Recurring affiliate income from an ecommerce platform: how the maths works for a freelancer or creator
Bounties against recurring commission, worked out for ten referred shops with churn, holds and payout thresholds, plus the terms to check, UK disclosure rules, the tax, and the published terms of Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Orbit. Checked 9 November 2026.
This guide is for a freelancer, YouTuber or course creator who recommends tools and wants to know whether sending shops to an ecommerce platform can become a steady income. It covers how a one-off bounty compares with a recurring commission, what ten referred shops are worth under stated assumptions, the terms to read first, the UK rules on telling your audience, and the tax. Disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, and our affiliate programme is the worked example, so weigh those parts accordingly. Every figure was checked against its linked source on 9 November 2026; Orbit’s programme figures are quoted as at the time of checking, because our team can change them.
In short
- A bounty pays once per shop. A recurring commission pays a share of every invoice the shop goes on paying: less at first, more in every month it stays.
- Ten shops on Orbit’s Solo plan earn £62.50 a month at the 25% rate in force at the time of checking; three on Team instead and it is £107.50.
- Affiliate links are advertising: label them “Ad”, upfront. Since 6 April 2025 the CMA can fine a business directly.
- Commission is trading income: the £1,000 trading allowance, Self Assessment above it and the £90,000 VAT threshold apply.
One-off bounty or recurring commission: which pays more?
A bounty is a fixed sum when a shop you sent becomes a paying customer, paid once. A recurring commission is a percentage of every invoice the shop pays, for a set number of months or for as long as it stays. The bounty lands sooner; the commission only becomes income if you send shops that last.
Suppose a bounty programme pays £100 a shop (an assumption, not any platform’s published rate) and you refer ten shops in one month, all of which go on to pay. The bounty earns £1,000, once. On Orbit’s programme, at the time of checking, ten shops on Solo at £25 a month ex VAT earn 25% of each payment, £6.25 a shop, so £62.50 a month: the recurring total reaches £1,000 in month 16, if all ten are still paying. Put three on Team at £85 (£21.25 a shop) and the monthly figure is £107.50, which passes £1,000 in month 10. The commission is still arriving in year three, with no new work from you.
How the maths works for ten referred shops
The table uses Orbit’s plan prices ex VAT at the 25% rate: Solo £25 a month or £225 a year, Team £85 or £765, Pro £249 or £2,241, Enterprise £999 or £8,991. Commission is on the plan price excluding VAT only; add-ons, free trials and £0 invoices do not earn, so a shop’s first commission comes with its first paid invoice after the 14-day trial.
| Scenario | Commission a month | First 12 months | Assumptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Ten shops on Solo, monthly billing | £62.50 | £750 | All ten start paying in month one and none leave |
| B. Seven on Solo, three on Team | £107.50 | £1,290 | As A, with three shops on the £85 plan |
| C. Scenario B with churn | £107.50, then £88.75 | £1,177.50 | Three Solo shops cancel after their sixth payment |
Churn cuts the figure: a shop that stops paying stops earning, so C loses £112.50 against B, and a referral that never gets past the trial earns nothing. Referrals spread over a year build up: one new Solo shop a month for twelve months gives £487.50 in year one and £900 in year two if none leave. And a shop that pays yearly pays once, so a Solo shop on annual billing earns £56.25 in one commission rather than twelve of £6.25, and a Team shop £191.25.
Timing: each commission is held for 30 days before it clears, and payouts run on the 1st of the month once the cleared balance reaches £50. One Solo shop on monthly billing needs eight payments to reach £50, so its first payout arrives roughly nine months after it signed up; ten Solo shops together are paid about two to three months in, and one shop on annual billing clears the threshold on its own.
What do good affiliate terms look like?
