WooCommerce - How to Setup Tiered Commissions (Volume Based)

That’s where tiered commissions structure (volume commissions / performance commissions) come in. It’s a smarter way to motivate your best performers — the more they sell, the more they earn.

And for you? More revenue, more loyalty, more growth.

Let’s break down how volume-based commissions change the game and how you can set it up in WooCommerce.

Why tiered commissions are a game-changer?

Flat commissions are fine… until your best affiliates start wondering, “Why am I working harder for the same reward?”

Here’s why tiered-based commissions (also called sales tiers or volume commissions) are the real MVP:

Motivate top performers to outperform themselves: Higher sales tiers push affiliates to work harder. When they know more sales means more earnings, they go the extra mile.
Reduce churn among high-value affiliates: Flat commissions feel unfair to top contributors. Tiered rewards show you value their effort — and help keep them loyal.
Add a gamified layer to your program: Affiliates “level up” by crossing order tiers. More fun = more engagement.
Drive long-term commitment: Since the commission is based on overall performance over time, affiliates stay active longer to reach higher tiers.
Target specific sales goals strategically: Want to sell more of a certain category, product, or through a specific payment method? Set tiered commissions around those goals.

New feature alert: Tiered commissions structure

If you’re ready to turn your affiliate program into a performance-powered growth engine, Affiliate for WooCommerce has your back.

This plugin gives you full control over your commissions, affiliate management, tracking, and reporting.

Affiliate for WooCommerce has the best commission system in the market. And it has now added one more: Tiered Commissions, also known as Volume or Performance based commission.

Now, you can reward affiliates based on the total number of successful orders they’ve generated over time.

That means:

Better incentives for long-term performance
Flexible, tier-based commission setup
And a whole lot more sales without extra manual effort

Want to explore other types of commission plans like payment methods or product taxonomies? Check out this article.

Enough of this theory, now let’s see how to actually set up a tiered commission structure with Affiliate for WooCommerce.

Tiered commission based on total orders

Let’s say you want to reward affiliates with higher commissions as they sell more. For example:

Affiliates who have sold less than 1,000 orders get a 30% commission.
Affiliates who have sold 1,000 or more orders get a 35% commission.

Steps to set up order-based commission:

Go to WooCommerce > Affiliates > Plans.
Click on Add a Plan.
Give a name to your plan – say, Commission for Less than 1000 Orders.
Under Commission, select Percentage and then type 30.
Now under Rules, set the rule as Affiliate – Valid Referral Orders < 1000.
Choose whether to offer commission or not on other products if present in the order under the Actions tab.
Set the campaign as Active and click on Save.

Now create one more new plan:

Follow the same steps as above. Just in Commission, select Percentage and type 35.
Set the plan name.
And under Rules, set the rule as Affiliate – Valid Referral Orders >= 1000.
For other products in the order, choose whether to offer commission or not under the Actions tab.
Set the campaign as Active and click on Save.

And this is how you can easily create volume based commission.

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Tiered commission setup ideas you can steal

With Affiliate of WooCommerce, you can club tiered commissions with other rules based on affiliate tags, payment methods, and more.

Here are a few practical and creative examples to inspire your setup:

Tiered commission based on affiliate tag

Let’s say you want to set different commission rates based on the number of orders for affiliates belonging to your “Gold” tag or group.

1–100 orders → 10% commission
101–200 orders → 12% commission
201+ orders → 15% commission

You just have to create three different plans and set these rules:

Affiliate Tags → any of → Gold (to be added in all three plans)
Percentage commission = 10 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 100
Percentage commission = 12, Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 101 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 200 within the same rule group.
Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 201

Tiered commission based on payment method

Let’s say you want to reward affiliates differently based on how many orders they generate using particular payment methods.

PayPal and Stripe orders:

1 – 20 orders: 15% commission
21+ orders: 20% commission

To enable this, you have to create two plans and set these rules:

Order - Payment methods > any of > PayPal, Stripe (to be added in both plans)
Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 20
Percentage commission = 20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 21

Tiered commission for a specific affiliate

Let’s say you want to offer custom commission tiers for your rockstar affiliate Amanda.

Here’s how you can structure the commission plans based on her total valid referral orders:

Affiliate → is → Amanda (amanda19@example.com) (to be added in all three plans)
Percentage commission = 15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 100
Percentage commission = 20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 101 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 501
Percentage commission = 30 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 501

Tiered commission for a specific product

Let’s say you want to set up a tiered commission for your new Bluetooth Keyboard to really motivate your affiliates.

Here’s your tiered structure:

1–10 keyboards sold → $10 per sale
11–25 keyboards sold → $15 per sale
26+ keyboards sold → $20 per sale

Here’s how you’d configure the rules in your affiliate platform:

Product > any of > Bluetooth Keyboard (to be added in all three plans)
Flat commission = $10 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 10
Flat commission = $15 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 11 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 25
Flat commission = $20 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 26

Tiered commission based on product taxonomy

Let’s say you want to tailor commissions based on product taxonomy like brand. For example, for the brand Adidas:

Tiered commission based on Adidas orders:

1–20 Adidas orders → 8% commission
21–50 Adidas orders → 12% commission
51+ Adidas orders → 15% commission

Here’s how to set it up:

Brand → any of → Adidas (to be added in all three plans)
Percentage commission = 8% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 20
Percentage commission = 12% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 21 and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 50
Percentage commission = 15% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 51

Tiered commission based on product category

Let’s say you want to boost commissions for affiliates who sell more products from the “Luxury” category — to push premium product sales.

Here’s a solid tiered percentage commission structure:

1–8 orders → 25% commission
9+ orders → 30% commission

Rules to set this would be:

Product Categories → any of → Luxury (to be added in both plans)
Percentage commission = 25% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders <= 8
Percentage commission = 14% and Affiliate - Valid Referral Orders >= 9

Tiered commission based on revenue (coming soon)

Let’s say you want to reward affiliates not just for the number of orders, but for the total revenue they generate.

This upcoming feature lets you set revenue tiers based on actual sales value — encouraging affiliates to focus on high-value deals.

For example:

Up to $1,000 in sales earn 15% commission
$1,001 to $2,500 in sales earn 20% commission
Above $2,500 in sales earn 25% commission

Turn affiliates into sales machines

Overall, flat commissions might be easy, but they’re not enough if you want to scale.

Your high-performing affiliates need to feel seen, valued, and — most importantly — rewarded for their hustle.

A tiered commission structure doesn’t just motivate; it transforms your affiliate program into a dynamic, performance-driven machine.

So whether you’re rewarding based on total orders, product type, payment method, or even future revenue tiers — Affiliate for WooCommerce gives you the control to set it up exactly how you want.

Try Affiliate for WooCommerce today