Skip to main content
Sometimes a customer uses a discount or coupon code, and the sale is credited to an affiliate. Without any rules, you’d pay the customer’s discount and a full affiliate commission on the same order. The Discount-based commission rules let you automatically reduce or remove the affiliate commission whenever a discount/coupon code is used on a transaction. Typical uses:
  • Pay 0% commission when a code is used on the customer’s first order.
  • Scale the commission down as the customer’s discount gets bigger (e.g., small discount → full commission, big discount → no commission).
  • Pay a reduced share (say 50%) of the normal commission on any discounted order

​
How it works

  1. When a sale comes in, Partnero records whether a discount/coupon code was applied and how big the discount was.
  2. If discount-based rules are enabled and a code was used, Partnero calculates the commission as normal, then applies your adjustment on top as a percentage.
  3. Everything is logged, so you can always see whether an adjustment was applied and why.
The adjustment is a percentage of the commission the affiliate would normally earn, not a percentage of the sale. So if the normal commission is 8andyourrulesays"pay508 and your rule says "pay 50%", the affiliate gets 4.

​
How to set it up

To set up commission adjustment for discount codes:
  1. Go to Settings → Commissions and open Advanced commissions. If you already have advanced commissions in place, click Edit:
  2. Select the Discount-based tab.
  3. Turn on Adjust commission when a discount code is used.
  4. Choose an Adjustment type and a scope (details below).
  5. Click Save.

​
Adjustment type

Flat: pay a fixed percentage of the normal commission whenever a code is used.
  • 0 = pay no commission on discounted orders.
  • 50 = pay half the normal commission.
  • 100 = pay the full commission (effectively no reduction).
Tiered: pay less as the customer’s discount grows. You define ranges based on the discount percentage of the order: For each order, Partnero finds the first range the discount falls into and applies that percentage. If the discount doesn’t match any range, the normal commission is paid in full.

​
Apply this adjustment (scope)

  • On every transaction with a code: the adjustment always applies when a code is used.
  • Only on the customer’s first transaction: the adjustment applies to the customer’s first purchase; normal commissions resume afterward.
  • Only during the first period: the adjustment applies for a set number of days or months, measured from either the customer’s or the partner’s start date. After the period ends, normal commissions resume.

​
Examples

Example 1: No commission on the first discounted order Goal: When a customer uses an affiliate’s code, they get the discount instead of the affiliate getting a commission, but only the first time.
  • Adjustment type: Flat, pay 0%
  • Apply (scope): Only on the customer’s first transaction
Result: the first discounted order pays the affiliate nothing; every order after that pays the normal commission. Example 2: Scale commission with the discount size Goal: protect margins as discounts get larger.
  • Adjustment type: Tiered
    • 0–10% → pay 100%
    • 10–25% → pay 50%
    • 25%+ → pay 0%
  • Apply (scope): On every transaction with a code
Result on a 40orderwitha2040 order with a 20% off code (normal commission 20% = 8): the 20% discount lands in the 10–25% tier → affiliate is paid 50% → $4. Example 3: Reduced commission for the first 3 months
  • Adjustment type: Flat, pay 25%
  • Apply: Only during the first period → First 3 months from customer creation
Result: discounted orders in the customer’s first 3 months pay a quarter of the normal commission; after that, full commissions apply.

​
Integrations

Discount information is captured automatically; no changes are needed on your side for these integrations:
  • Stripe: reads the discount from the invoice.
  • Paddle: reads the discount from the transaction.
  • WooCommerce: reads the order discount total.
  • Shopify: reads the order discounts.
For manual/custom tracking (API or the JavaScript library), send the discount details with the transaction (see below).

​
Good to know

  • Adjustments only apply when a discount/coupon code is actually used on the order. Full-price orders are never affected.
  • The rule multiplies the final commission, so it works alongside your other rules (fixed, percentage, dynamic, product, and goal commissions) as well as currency conversion and maximum-commission caps.
  • Turning the feature off restores normal commissions immediately for new transactions.

​
For developers: sending discount data (API & JS)

If you create transactions via the API or the JavaScript library, include these optional fields so discount-based rules can be applied: amount stays the net amount the customer actually paid (after the discount). REST API POST /v1/transactions { “key”: “order_12345”, “amount”: 32.00, “amount_units”: “USD”, “customer”: { “key”: “[email protected]” }, “discount_amount”: 8.00, “gross_amount”: 40.00, “discount_code”: “SAVE20” } Minimum needed to derive the discount percentage (gross is inferred as 32 + 8 = 40): { “key”: “order_12345”, “amount”: 32.00, “customer”: { “key”: “[email protected]” }, “discount_amount”: 8.00 }
 The same fields are supported per item when creating transactions in bulk via the transactions array. Javascript library partnero(‘track’, ‘transaction’, { key: ‘order_12345’, amount: 32.00, // net amount paid (after discount) amount_units: ‘USD’, customer: { key: ‘[email protected]’ }, discount_amount: 8.00, // optional gross_amount: 40.00, // optional; defaults to amount + discount_amount discount_code: ‘SAVE20’ // optional });
 If you don’t send any discount fields, the transaction behaves exactly as before and no adjustment is applied.