Standard Affiliate, VIP Partner, and Storefront

The short explanation

Affilyn uses two partner tiers by default:

• Standard Affiliate (Tier 1) is the link-based partner relationship. The partner promotes products with tracked links, monitors performance, manages payout details, and works with the merchant without needing a personal storefront.
• VIP Partner (Tier 2) is the deeper brand-partner relationship. The partner keeps the standard tools and can receive enabled premium tools such as a personal storefront, bundles, advanced analytics, discount controls, premium assets, UGC rights, and gifting.
• A Storefront is the shopper-facing page associated with a VIP partner. It presents the partner's story, selected products, content, offers, and tracking context. It is not a third partner tier.

Merchants can rename the two tiers. For example, Tier 1 could be called Ambassador and Tier 2 could be called Creator Partner. The underlying access model is still Tier 1 and Tier 2.

Four objects that should not be confused

The active store matters. Switching stores can change the tier label, commission rules, available tools, products, storefront configuration, links, analytics, payout context, and contracts shown in the dashboard.

The relationship flow

Merchant store
    |
    +-- defines Tier 1 and Tier 2 names, commission rates, and feature mapping
    |
    +-- creates or approves a partner relationship
            |
            +-- Tier 1: Standard Affiliate
            |      |
            |      +-- tracked links
            |      +-- profile, stores, payouts, and contracts
            |      +-- progress toward Tier 2 when evaluation is enabled
            |
            +-- Tier 2: VIP Partner
                   |
                   +-- keeps the standard partner tools
                   +-- receives enabled VIP tools
                   +-- receives a storefront record if one does not exist
                              |
                              +-- content and layout
                              +-- featured products and bundles
                              +-- access, discount, and SEO settings
                              +-- public or protected shopper experience

Tier 1: Standard Affiliate

ScreenshotTier 1

Local image

Tier 1 is the normal starting point for a partner who promotes a merchant's products through tracked links. The current Tier Configuration screen describes this model as suitable for link-based partners such as bloggers, coupon publishers, and micro-influencers, but a merchant may use it for any standard partner relationship.

Default Tier 1 work

Affiliate Links are enabled for both tiers in the default feature matrix. Other premium feature keys default to off for Tier 1, although a merchant can change the store's tier feature mapping.

How Tier 1 earns commission

Partner copies tracked link
          ↓
Shopper opens the merchant product or partner experience
          ↓
Affilyn records attribution context
          ↓
Shopper places an eligible order
          ↓
Commission is calculated from the applicable rate and basis
          ↓
Commission completes its hold period
          ↓
Eligible balance can enter the payout workflow

The tier's commission rate is a default. A partner-specific commission override or campaign rate can change the effective rate for a particular relationship or campaign. Attribution rules, refunds, fraud review, hold periods, and payout policy also affect what eventually becomes payable.

Tier 2: VIP Partner

ScreenshotTier 2

Local image

Tier 2 represents a higher-touch relationship for a partner who may curate a shopper experience and work more deeply with the merchant's brand. A VIP Partner still has the standard partner tools; Tier 2 adds the premium feature set that the merchant has enabled and that the merchant's subscription includes.

Default VIP feature mapping

These are defaults, not promises that every VIP partner sees every tool. The merchant controls the tier feature matrix per store, and the merchant's current subscription plan must also include the underlying capability.

The three access gates

A feature opens only when all applicable gates pass:

This explains why:

• A partner can see storefront tools in Store B but not Store A.
• Two VIP partners in different merchant programs may see different features.
• A merchant may enable a feature for Tier 2 but still need a plan that includes it.
• Being called “VIP” does not override store status, feature mapping, or plan access.

What a storefront is

ScreenshotStorefront

Local image

A storefront is a personalized commerce layer for a partner. It is delivered through the merchant store's configured app-proxy path and uses the partner's slug. It does not replace the merchant's Shopify online store, checkout, catalog, inventory, or order system.

