Overview

The Affiliate feature allows administrators to create Affiliate accounts that earn commissions through referrals. Each Affiliate receives a unique referral link they can share to direct visitors to the portal. When a visitor makes a purchase through the referral link, the Affiliate earns a commission based on a percentage of the purchase value set by an administrator.

Note that in the case of subscription plans, affiliates will get the commission only on the first payment, not on monthly payments.

Enabling the REST API app on Paypal

Before you start configuring the Affiliate feature on your learning portal, you must create and configure the REST API app on PayPal. To create the app:

1. Login to your PayPal developer account (https://developer.paypal.com).
   
2. Access the My Apps & Credentials page. 
   

To create an Affiliate app:

1. Scroll down to the REST API apps section.
   
2. Click the Create App button.
   

The Create New App page displays.

1. Name the app (the app is named Affiliates in the example below).
   
2. Click Create App.
   

The app is created!

1. Click the Live button to see your live API credentials and configure the app.
   

Now, ensure the Payouts option is enabled.

1. Scroll down to the App feature options section.
   
2. Ensure the Payouts option is enabled.
   
3. Click Save.
   

In the Live API Credentials section, you will find your Client ID and Client Secret.

1. You will need both of these values to configure the Affiliates feature on your learning portal.
   

Installing the Affiliates app

After creating your app on Paypal, you can install the Affiliates app on your learning platform. To install the app, administrators:

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click App center from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Install the Affiliates app from the E-commerce section. 
   

Configure

To connect the PayPal account to the learning portal:

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Affiliates from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Settings tab.
   
4. Click Edit in the Paypal section.
   
5. Enter the Client ID from the Paypal API app you created in the previous section.
   
6. Enter the Client Secret from the Paypal API app you created in the previous section.
7. Click Save.

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Affiliates from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Click the Enable button in the Affiliate commissions section.
   
1. Please note that this option is disabled by default.
   

1. Click the Tiers tab.
   
2. Click Add. 
   

1. Enter a Name for the tier.
   
2. Enter the Percent for the commission.
   
3. Select the Uses PayPal checkbox if you are using PayPal for the commission.
   
4. Click Save.
   

1. Click the edit  icon in the Edit column.
   

1. Select the radio button in the Default column for the tier. 
   

1. Select a tier.
   
2. Click the Delete button.
   

To change the tier of an affiliate account:

1. Click the Affiliates tab.
   
2. Select an Affiliate account checkbox.
   
3. Click the Change tier button.
   

1. Select the new tier from the dropdown.
   
2. Click Save.
   

Adding Affiliates

To add a new Affiliate account:

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Affiliates from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click the Add button from the Affiliates tab.
   

1. Select the Organization for the affiliate account.
   
2. Select password and login settings.
3. Enter the number of affiliate accounts you would like to add.
   
4. Click Continue. 
   

1. Enter account details for each account you want to create.
   
2. Click Save.
   

Note that you can also use the Email tab to create an affiliate account by sending a link to a user. To learn more, visit the Adding accounts section of the Accounts and roles article.

To view the affiliate accounts on your site:

1. Click Users from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Affiliates from the fly-out menu.
   

1. Select an account checkbox.
   
2. Choose to Message, reset a Password, Edit, Remove, or Archive an account.  
   

Affiliate view

When Affiliates log in, their dashboard displays. To access their affiliate information, Affiliates:

1. Click the Affiliate tab on their home dashboard.

1. Referral Share Link: Affiliates can use the referral link to bring visitors to the portal and gain commission when learners enroll in courses. Affiliates can use the link to share via email or on social media.
1. Note that the provided link sends users to the visitor catalog. If the affiliate wants to share a link to a specific course or category, they can add  "?affiliate=xxxxxxx" to the category or course URL, with xxxxxxx equalling their affiliate number.
   
1. Affiliate course link example: https://fec.matrixlms.com/user_catalog_class/show/412483?title=How-to-use-your-DSLR?affiliate=1234556
   
2. PayPal Email: Affiliates provide an email associated with their Paypal account.
   
1. Admins can only pay the commission for the referral if the affiliate has a valid PayPal account associated with their email.
   
2. Affiliates can click Edit to modify the PayPal email.
   
3. Note that free personal PayPal accounts have a $3000 transaction limit. 
   
3. Referrals: In this section, Affiliates can see details about their referrals, such as:  
1. Visits: The number of visitors who accessed the portal through the Affiliate's referral share link. 
   
2. Purchases: The number of purchases and their total value.
   
3. Pending: The number of pending or rejected referrals by the system administrator.
   
4. Approved: The number of approved referrals and the value of the commission.
   
5. Rejected: The number of rejected referrals and their value.
   
6. Paid: The number of commissions that were paid.
   
7. Payment errors: If there are any payment errors, they will be listed here.
   

1. Click the Details  icon.
   

Details of the individual referrals display.

1. Affiliates can click the note  icon to read a message if the referral was rejected.

Pay or Reject referrals

When an Affiliate generates referrals to the site, they do not receive the commission automatically. An administrator must review the referrals and decide which will be paid and which will be rejected.

1. Click Admin from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Affiliates from the fly-out menu.
   

1. Select the affiliate checkbox.
   
1. Note that you can select multiple checkboxes, or all checkboxes.
   
2. Click Pay or Reject.
   
1. If you reject the referral, the commission won't be paid to the affiliate.
   
2. Note that if you select multiple affiliates, the Pay or Reject action will apply to all the selected referrals. 

Note that referrals cannot be paid if the site's currency is one of the following: South Korean Won (KRW),  Turkish Lira (TRY), Indian Rupee (INR).

To pay or reject referrals from a specific user:

1. Click the Details  icon for the individual user.
   

1. Select the pending referrals from the list.
   
2. Click Pay or Reject.
   

If you reject a referral, you will be prompted to write a message to the affiliate regarding the reason for the rejection.

1. Enter your message with the reason for the referral rejection.
   
2. Click Send.
   

The message will be available to the affiliate user next to the reject  icon on their Affiliate dashboard.

On the Affiliate Summary pages, rejected referrals display a red  icon in the Approved column.

1. Click the Details  icon.
   

Reports

A built-in affiliate report is available to administrators and affiliates. To access the Affiliates report:

1. Click Reports from the primary navigation menu.
   
2. Click Catalog from the fly-out menu.
   
3. Click Miscellaneous.
   
4. Click Run on the Affiliates report.

The Run report pop-up displays.

1. Give a Name to the report,.
   
2. Select a time frame using the When, Start, and Finish options.
   
3. Select the Affiliates you want to include in the report.
   
4. Select if you want to run the report Immediately or Schedule it for a future time.
   
5. Enter an email address in the Email to field. A CSV report will be emailed to the address you enter.
   
6. Click Run.
   

Note that when an affiliate downloads the report they cannot see the names of the learners.