Every programme publishes a rate; the terms underneath decide the money. Check these six.
| Term | Why it matters | Orbit, at the time of checking |
|---|---|---|
| Attribution window | How long after a click a signup still counts as yours | 30 days from the click; last click wins; one affiliate per shop |
| Hold | How long a commission waits before it clears | 30 days, then approved on its own |
| Payout day and minimum | When money moves, and the balance you need first | The 1st of the month from £50, through Stripe to a bank account or debit card, in pounds |
| Refunds | One commission voided, or your whole balance | Only that payment’s commission; a partial refund shrinks it in proportion, a chargeback voids it |
| Exclusions and conduct | Trials, add-ons, your own business, cashback, brand bidding | Trials, £0 invoices and plugin, AI and email add-ons do not earn; no self-referral, undisclosed cashback or bidding on the Orbit name; a generic link may not be sold as an exclusive discount |
| Changes and leaving | Whether a rate cut reaches shops already referred, and whether leavers are paid out | Changes apply to future referrals only; on leaving, cleared commission is paid in the next cycle even below the minimum |
Do you have to say it is an ad? The UK disclosure rules
Yes, every time, in a way your audience sees before they click. The ASA’s advice on affiliate marketing says that once you are paid for clicks or sales, your content about the brand is advertising under the CAP Code. Its example label is “Ad”; “affiliate” alone was not understood, and a disclaimer at the foot of a post is unlikely to be enough. Put it in a post’s title, a video’s title or thumbnail, and at the start of a social post (ASA Advice Online, checked 9 November 2026).
The ASA and CMA’s influencers’ guide (October 2026) says: “When a link or discount code means you get paid for ‘click-through’s’ or sales, it’s ‘affiliate marketing’ and counts as advertising.” It tells creators to avoid “aff” and “afflink”, and adds: “If in doubt, label it.” The CMA’s guide (updated 3 September 2025) counts commissions among the incentives to disclose and wants the label visible without tapping for more (CMA guide, checked 9 November 2026).
Behind the guidance is the law. Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists practices that are unfair in all circumstances, among them “using editorial content in the media to promote a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear” (paragraph 12) and posing as a consumer (paragraph 25), in force since 6 April 2025 (legislation.gov.uk, checked 9 November 2026). Under the same Act the CMA can itself decide that a business has broken consumer law and “fine them up to 10% of their global turnover”, without going to court (CMA announcement, 7 April 2025). Both creator and brand are responsible, so Orbit’s programme terms make disclosure “in line with ASA and CMA guidance” a condition of membership, and our resources kit offers paste-ready lines such as “Ad: I earn a commission if you sign up through my link.”
Tax on affiliate income: the trading allowance, Self Assessment and VAT
Commission is trading income. If you are an individual and your gross trading income for the tax year, commission plus other self-employed takings, is £1,000 or less, HMRC’s trading allowance usually means you need not tell them. Above £1,000 you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October in the following tax year, and on your return you deduct either the £1,000 allowance or your actual expenses (HMRC trading allowance guidance, checked 9 November 2026). If you already file as a freelancer, the commission goes on the same return. The allowance is for individuals: if the affiliate account is your limited company’s, the commission is the company’s income.
VAT: you must register once taxable turnover, everything you sell that is not exempt or out of scope, passes £90,000 in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to in the next 30 days (gov.uk, VAT registration, checked 9 November 2026). Commission is a service you supply, so it counts towards that figure. Orbit’s terms make the affiliate responsible for “all taxes payable on commission you earn under these Terms, including any VAT, income tax, and self-employment taxes”; the dashboard exports a CSV ledger and PDF statements for your books. This is general information, not tax advice.
How creators actually earn from a platform programme
Three patterns do most of the work, and each is only as good as the shops it sends.
- Build the client’s shop and hand it over. On Orbit, at the time of checking, you create a development store inside your own affiliate login; it never bills and takes no live payments while you build. Send it to the client’s email address when it is ready: they accept, choose a plan and pay straight away with no free trial, and the handover credits the shop to you, so every plan payment after it earns. An AI assistant such as Claude can be connected to your affiliate account to build and hand over the dev store, with live payments off throughout. If you keep running the shops, the agency dashboard is the other route; running client shops as an agency compares the two.
- Tutorials and walkthroughs. A video showing how to set up shipping earns from the link in its description for years. Orbit gives every campaign its own link, with its own clicks, signups and paying shops, and a QR code for slides and handouts.
- Comparisons and reviews. Readers choosing between platforms are close to a decision, and an accurate comparison with dated prices and the jobs each platform is built for goes on sending signups long after it is published. Our 25 ways to make money online and UK side hustles posts show the tone to aim for.
How do the Shopify, Squarespace, Wix and Orbit affiliate programmes compare?