The storefront can contain:

• Partner headline, biography, photo, hero image, and hero video
• Welcome and post-purchase thank-you messages
• Configurable content sections and responsive layout
• Products selected from the current merchant store
• Partner notes about featured products
• Curated bundles built from the current storefront product selection
• Public, password-protected, or token-based access
• Visible or hidden discount presentation
• All-product, featured-product, or category-based discount scope where enabled
• Page title and meta description for search presentation
• Seasonal styling and merchant-approved brand content where available

Draft, protected, and public are different states

Creating the storefront does not publish it. The VIP partner or merchant should add content and products, check access and discount settings, preview all device sizes, and then publish when the experience is ready.

From storefront visit to commission

Shopper opens a VIP partner storefront
                  ↓
The storefront shows that partner's content and store-scoped products
                  ↓
The shopper opens a product or adds an eligible item to cart
                  ↓
Partner and store attribution context travels through the shopping journey
                  ↓
Shopify completes the order
                  ↓
Affilyn records the attributed order and calculates commission
                  ↓
Merchant and partner review performance in their respective dashboards

A storefront makes discovery and recommendation more personal, but the same commercial safeguards still apply: attribution rules determine credit, commission rules determine earnings, Shopify remains the order authority, and payout rules determine when funds become available.

How someone becomes Tier 1 or Tier 2

A merchant can create a partner directly, invite an existing verified partner, or approve a public application. The store relationship receives a tier during that process.

Application intake can use a configured score based on signals such as invitation source, verified social following, content type, engagement, and merchant tags. If signals require review or are unavailable, the intake logic can force the safer Tier 1 result for merchant review.

After onboarding, tier movement can follow one of three modes:

Configured evaluation thresholds can include revenue, order count, conversion rate, follower count, and a 30-, 60-, or 90-day evaluation window. A threshold set to zero does not block qualification. Nonzero thresholds must all pass.

What promotion changes

When a Tier 1 partner becomes Tier 2:

1. The store relationship changes to Tier 2 and the tier event is recorded.
2. Tier 2 onboarding is made available to the partner.
3. A storefront is created if the partner does not already have one.
4. Enabled Tier 2 navigation and API access become available after all access gates pass.
5. A promotion message can be sent.
6. Welcome gifting can be triggered when auto-seeding is enabled and configured.

Promotion does not automatically finish storefront content, select products, publish bundles, or make the storefront public.

Tier locking, retention, and demotion

• Tier lock prevents automated tier movement for that store relationship. A merchant can use it to preserve an intentional tier assignment.
• Unlocked Tier 2 relationships can be evaluated for retention when automated evaluation is active.
• The current retention check uses half of the configured minimum revenue threshold. Repeated failures can create a demotion-review flag for the merchant.
• A flag is a review signal, not an automatic deletion of the partner's work.
• The merchant can review the partner, demote, lock the tier, or dismiss the flag.

When a partner is demoted from Tier 2 to Tier 1, VIP editing and upload access is reduced. If the partner has no other active Tier 2 store relationship, the storefront is unpublished to draft and published bundles return to draft. Content is preserved rather than deleted. If another active store still grants Tier 2, the shared storefront record is not globally drafted.

Multi-store example

Suppose Maya works with two merchants:

Maya has one partner login, but the store switcher changes her working context. A link created for Northwind should not be treated as a Contoso link, and Contoso VIP access does not automatically make Maya VIP in Northwind.

Merchant example

A merchant might use this progression:

1. Approve new applicants as Tier 1 so they can begin with tracked links.
2. Set Tier 1 commission to 10% and Tier 2 commission to 20%.
3. Evaluate performance over 90 days using revenue, orders, conversion, and follower thresholds.
4. Use Recommend & Approve so the merchant reviews brand fit before promotion.
5. Promote a qualifying partner to Tier 2.
6. Review the newly provisioned storefront with the partner.
7. Add products, content, access rules, discounts, and SEO.
8. Preview the shopper experience and publish it for the campaign.

Common misunderstandings

Where to go next

• Merchants: configure names, commissions, feature mapping, promotion mode, and thresholds in Tier Configuration.
• Standard Affiliates: begin with the Standard Affiliate guide.
• VIP Partners: continue with VIP onboarding and Storefront content and layout.
• Multi-store partners: read Store affiliations and tier access.
• Merchants and shoppers: review the Public storefront experience.