---
description: "Create your affiliate program, put the Plandalf script on your site, prove a partner link and a test sale are tracked, and invite your first partner."
---
# Start an affiliate program

Set up an affiliate program that pays partners a commission for the customers they send you. Moving from another affiliate tool? Follow [Moving from another affiliate tool](https://plandalf.com/docs/start/affiliates/move-from-another-tool) instead, so your partners' old links keep earning.

**What you'll have at the end:**

- A program with your commission, click window and hold period
- The Plandalf script on your site, tracking partner links
- A test sale that shows the right partner
- A join page to share, and your first partner

**What you need first:**

- Your website, where partner links will send people
- A way customers pay: a Plandalf checkout, your own Stripe checkout or payment links, or another checkout your developer can connect
- For your own Stripe checkout, Stripe connected in Plandalf's **Settings**

## 1. Create the program

1. In Plandalf, open **Affiliates** and choose **Set up affiliates**. If you haven't tried Affiliates yet, the button reads **Activate Affiliates** and starts your free trial.
2. Under **Where do customers pay?**, pick one:
   - **Plandalf checkout.** Sales are tracked for you. Nothing to connect.
   - **My own Stripe checkout or payment links.** Payment links work as they are. A custom Stripe checkout needs one line from your developer.
   - **Something else.** Your developer sends each sale to Plandalf from your server.
3. Leave **Moving from another affiliate tool?** on **No, starting fresh**, and choose **Next**.
4. Under **What partners earn**, fill in:
   - **Program name.** Partners see it on your join page and in their emails.
   - **Where partner links go.** The page a partner's link opens, like your home or sales page.
   - **What partners earn.** A percent of what the customer pays, after discounts and excluding tax.
   - **Pay on renewals?** For subscriptions. If you don't see it, choose **Selling subscriptions too?** to open it. Pick **First payment only**, **Renewals for a set time** or **Every renewal**.
   - **Click window.** How long after a click a sale still counts. The latest click wins.
   - **Hold period.** How long a commission waits before you can pay it, so refunds come off first.
5. Under **Who can join**, pick **Anyone can apply, you approve**, **Anyone can join** or **Invite only**.
6. Check the **Summary** beside the form. It shows what a partner earns on a sale, and what partner links look like, such as `yoursite.com/?via=jane`.
7. Choose **Create and try it**. Plandalf opens **Setup**, a checklist that ticks itself as each step works.

You can change all of this later. **Campaigns** holds what partners earn, and **Settings** holds joining and payouts.

## 2. Add the Plandalf script to your site

The script notices when someone arrives through a partner link and remembers the partner, so the sale is credited when they buy.

1. In **Setup**, open **Add the Plandalf script**.
2. Copy the script it shows you and add it to every page of your site.

If your site already runs Plandalf checkouts or promos, the script is already there and this step is done. It's the same script.

Using a custom Stripe checkout, or something else? Your developer has one more job, so the partner reaches your checkout too. Send them the [Stripe guide](https://plandalf.com/docs/product-guides/affiliates/stripe) or the [sales API guide](https://plandalf.com/docs/product-guides/affiliates/sales-api).

## 3. Check it works

**Open your test link.**

1. In **Setup**, under **Open your test link**, copy the link.
2. Open it in a private window. The step ticks itself when Plandalf sees the click.

**Make a test purchase.**

1. With the test link open, buy something in test mode:
   - **A Plandalf checkout page.** Copy the checkout's **Test mode link** from its **Share** screen and add the code that **Setup** shows you to the end.
   - **A Plandalf checkout on your website.** Checkouts on your live site always run live, so test on a staging copy of your site.
   - **Your own checkout.** Buy as normal in your checkout's test mode.
2. Pay with the card `4242 4242 4242 4242`, any future date, any CVC and an email like `test@example.com`.
3. Choose **View test sales**. The sale shows up in **Sales** under test data.

The built-in test code never earns a commission, and test sales never count towards real payouts. To see a commission, test with a real partner's code, and buy with an email and card that aren't theirs. A partner buying through their own link earns nothing.

## 4. Invite your first partner

- **Share your join page.** Copy its link from **Setup**. People sign up with their name and email. If you chose **Anyone can apply, you approve**, find them under **Partners**, then **Applications**, and approve them.
- **Or add a partner yourself.** Open **Partners** and choose **Add a partner**. Enter their name and email, and pick their link code.

Each partner gets their own link and a home page showing their clicks, sales and earnings.

## How to check it worked

Open **Setup**. When every step is ticked, it says your affiliate program is ready for partners.

## What to read next

- [Launch your affiliate program](https://plandalf.com/docs/product-guides/affiliates/launch-checklist): test a refund, a renewal and a payout before you invite everyone.
- [Pay partners](https://plandalf.com/docs/product-guides/affiliates/payouts): review what you owe and send payments.
- [Affiliate tracking for subscriptions](https://plandalf.com/docs/product-guides/affiliates/subscriptions): how renewals earn without another click.

Source: https://plandalf.com/docs/start/affiliates/start-a-program