Managing & Tracking Payments

If you're participating in a campaign, your Creator Dashboard is a hub for all your collaborations with the brand or agency – including the payment status, invoices, and history.

Getting Started

If you're participating in an affiliate program with a brand or agency that allows you to earn commission when your followers make purchases using your affiliate link or coupon code, you can view your commission details directly in your Creator Dashboard.

In this article, we’ll walk you through where to find data about your affiliate performance and commissions, and explain the details shown for each transaction.

Expand the below sections for instructions on finding and understanding your commission information:

In your Creator Dashboard, look for the Performance page your left-hand side navigation menu, which should look something like this:

The Performance page displays your affiliate performance across all your current and past campaigns in one place, split into three different views:

• Overview — Summarizes key metrics across all campaigns you have participated in. If you are earning payments through affiliate links or commissions, a Commissions & Sales section will also displayed at the bottom of the page.
• Links — Combines performance data across all your tracked links, including clicks, transactions, commissions, and sales.
• Commissions & Sales — Provides you with details about each transaction that uses one of your tracked links, broken down by status (Approved, Pending, or Declined) and currency. Please note that if you are earning commissions in more than one currency, you'll only be able to view performance for one currency at a time.

Note: If you do not see a Links tab in your Performance page, this means that you do not currently have any affiliate links associated with your creator profile. Similarly, if you cannot see a Commissions & Sales tab, this means that you do not have any transactions associated with your account yet. If this is not expected, please reach out to your Campaign Manager, or contact the CreatorIQ Support team. 

From each tab within the Performance page, you can use the available filters to locate specific links or transactions, allowing you take a closer look at what is driving your performance and sales. From here, you can also export the data into a CSV spreadsheet if you would like to save this information for your personal records.

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Tip: Use the Link Generator to rename your links to include the linked product and link placement. This makes it easier to track which links and link placements are driving the most commission, and allows you to use this information to optimize your affiliate link usage.

For example, labelling your link 'Coffee Face Mask | Link in Bio' would enable you easily see which commissions were from the coffee face mask you linked in your bio, and if this link performed well, optimize your performance by adding more links to your bio in future, or linking to similar products.

When you log in to your Creator Dashboard, look for a Promo Codes section, similar to this: 

In this section you'll see details for any active codes, and below this you can click View Performance to open to open your Promo Code Performance window.

In this window, you will see a detailed overview of your promo code sales and commission transactions like the one below.

From here, you can select a date range using the Select Period button to view your performance totals and use the CSV icon () to download a spreadsheet of your transactions.

 

If you have further questions about your affiliate performance or commissions, please reach out to your Campaign Manager, or contact the CreatorIQ Support team. 

Congrats on completing your campaign collaboration! Your payment invoices are located in your Creator Dashboard and Campaign Details Page.

Creator Dashboard

1. In your Creator Dashboard, click on Campaigns.
2. Select the Completed Campaigns sub-tab.
3. The maximum payment amount will appear in the third column.

Campaign Details Page

1. In your Creator Dashboard, select the campaign to see its invoice.
2. Scroll to Get Paid and click the agreed-upon amount.
3. A window will appear with a breakdown of your requirements and payment amount.

When you are working with a brand or agency on a paid opportunity, you should see the total payable amount listed at the top of your Campaign Details page:

Additionally, you can look out for the 'Get Paid' section on your Campaign Details page to see how your total payable amount breaks down:

In this example, you can click on the Earn up to $50 button to view the payment summary based on the Campaign Requirements. If the payments are split by post, you'll see multiple line items listed here:

If you received payments from a partnering brand or agency through your Creator Dashboard in the previous year, you should expect to receive your 1099 tax form(s) in January. Unless you specified that you would like to receive your form(s) electronically during your payment onboarding, you will receive your tax document(s) via postal delivery to the address you provided as part of your payment information.

FAQs

Once your partnering brand or agency has approved your payment, and your payment has been sent (the timeline for this can vary based on the brand or agency you're working with), it typically takes 1-3 business days to process and reach your account. The exact timeline depends on the payment method you've chosen, as well as your bank and location - for more information about your brand or agency’s estimated payout timeframes, refer to your Campaign terms and conditions, or reach out to your Campaign Manager.

• ACH or Bank Transfer: 1 - 3 business days
• PayPal: Same day - 2 business days

If you're expecting payment for your participation in a campaign, please use the link provided by your partnering brand or agency to log in to your Creator Dashboard, head to provide all the information requested in Sections I and II below.

Adding or Updating Your Payment Information

Your payment details contain sensitive financial information. To help keep your account secure, only you can view or update this information directly within your Creator Dashboard — our Support team is unable to enter or change payment information on your behalf.

