How to use the affiliate commission calculator
The Earnings tab is for publishers and creators. The Merchant side tab is for stores that pay affiliates.
- Enter monthly pageviews for the pages that carry your links, and the share of those views that click through to the merchant.
- Enter the conversion rate (the share of your clicks that become orders) and the average order value. Your network dashboard shows both once you have some history; for a new program, use the merchant’s published figures cautiously.
- Choose the commission type. Most retail programs pay a percentage of the sale; others pay a flat amount per sale or sign-up.
- Allow for orders that are not credited: returns, cancellations, and sales lost to the cookie window or to another affiliate’s link.
The formulas
Credited sales = Clicks × Conversion rate × (1 − Share not credited)
Commission per sale = Order value × Commission rate (or the flat amount)
Monthly commission = Credited sales × Commission per sale
EPC = Monthly commission ÷ Clicks
RPM = Monthly commission ÷ Pageviews × 1,000On the merchant side: Profit per sale = Order value × Gross margin − Commission × (1 + Network fee). Break-even commission rate = Gross margin ÷ (1 + Network fee).
A worked example
A review site gets 60,000 pageviews a month, and 5% of them click an affiliate link: 3,000 clicks. The merchant converts 4% of those clicks into orders worth $90 on average, and pays 8%.
That is 120 referred sales, of which 108 are credited after 10% are lost to returns and attribution. At $7.20 each, the commission is $777.60 a month, or $9,331 a year. The EPC is $0.2592 and the RPM $12.96.
On the other side, the merchant keeps $40.50 of gross profit on a $90 order. After the commission and a 20% network fee, the profit per affiliate sale is $31.86. The commission could rise to 37.5% before an affiliate sale stops paying.
Compare programs on EPC, not the rate
A higher commission rate is not always the better deal, because the merchant’s conversion rate matters just as much. With the same traffic:
| Program | Commission | Conversion rate | Per month | EPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program A | 8% | 4% | $777.60 | $0.2592 |
| Program B | 20% | 1.5% | $729.00 | $0.2430 |
| Flat fee | $10 per sale | 4% | $1,080.00 | $0.3600 |
Program B pays two and a half times the rate but earns less, because fewer of its visitors buy. Running both side by side for a few weeks and comparing EPC is more reliable than reading the commission table. A flat fee is worth more than a percentage when order values are low, and less when they are high.
The merchant’s view
For a merchant, affiliate commission is a cost per sale rather than a cost per click, so it never loses money on traffic that does not buy. The risk is paying for sales that would have happened anyway, for example through coupon sites that capture customers already at checkout. Without a network fee, the break-even rate in the example rises from 37.5% to 45.0%, which shows how much the fee structure matters. Repeat purchases by customers an affiliate brings in can justify a rate closer to the limit.
What this calculator does not include
The earnings figures are before tax and assume steady traffic and conversion, which seasonality and changes to the merchant’s site rarely allow. They ignore payment thresholds and delays, tiered rates that rise with volume, and lifetime or recurring commissions. Rates and terms differ between programs, so check the agreement for the cookie window, attribution rules and reversal policy.