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Recurring Payments Commission

Affiliates earn commission on every payment from referred customers for a set duration. Perfect for subscriptions and SaaS products.

Emil Klitmose

Written by Emil Klitmose

Updated recently

With Recurring Payments commission, affiliates earn money on every payment from customers they refer. You can set how long affiliates earn commissions: 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 months, or lifetime.

How It Works

Revshare tracks recurring payments using customer IDs:

  1. Customer clicks affiliate link and makes first purchase
  2. Revshare records the sale with customer ID and first purchase date
  3. Affiliate earns commission on first purchase
  4. For each subsequent payment with the same customer ID, Revshare checks if it's within the duration window
  5. If within duration, affiliate earns commission; if outside, no commission

The duration is calculated from the first purchase date, not from each payment date.

Duration Options

Choose how long affiliates earn commissions:

  • 1 month: Commission only on first payment
  • 3 months: Commission on first 3 monthly payments
  • 6 months: Commission on first 6 monthly payments
  • 12 months: Commission on first year of payments (recommended for most SaaS)
  • 24 months: Commission on first 2 years of payments
  • Lifetime: Commission on every payment forever

Duration is calculated from the date of the first purchase. If a customer pays monthly, a 12-month duration means affiliates earn commission on payments 1-12, but not payment 13+.

Customer Tracking

Revshare uses customer IDs to identify repeat customers. Always pass the same customer ID for the same customer:

Payment Provider Examples

  • Stripe: session.customer or charge.customer
  • Paddle: event.data.customer_id
  • Lemon Squeezy: event.data.attributes.customer_id
  • Custom API: Pass customer_id in your API call

If you don't pass a customer ID, Revshare uses the customer email as a fallback. However, using customer IDs is more reliable for recurring tracking.

Tip: See our Integration Guide for examples of passing customer IDs with different payment providers.

Example

Scenario: 20% commission, $50/month subscription, 12-month duration

Month 1:Customer pays $50 → Affiliate earns $10 ✓ (within 12 months)
Month 6:Customer pays $50 → Affiliate earns $10 ✓ (within 12 months)
Month 12:Customer pays $50 → Affiliate earns $10 ✓ (within 12 months)
Month 13:Customer pays $50 → No commission (outside 12-month window)
Month 24:Customer pays $50 → No commission (outside 12-month window)

Lifetime option: Set duration to "Lifetime" to pay affiliates commission on every payment forever. Great for long-term partnerships and high-value affiliates.

Use Cases

Recurring Payments commission works best for:

  • SaaS subscriptions: Monthly or annual recurring billing
  • Membership sites: Ongoing access fees
  • Subscription boxes: Monthly product deliveries
  • Recurring services: Any business with repeat billing
  • Upsells: When customers upgrade or add features

Need one-time commissions? Check out First Purchase for products without recurring billing.