Each row was read on the company’s own pages on 9 November 2026; where a page states no figure, the table says so.
| Programme | What it pays, as published | Tracking | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Affiliates | “Up to $150 USD per qualified referral”: $150 for a UK, US or most European merchant on a Basic, Grow or Advanced plan at full price; $25 in some regions | 30 days from the click; a trial store tracked up to 400 days | On the 22nd for the prior month; $10 minimum; bank deposit or PayPal |
| Shopify Partners (client transfer store) | 20% of the merchant’s monthly base platform fee plus 0.1% of eligible monthly sales, each for four years, in US dollars, “at Shopify’s discretion” | You build the store and transfer it | Monthly; 30-day hold on the first payout |
| Squarespace Affiliates and Circle | Amount not published on either page; payouts for website or commerce subscriptions from first-time customers, “currently made in U.S. dollars” | Not stated | Through Impact |
| Wix Affiliates | Amount not published; paid when a referred user converts “as a Premium subscriber”, with “recurring payouts, month after month”; rates “may vary in some states” | Not stated | Through Impact |
| Orbit Commerce | 25% of every plan payment, ex VAT, for as long as the shop remains a paying customer, at the time of checking | 30 days from the click; last click wins | The 1st of the month from £50, through Stripe, in pounds |
The Shopify Partners line is the closest cousin of Orbit’s dev stores: both pay a share of the client’s platform fee after a handover, Shopify’s for four years in dollars, Orbit’s for as long as the shop pays, in pounds. Sources: Shopify Affiliates and its payout rates, Shopify Partners, Squarespace Affiliates and Circle, Wix Affiliates.
Where Orbit fits
The Orbit Commerce affiliate programme is free to join; our team reviews every application, usually within a few days, and the form asks about your channels. At the time of checking it pays 25% of every Orbit plan invoice a referred shop pays, excluding VAT, renewals and plan changes included, with no end date while the programme stays on its recurring model. Attribution is 30 days from the click, each commission is held 30 days, and payouts go out on the 1st of the month through Stripe once your cleared balance reaches £50.
The shops you send pay the prices on the pricing page, from Solo at £25 a month ex VAT, each with a 14-day trial and no card. If you keep running shops, compare the agency programme; if a client’s shop needs code, what custom development should cost explains fixed quotes. Apply at affiliate.myorbitcommerce.net; the programme terms and the resources kit, with its dated numbers sheet, are linked from the affiliates page.
Read next: memberships for creators on your own site and selling fixed-price design and marketing packages.
Questions people ask about recurring affiliate income
Is recurring affiliate commission better than a one-off bounty?
It depends on how long the shops you refer keep paying. Ten shops on Orbit’s Solo plan earn £62.50 a month, match an assumed £100-a-shop bounty in month 16 if all ten are still paying, and are still earning in year three; a bounty pays sooner and once.
How much do you earn per referral on the Orbit Commerce affiliate programme?
At the time of checking, 25% of every Orbit plan payment the shop makes, excluding VAT, for as long as it remains a paying customer: £6.25 a month for a shop on Solo at £25, £21.25 for Team at £85, £62.25 for Pro at £249 and £249.75 for Enterprise at £999. Add-ons, free trials and £0 invoices do not earn, and the rates in force are published in the affiliate dashboard.
When does an affiliate commission actually get paid?
On Orbit, each commission is created when the shop pays a plan invoice, held for 30 days, then approved on its own. Payouts run on the 1st of the month once your cleared balance reaches £50. One Solo shop on monthly billing needs eight payments to reach £50, so its first payout arrives roughly nine months after it signs up.
Do I have to label affiliate links as ads in the UK?
Yes. The ASA treats content carrying an affiliate link or code as advertising under the CAP Code, and the ASA and CMA both ask for a clear “Ad” label before the content; “aff”, “affiliate” and “spon” are not enough. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans paid promotion in editorial content that is not made clear, and since 6 April 2025 the CMA can fine a business directly.
Do I pay tax on affiliate income in the UK?
Commission is trading income. An individual whose gross trading income is £1,000 or less in a tax year is usually covered by the trading allowance; above that you register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year and pay tax on the profit, deducting either the allowance or your expenses. Commission counts towards the £90,000 VAT registration threshold.
Before you recommend any platform, use it: the 14-day free trial, no card required, is long enough to build a test shop and decide whether it belongs in your next video.