quotes	Enters zip code, gets quotes	$5–$50 per lead
Education programs	Fills out an interest form	$20–$150 per lead
Finance / loans	Submits a pre-qualification form	$10–$75 per lead
Home services (solar, roofing)	Requests a free estimate	$20–$100 per lead
Free trial with credit card	Signs up for a trial	$10–$40 per lead

Read those education numbers again: $20–$150 for someone filling out a form. No purchase required. That's why lead-gen affiliates on maxbounty and flexoffers can scale fast with paid traffic — the conversion barrier is just "type your name and email."

Lead Quality Matters

Networks track lead quality. If you're sending junk leads (fake info, incentivized submissions, bot traffic), you'll get your payout reversed and your account terminated. The high payouts exist because advertisers expect real people who are genuinely interested.

RevShare pays you a percentage of what the customer spends. It's the most intuitive model: the more the customer pays, the more you earn.

Program	RevShare Rate	What That Means in Practice
amazon-associates	1–20% (by category)	4% of a $500 kitchen appliance = $20
shareasale merchants	5–50% (varies)	15% of a $200 fashion order = $30
clickbank digital products	30–75%	50% of a $97 course = $48.50
SaaS programs via partnerstack	15–40% recurring	30% of $99/month = $29.70/month forever

That last row is where you should pause and do the mental math. "Forever" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence — so let's talk about the most important distinction in affiliate marketing:

One-Time vs. Recurring RevShare

One-time RevShare is what most programs offer. You earn your percentage on the first purchase, and that's it. Customer comes back next month and buys again? You get nothing. Amazon, most ShareASale merchants, and most retail programs work this way.

Recurring RevShare means you earn your percentage every single month the customer remains subscribed. SaaS tools are the prime example: if you refer someone to a project management tool that costs $99/month and you earn 30%, that's $29.70 hitting your account every month for as long as they keep paying.

Here's where it gets exciting. Imagine you refer just 10 new SaaS customers per month at $29.70 each:

Month 1:   10 customers × $29.70 = $297
Month 6:   ~55 customers × $29.70 = $1,634  (accounting for ~3% monthly churn)
Month 12: ~100 customers × $29.70 = $2,970
Month 24: ~170 customers × $29.70 = $5,049

That's from the same 10 new referrals per month. The income grows because existing customers keep paying while new ones stack on top. This is the closest thing to actual passive income in affiliate marketing. See recurring-vs-one-time-commissions for the full math.

Hybrid Models (Where the Real Deals Live)

The most lucrative affiliate programs combine multiple models. These are often negotiated rather than publicly listed — another reason why building relationships with affiliate managers matters (see negotiating-bumps-and-exclusives).

CPA + RevShare (The Double Dip)

You get a flat bonus when the customer signs up, plus a recurring percentage of their ongoing payments. This is the dream: immediate cash flow from the CPA component and compounding income from the RevShare component.

Real example: A web hosting company pays you $65 when someone signs up, then 10% of every renewal. That $65 funds your content creation, and the recurring 10% builds your passive income floor.

Tiered Commissions (The Volume Reward)

Your rate increases as you drive more sales. This is where negotiation and volume really pay off.

0–10 sales/month   → 20% commission
11–50 sales/month  → 25% commission
51+ sales/month    → 30% commission

The jump from 20% to 30% on the same traffic is a 50% income increase with zero additional effort. That's why pushing past volume thresholds should be a deliberate strategy, not something you stumble into.

Two-Tier (The Recruiter Model)

You earn commissions on affiliates you recruit into the program. clickbank offers this: refer another affiliate, and you earn 5% of everything they make. It's a small bonus on top of your own earnings, not a primary income strategy — but it adds up if you run an affiliate marketing blog or community.

Performance Bonuses (The Sprint Reward)

Hit a volume target in a specific time window and unlock a cash bonus on top of your normal commissions. Common during holiday seasons and product launches. Drive 100 sales this month → $500 extra. These are usually announced by affiliate managers via email — another reason to stay in the loop.

So Which Model Should You Pick?

This depends entirely on your traffic source, your audience, and your timeline:

Your Situation	Best Model	Why
High-traffic blog, broad audience	RevShare on physical products	Volume makes up for lower percentages
Niche email list	CPL (free offers) or CPA (targeted sales)	Your list converts — maximize per-conversion value
YouTube reviews / comparisons	RevShare or CPA on reviewed products	Viewers have high purchase intent
Paid traffic / media buying	CPA (flat fee)	Predictable math for ROI calculations
SaaS or tool reviews	Recurring RevShare	Compounding income is the long game that wins
Brand new, no audience	CPA	Easier to forecast and test profitability

The Smart Move: Stack Multiple Models

Don't pick just one. A tech blogger might earn CPA on hosting signups, recurring RevShare on SaaS tool subscriptions, and one-time RevShare on Amazon physical products — all from the same audience. Diversifying your commission models smooths out income and captures value from every type of visitor intent.

The One Number That Cuts Through All the Noise: EPC

Here's the problem: how do you compare a 75% RevShare offer on a $27 ebook to a $40 flat CPA offer on a VPN subscription? The commission models are completely different. Enter EPC — Earnings Per Click.

EPC answers one question: for every 100 clicks I send to this offer, how much money comes back?

EPC = (Total Commissions ÷ Total Clicks) × 100

Example 1: You send 500 clicks to a $50 CPA offer. 10 people convert. You earned $500. → EPC = ($500 ÷ 500) × 100 = $1.00 EPC

Example 2: You send 500 clicks to a 10% RevShare offer with $200 average order. 15 people buy. You earned $300. → EPC = ($300 ÷ 500) × 100 = $0.60 EPC

The CPA offer wins, even though the RevShare offer had a higher conversion rate. EPC is the equalizer — it doesn't care what commission model the offer uses. It just tells you which offer makes you more money per click.

The rule: When in doubt, compare EPCs. A 75% commission on a product nobody buys is worth exactly $0. A 3% commission on a product everyone buys might be your best earner. The numbers don't lie. See finding-high-epc-offers for the full tactical playbook on using EPC to pick winners.

Back to Context | Full Index