1. Navigate to the email you received from your partnering brand or agency. 
2. Use the link within the email to open your Creator Dashboard.
3. If you have logged in to the Creator Dashboard for this partnering brand or agency before, enter your email and password. If you are logging into this Dashboard for the first time, use the Sign Up button to create your login credentials.
4. Click the Profile button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.
5. In the Profile Information page, select the Payment Info tab.
6. Add or update your payment information.

Section I: General Information

• Name
• Email address
• Signed W-9 (US) or W-8BEN (International)
• Bank account (Section II) or PayPal information (Section III)

Section II: Bank Account

• First and last name – enter exactly as it appears in your bank account
• Name of the financial institution
• Routing number
• Account number (checking account only)

Affiliate marketing can be a powerful tool for you to earn commissions when you promote products or services in your content. However, sometimes commissions can go untracked or the attribution chain can be broken, which can lead to differences in the commission that you earn and the commission that you expect. Understanding how affiliate tracking works and the reasons it may not work is crucial for effectively managing your affiliate partnerships.

How Affiliate Tracking Works

Affiliate tracking records the actions that happen after someone clicks on one of the unique links that you've provided to your audience. When a consumer makes a purchase through this link, an affiliate network, the sale can be directly attributed to you and that's how your commission payouts are calculated. This process typically involves tracking cookies or similar technologies that help recognize and remember the consumer’s journey from the affiliate link to the purchase.

Common Reasons for Missing Commissions

It can take up to 48 hours after a purchase is made for new transactions to synchronize and appear in your dashboard. If you're still not seeing a transaction appear after 48 hours, it may be due to certain actions that your followers can take that might interrupt the affiliate tracking process. Some common ones include: 

• Browser Switching: If a consumer opens your affiliate link in one browser (e.g., Instagram's in-app browser) and then switches to another browser (like Chrome or the retailer’s mobile app) to complete the purchase, the tracking cookie may not carry over. This means that the purchase is no longer tied to your unique link, and so any commissions that you might earned through this purchase cannot be recorded.
• Coupon or Discount Browser Extensions: Browser extensions like Honey that are designed to automatically apply coupons on the checkout page can override your affiliate link. These extensions may end up "taking credit" for the purchase, leading to a loss of commission for you.
• Advanced Privacy Settings: Some consumers use advanced privacy settings or cookie blockers. Features like Apple’s “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” or ad blocking extensions can  the functionality of affiliate tracking cookies, which interferes with the tracking process.
• Non-Eligible Items: Certain products or services may not be eligible for commissions. These can include gift cards, items under specific promotions, or certain categories like services. If a consumer purchases only these non-eligible items through your link, the sale may not be recorded in the affiliate network. The brand that you are partnering with will determine what items are eligible on their website, so policies that apply to one partnership won't necessarily apply to other affiliate partnerships that you engage in.
• Subsequent Clicks: If a consumer clicks on another link or ad before making a purchase, but after clicking on your unique link, this can override the attribution for the sale. Affiliate networks often use a "last click" attribution model, where the last click before the purchase is credited for the sale. For example, if a consumer clicks on your link and then clicks on an ad on the retailer's website, the commission might be attributed to the ad instead of your affiliate link.

Troubleshooting Missing Commissions

If you think you might be missing commissions for a transaction, here are some ways that you can figure out what happened:

• Verify Link Destination: Ensure the destination URL you use to generate your tracking link doesn't contain conflicting tracking information (e.g. UTM parameters) that could interfere with affiliate tracking. Avoid using links from sources like Google Ads, as these links often include additional tracking parameters.
• Check the Eligibility of Products: Check the terms of your partnership and be aware of which products or services are eligible for commissions. You may need to reach out to the brand that you are partnering with to verify this information, and you can choose to communicate these exceptions to your audience when you promote your link.

Contacting Us for Support

If you believe an order should have been attributed to you but you're missing the commission that should have been earned, please contact us for assistance. Be sure to provide the following information so we can help you get to a resolution as fast as possible:

• Order ID/Number: The unique identifier for the specific transaction.
• Date of the Order: The date and time (if available) the purchase was made.
• Subtotal/Amount: The subtotal for the purchase before discounts, shipping and taxes. If the subtotal is not available, please provide the total value of the order instead.

Congratulations on your collaboration! To ensure there aren't any interruptions when receiving payment for completing your collaboration, you must fill out an IRS tax form – which depends on whether you reside in or out of the United States.

W-9 Form

The W-9 IRS form should be used for creators residing in the United States. With this form, your partnering brand or agency will receive your Tax Identification Number – or TIN – for payment.

🌎 IRS.gov source: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf

W-8BEN Form

The W-8BEN IRS form is for creators residing outside of the United States. This tax form declares your foreign status receiving income from United States sources. Moreover, you can claim treaty benefits and potentially reduce or eliminate the withholding tax.

🌎  IRS.gov source: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf