Affiliate Program Setup

Prerequisites

• Stripe or Paddle account connected for payment tracking
• Product with a self-serve signup or checkout flow
• Admin access to your chosen affiliate platform

Tool Options

| Tool | Best For | Pricing | |------|----------|---------| | Rewardful | Stripe-native SaaS affiliate tracking | Starter $49/mo up to $7,500 affiliate revenue (rewardful.com/pricing) | | FirstPromoter | SaaS with tiered commission needs | Starter $49/mo up to $5,000 affiliate revenue (firstpromoter.com/pricing) | | PartnerStack | Enterprise partner ecosystem management | Custom pricing, no free tier (partnerstack.com/pricing) | | Tapfiliate | Multi-channel affiliate programs | Essential $89/mo (tapfiliate.com/pricing) | | Reflio | Open-source, self-hosted option | Free self-hosted; cloud from $0 (reflio.com) |

Steps

Rewardful (Default for Stripe-based SaaS)

1. Create a Rewardful account and connect Stripe.

   # After signup at rewardful.com, connect Stripe via OAuth
   # Rewardful uses Stripe Connect to track all referred payments automatically
   

2. Create a campaign. A campaign defines the commission structure for a group of affiliates.

   POST https://api.rewardful.com/v1/campaigns
   Authorization: Bearer {REWARDFUL_API_KEY}
   Content-Type: application/json
   
   {
     "name": "Reseller Program",
     "commission_type": "percentage",
     "commission_amount": 20,
     "cookie_duration": 90,
     "minimum_payout_amount": 50,
     "recurring": true,
     "recurring_duration_months": 12,
     "currency": "USD"
   }
   

   Response includes campaign_id — store this for affiliate creation.

3. Install the tracking snippet. Add the Rewardful JavaScript to your marketing site and signup flow:

   <script>(function(w,r){w._rwq=r;w[r]=w[r]||function(){(w[r].q=w[r].q||[]).push(arguments)}})(window,'rewardful');</script>
   <script async src='https://r.wdfl.co/rw.js' data-rewardful='{REWARDFUL_CAMPAIGN_ID}'></script>
   

   This captures the ?via= parameter from affiliate links and attributes signups to the referring affiliate.

4. Configure the affiliate portal. Rewardful provides a hosted portal where affiliates can see their stats, grab links, and request payouts. Customize it with your branding:

   PUT https://api.rewardful.com/v1/campaigns/{campaign_id}
   {
     "portal_title": "Partner Program",
     "portal_description": "Track your referrals and commissions",
     "portal_logo_url": "https://yourdomain.com/logo.png"
   }
   

FirstPromoter (Alternative)

1. Create account and connect Stripe.

   # Connect via FirstPromoter dashboard → Integrations → Stripe
   # Or use the API:
   POST https://firstpromoter.com/api/v1/integrations/stripe
   Authorization: Bearer {FIRSTPROMOTER_API_KEY}
   

2. Create a campaign.

   POST https://firstpromoter.com/api/v1/campaigns
   Authorization: Bearer {FIRSTPROMOTER_API_KEY}
   Content-Type: application/json
   
   {
     "name": "Reseller Program",
     "commission_type": "percentage",
     "default_commission": 20,
     "cookie_duration": 90,
     "recurring_commissions": true
   }
   

3. Install tracking script.

   <script src="https://cdn.firstpromoter.com/fprom.js"></script>
   <script>
     $FPROM.init("{FIRSTPROMOTER_CAMPAIGN_ID}", ".yourdomain.com");
   </script>
   

Error Handling

• If Stripe connection fails: verify webhook endpoint is reachable and API key has read access to Subscriptions and Charges
• If tracking script not firing: check browser console for CORS errors; ensure the script loads before the signup form
• If referrals not attributing: verify the ?via= or ?ref= parameter is present in the URL and the cookie is being set (check Application → Cookies in browser dev tools)

Output

• A configured affiliate program with tracking installed
• Hosted affiliate portal for partners to self-serve
• Stripe webhook integration for automatic commission calculation