Set Up Your Stripe Affiliate Program

This checklist is for the owner or admin of an AffiliateBase account who is launching a Stripe affiliate program. It follows the seven-step Setup checklist in the dashboard. The same checklist appears on the Setup page, on the dashboard, and as a progress count in the sidebar, which shows N of 7 done. On phones, the Setup page shows Step N of 7 with an All steps list under the current step.

The steps come in two groups:

Set up: Connect Stripe, Portal and payout defaults, Create a campaign, and Choose your checkout. These open in order.
Go live: Verify tracking (or Set up promo codes if you chose promo codes), Add your first affiliate, and First referred sale. All three open once the first four steps are done, because they wait on real traffic. You can add affiliates and share links before tracking is verified.

Setup finishes with your first referred sale. There is no separate “Complete” step.

Before you begin

Stripe account access (test mode is recommended for setup validation)
Account owner or admin access in AffiliateBase
For link tracking: access to edit the site-wide layout or custom-code area of the page that hosts your checkout button (AffiliateBase gives you a script that already contains your account ID)
For promo codes: a Stripe discount if you want AffiliateBase to generate codes automatically
A Stripe checkout path: Payment Link, Buy Button, Pricing Table, or backend-created Checkout Session

Step 1: Connect Stripe

In Setup step 1 (Connect Stripe), choose Connect with Stripe and approve AffiliateBase in Stripe. Stripe connects the account currently selected in your Stripe dashboard, so switch to the account your customers pay through first. The page then shows Stripe connected with Live mode or Test mode. Choose Continue to move on. See Connect Stripe for Affiliate Tracking for reconnecting and error states.

Step 2: Set portal and payout defaults

In Setup step 2 (Portal and payout defaults), set the following, then choose Save and continue:

Affiliate portal address: the subdomain affiliates use to sign in to their portal. The .affiliatebase.io suffix is added for you. There is no default, so this step stays open until you choose one.
Affiliate payout method: PayPal or Wise for export-assisted payouts. To pay affiliates by Stripe transfer from your Stripe balance instead, set up Stripe payouts later in Settings -> Stripe Payouts. This needs your own Stripe Connect platform with an approved platform profile. See Pay affiliates through Stripe.
Display currency: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, or AUD
Approved site or app hosts (optional): one hostname per line, only when checkout or your app runs on another domain
Enable self-referral fraud detection on or off

You can change the portal address, payout method and approved hosts later in Settings -> General.

Step 3: Create your first campaign

In Setup step 3 (Create a campaign), start with one public campaign, then choose Create campaign:

Campaign name (defaults to “My Campaign”)
Website: where affiliate links send visitors. Setup builds your test link from it.
Commission as a percentage per sale (defaults to 20%)

The Advanced settings section holds Attribution (last click or first click), Referral window (default 60 days), Commission delay (default 30 days), and Invite-only campaign. You can leave these at their defaults and change them after launch.

Step 4: Choose your checkout

In Setup step 4 (Choose your checkout), the page asks How do your customers pay? No method is preselected. Choose the card for the checkout you already use: Stripe Payment Link, Buy Button or Pricing Table, Custom Checkout Session, or Promo codes only. The install steps for that path appear under the cards. Choosing a card only previews it. Choose Use [path name] (for example Use Stripe Payment Link) to save it and open step 5.

Stripe Payment Link: paste the tracking script site-wide (Copy script) and keep the Payment Link on the same published page.
Buy Button or Pricing Table: paste the tracking script site-wide and keep the Stripe element on that same published page.
Custom Checkout Session: paste the tracking script, submit referral_id from the browser, and set Stripe client_reference_id server-side. The step includes copyable form and server examples.
Promo codes only: no website install. You choose how codes are created in step 5.

If someone else edits your site, choose the checkout path they will install and copy the Install request note under Hand this to a developer. This keeps verification tied to the real Payment Link, Stripe component, or custom Checkout behavior.

Step 5: Verify tracking

For link tracking, step 5 (Verify tracking) asks for one test purchase:

Open the test affiliate link in a private browser window. Use Copy or Open next to Test affiliate link.
Complete a checkout from that visit. With a test-mode Stripe connection, use a Stripe test card such as 4242 4242 4242 4242. With a live-mode connection, don’t create a charge only to finish setup; a free trial counts.
Come back to the page. It updates on its own.

A status panel shows Test click received (or Waiting for the test click…) and then Stripe received the referral ID (or Waiting for the test payment in Stripe…). If something is missing, the panel names the problem and gives one fix. Tracking is verified once Stripe returns the generated AffiliateBase referral ID as client_reference_id or supported referral metadata. If Stripe returns the public ?via token instead, setup identifies the mismatch and points you to the selected checkout path. See Verify Affiliate Tracking and Stripe Attribution.

You don’t have to wait. After the test click arrives, Do this later saves your setup and moves you to step 6 without claiming that Stripe attribution is verified. Step 5 stays open, and AffiliateBase keeps watching for an attributed checkout.

For promo codes, step 5 is Set up promo codes. Choose Generate codes automatically and select a discount under Stripe discount applied to generated codes, or choose Manage codes individually to assign codes yourself. Then choose Save promo-code setup. Automatic generation creates a code for every active affiliate. For individual management, open the affiliate, go to the Links & codes tab, and choose Manage promo codes to assign an existing Stripe code or create a code with your chosen text. Existing Stripe codes are not linked automatically. Neither option needs a site script. See Use Stripe Promo Codes with Affiliates.

Setup and the Stripe connection row in Settings -> General display whether Stripe is connected in test or live mode.

Step 6: Add your first affiliate

In Setup step 6 (Add your first affiliate), choose Add an affiliate. On link-tracking paths, AffiliateBase generates the live link the affiliate shares. On the promo-code path with automatic codes, invited affiliates receive a code when they accept, and public signups receive one after you activate them. See Onboard Affiliates.

Step 7: First referred sale

Step 7 (First referred sale) shows the first live affiliate link (or promo code) with a copy button. Send it to your affiliate. The page shows when the first referral arrives and when the first referred sale is attributed, and it updates on its own. Setup finishes when a customer your affiliate refers completes a Stripe checkout.

After setup: payout operations

Once commissions become due, create a payout run and reconcile it with the selected payout method. See Payout Runs and Reconciliation.

paypal: generate a PayPal export, process transfers externally, then mark/reconcile paid.
wise: generate a Wise export, process transfers externally, then mark/reconcile paid.
Stripe Connect: send Stripe transfers from your Stripe balance when you execute the run. See Pay affiliates through Stripe.

Before launch

Confirm:

The Stripe connection row in Settings -> General shows Connected — Live mode (or Connected — Test mode while testing)
If you use the REST API, API key authentication works with the X-Account-Id header (see API Keys and REST API)

Launch success checklist

A referral is created through the selected link or promo-code attribution path
A test conversion appears in your dashboard
A commission is created and visible in reporting
Affiliates can see referral/commission data in the portal
A payout run can be created and reconciled