How to Exclude Coupon Orders from Affiliate Commission in WooCommerce

Discounts are great. Affiliates are great.

But you know what’s not great?

Paying both a discount and an affiliate commission on the same order, when the affiliate might not have even earned it.

This is a common dilemma for WooCommerce store owners. You run a sale, a customer places an order and boom — an affiliate gets commission on top of that. Even if they didn’t do much.

Not fair, right?

That’s why we added a new rule in Affiliate for WooCommerce — now you can exclude coupon orders from affiliate commission. And also provide less commission in case coupons are used.

Let’s break it down (with real examples).

But first, here’s why this feature can save your money.

Why exclude coupon orders from affiliate commission?

Here’s why it actually makes sense:

• You’re already giving a discount — why pay commission too?
• Not every sale with a referral link is driven by the affiliate
• Affiliates might misuse leaked or public coupons
• Keeps your affiliate program fair and clean
• Helps prevent WooCommerce affiliate coupon abuse

Long story short — more control for you, fewer surprises on payout day.

New feature alert: Include/Exclude coupon orders from affiliate commission

With Affiliate for WooCommerce, you can now decide when an affiliate should earn commission — based on whether a coupon was used at checkout.

This new rule in Affiliate for WooCommerce lets you:

• Block commission on any order that uses a coupon
• Allow commission only when specific coupons are used (like referral coupons)
• Exclude commission on certain coupons (like sitewide, partner, or leaked ones)

Pretty straightforward, right?

Now comes the fun part — actually using these rules in your store.

No commission when any referral coupon is used

Let’s say you don’t want to assign affiliate commission if the customer uses a referral coupon — the one you assign directly to the affiliate.

These are custom coupons (like SARAH10, MIKE25) that affiliates can share with their audience instead of a referral link.

Now say you’re offering a big discount via the coupon, and don’t want to provide commission for these coupon orders.

Here’s how to set this up:

• First go to Affiliates > Plans > Add a plan.
• Now set this rule: Order - Coupons > is > Yes. This will make sure no commission is applied even if any Commission amount is set in the plan.
• Make the plan Active and click on Save.

This will ensure that if the coupon is applied for the order, there is no commission for the affiliates.

Overall, it helps you stop WooCommerce affiliate coupon abuse and make sure only genuine referrals get paid.

Block commission on specific store coupons only

Let’s say you have coupons – WELCOME10, SAVE50, and many more.

Now you don’t want affiliates to earn commission when customers redeem either of these two coupons.

Create the commission plan and set this rule:

• Order - Coupons > none of > WELCOME10, SAVE50.

This rule is helpful if you want to exclude sales or coupons from commissions during public promos or sitewide deals.

Reduced commission when certain coupons are used

Let’s say you still want to reward affiliates when certain promo coupons are used — but not the full rate, since the customer already got a discount.

For example:

• Normal commission = 20%
• Coupon-based commission = 10%

Create the commission plan and set this rule:

• Order - Coupons > any of > WELCOME10
• Commission = 10%

Take back control over commissions

Coupons are great. Affiliates are great. But blindly combining both? Not so much.

With this new “exclude coupon orders from affiliate commission” rule in Affiliate for WooCommerce, you get the power to:

• Stop misuse
• Protect your margins
• Reward real effort — not random coupon users

It’s simple to set up, flexible to use, and saves you from messy payouts.

Get Affiliate for WooCommerce today