Guide · Affiliate programme for online shops
Start an affiliate programme: 5 steps to a running partner programme for your online shop
An affiliate programme puts your online shop in front of influencers, creators and bloggers who only earn money when they bring you a sale. This guide walks you through the five steps from first idea to a running programme, what it costs and how to choose between building it yourself, software and a network. selecdoo is now opening to UK brands.
What is an affiliate programme for online shops?
An affiliate programme is an agreement in which your online shop pays publishers such as influencers, creators and bloggers for the sales they refer. You set the commission, tracking attributes each order to the right publisher, and you only pay when a purchase happens and is confirmed.
With paid advertising you buy clicks or impressions and carry the risk that they produce no revenue. With affiliate marketing that risk moves: the commission only arises once an order has come in. Publishers like this because they earn from what they actually trigger. You like it because the reach you buy is tied to results.
There are three roles. You are the advertiser and provide products, commission and terms. Publishers promote your offer in their own channels. An affiliate network such as selecdoo supplies the platform in between: tracking, payment of publishers and visibility for your shop with curated publishers.
The 5 steps to a running affiliate programme
The order matters, because each step builds on the one before. If you work through them from top to bottom, you end up with a programme that measures cleanly, pays fairly and is attractive to publishers.
Step 1: Set a goal and a commission
Decide first what the programme should achieve: additional new customers, more revenue in one product group or less dependence on paid advertising. That tells you what commission you can afford. With selecdoo you set the commission yourself, and it is calculated on the net basket, so without shipping and without tax.
The section on commission further down explains how to arrive at the number. What matters is that you know before launch the most a sale may cost you.
Step 2: Set up tracking
Without tracking there is no affiliate programme, because it is the only way to attribute an order to a publisher. On Starter you add a pixel to your shop or use the Shopify app. Attribution follows the last-click principle or a voucher code. For the technology and data protection side, read about cookieless affiliate tracking.
If you use Shopify, the page on setting up a Shopify affiliate programme takes you through installing the app.
Step 3: Prepare programme terms and creative material
Publishers want to know what they may promote and how they get paid. Write down which products are in the programme, which commission applies, what is not allowed and when an order counts as confirmed. On Starter, orders are confirmed automatically after 30 days. Until then you can enter cancellations yourself.
Add creative material: good product images, clear descriptions and, if you offer them, voucher codes. The easier it is for a publisher to present your offer, the more likely they are to do it.
Step 4: Recruit publishers
A programme without publishers produces no revenue. On Starter your shop is visible to publishers in the network from day 1. Active publisher outreach by selecdoo starts with Growth. Shops do not receive publishers' contact details; selecdoo publisher support handles the communication.
What attracts publishers and what they look for is covered in the guide to recruiting affiliates for your programme. As selecdoo is only now opening to UK brands, we do not quote reach figures for the UK.
Step 5: Review and optimise
Once the first orders arrive, look at three things: which publishers bring revenue, how high the cancellation rate is and whether the commission works for both sides. If you see no sales after a few weeks, check the tracking first, then the offer and the commission.
As the programme grows, a move to Growth with API tracking and automatic cancellation detection can make sense. You decide when that fits.
What does an affiliate programme cost?
It depends on the route. As an example of a network with a monthly fee, Awin states on its own pricing page for the entry plan, Access, £99 + VAT a month plus a 3.5% tracking fee per transaction (as at 4 November 2026). On selecdoo Starter you pay a €0 monthly fee, a €500 deposit that is offset against commissions, and a 30% network fee on actual publisher commissions. Billed in EUR.
| Route | One-off costs | Running costs | Access to publishers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself | Development and setup, effort depends on scope | Maintenance, paying publishers, support | None, you find every publisher yourself |
| Software | Setting up the software | Licence fee, depending on the provider | None, you find every publisher yourself |
| Network with a monthly fee (example: Awin Access, per Awin's UK website, as at 4 November 2026) | No joining fee; depending on the plan and integration, a one-off integration fee may apply | £99 + VAT a month plus a 3.5% tracking fee per transaction, plus commissions | Yes, through the network |
| selecdoo Starter | Setup €0 (about £0), deposit €500 billed in EUR, offset in full against commissions | Monthly fee €0 (about £0), network fee 30% on actual publisher commissions | Yes, visible to curated publishers from day 1 |
The Awin figures come from Awin's UK website (awin.com/gb/advertisers/awin-access and awin.com/gb/faqs), as at 4 November 2026. Individual providers may differ. Amounts for selecdoo are in euros and billed in EUR; see the [pricing page](/pricing), which also lists UK network costs with sources.
A worked example on Starter: with a net basket of €100 and 10% commission, the publisher earns €10. The network fee of 30% on that commission is €3. The sale costs you €13 in total. If there is no sale, there is no commission and no network fee. The €500 deposit is not a fee: it is offset against commissions.
The full terms are on the page about the affiliate programme with no fixed costs on Starter.
Network, software or build it yourself?
Building it yourself gives you full control but costs development time and brings no publishers. Software takes care of the technology, but you still have to find the publishers. A network provides technology and access to publishers; in return you pay a fee on commissions and agree terms with the network.
The choice depends on your goal. If you already have a large community or many fixed partners, software can be enough because you bring the publishers. If you want to reach new publishers, you need a platform where publishers look for offers. Building it yourself usually only pays off when tracking and payouts are part of your core business.
We compare the three routes on cost, effort and reach in the comparison of build it yourself, software and network.
What commission should you offer?
The commission has to fit your margin. First work out how much of the net basket is left after cost of goods, shipping and returns, then set the commission so that a sale remains profitable for you. Publishers compare offers, and a fair offer gets promoted more readily than a tight one.
Remember that with selecdoo the network fee of 30% on the publisher commission comes on top. Plan for both when you calculate what a sale costs. A different commission for different product groups can make sense, for example when high-margin products can carry more than low-margin ones.
Use the commission calculator for affiliate programmes to try different values and see what is left for you. It is better to start with a fair commission and adjust it after the first results than to pick a number publishers find unattractive.
Frequently asked questions about starting an affiliate programme
Ready for your affiliate programme?
Start with no monthly fee on Starter: €0 a month (about £0), a €500 deposit billed in EUR and offset against commissions. Or talk through the right plan for your shop in a discovery call. Average ROAS above 5x (as of November 2026).