Easy Affiliate Basic

The problem with an affiliate programme is not building it, it is policing it

Building the programme takes an afternoon. What comes after is the hard part, and it arrives the moment it starts working: the affiliate buying from themselves with their own code, the one bidding on your brand name in ads and charging you commission for a customer who was buying anyway, the one sending odd traffic with an impossible conversion rate.

None of that gets detected by a programme that only counts clicks and sales. Easy Affiliate includes suspicious activity detection before you pay, which is the only moment it is any use.

What it brings

• An affiliate dashboard with clicks, earnings per click, conversions and commissions kept current.
• Their own links, generated by each affiliate, plus downloadable promotional materials.
• Multi-level commissions, with configurable rules.
• Recurring commissions, paid on renewals too rather than only on the first sale.
• One-click PayPal payouts, with no middleman fee because the programme is yours.

It integrates with WooCommerce, MemberPress and Easy Digital Downloads, and with the usual email services.

Recurring commissions change the kind of affiliate you attract

Worth understanding because it decides the whole programme. If you pay only the first sale, you attract whoever is after quick volume and does not care what happens next. If you pay renewals too, you attract whoever recommends your product because it genuinely serves their audience, since their income depends on the customer staying.

The second kind brings fewer sales and customers who last far longer. In a subscription or membership business, that difference is everything.

Requirements

It needs WordPress 6.0 or above and PHP 7.4 or above. It is self-hosted: the programme lives on your site, the data is yours and there is no platform fee on each sale.

How to start

One. Write the terms before opening the programme: whether brand bidding is allowed, whether self-purchases count, what happens with coupon sites. Afterwards is too late.

Two. Decide whether you pay only the first sale or renewals too, and state it clearly. It is the first thing a good affiliate looks at.

Three. Find your first ten affiliates by hand. They are not going to arrive by themselves because you published a page.

Four. Review the suspicious activity alerts before each payout, not after. A payment made does not come back.

Alternatives in the catalogue

SliceWP is the direct alternative, also self-hosted and with no platform fee, with bulk PayPal payouts and commissions by product or category.

And there is a different approach worth knowing about: Coupon Affiliates attributes by coupon code rather than by link. That solves the case a link system cannot cover, the creator who mentions your brand in a video or podcast and says a code out loud. Many programmes end up using both at once, one for each kind of collaborator.

If your side of the business is the other one, being the affiliate rather than having affiliates, AAWP builds the product tables and comparisons for that.

Frequently asked questions

Does it charge commission per sale?
No. It is self-hosted, so there is no middleman and no platform fee.

Does it detect self-purchases and fraud?
It alerts you to suspicious activity before you make the payment, which is when it helps.

Does it pay commission on renewals?
Yes, it supports recurring commissions, and that changes the kind of affiliate you attract.

How do affiliates get paid?
With one-click PayPal payouts from the admin.

What does it integrate with?
WooCommerce, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads and the usual email services.

What does the server need?
WordPress 6.0 or above and PHP 7.4 or above.