How Affiliate Commissions Are Calculated and Paid
Understand exactly how Build the Drop calculates your commission on every referral payment, how the money reaches your bank account, and what each commission status means — no technical knowledge required.
Every time one of your referred merchants pays their Build the Drop subscription — monthly or annually — you earn a commission automatically. There is nothing to claim, no invoices to send, and no waiting for approvals. Here is exactly how it works.
The complete payment flow
When a referred merchant's subscription renews, the following happens in seconds:
- 1Stripe charges the merchant's card for their monthly or annual plan.
- 2Stripe sends a payment notification to Build the Drop.
- 3Build the Drop checks whether that merchant was referred by you.
- 4Your current tier rate is looked up (based on how many paying referrals you have at that moment).
- 5The commission is calculated: commission = floor(payment amount × your rate).
- 6The money is transferred directly to your Stripe account — immediately.
- 7The commission appears in your history with the status Transferred.
Who decides how much you earn?
Build the Drop calculates the commission amount and instructs Stripe to execute the transfer. Stripe's only role is to move the money — it does not set the amount or decide whether you are eligible. This means your earnings are fully controlled by your referral count and tier, not by Stripe's algorithms.
How often do you receive commissions?
You receive one commission per referred merchant per billing cycle. If a merchant pays monthly, you earn every month they stay subscribed. If they pay annually, you earn once per year on that merchant — but the annual payment is larger, so the commission is proportionally bigger. There is no cap on how many commissions you can earn in a month.
Commission tiers — your rate grows as your network grows
Your commission rate is not fixed. It is recalculated each time a commission is processed, based on how many of your referred merchants have an active paid subscription at that exact moment. Free-plan accounts are not counted.
| Paying referrals | Your rate |
|---|---|
| 0 – 100 | 15% (Standard) |
| 101 – 500 | 20% (Pro) |
| 501 – 2,000 | 25% (Expert) |
| 2,001 + | 30% (Elite) |
When does the money reach your bank account?
The transfer from Build the Drop to your Stripe account is instant. From there, Stripe moves the funds to your bank account on its normal payout schedule — typically 2 business days after each transfer. You can see your balance and upcoming payouts at any time in your Stripe Express dashboard.
Commission statuses explained
- Transferred — the commission has been sent to your Stripe account and will reach your bank within 2 business days.
- Pending — your Stripe Connect account is not yet fully activated. Complete the Stripe onboarding in your Affiliate dashboard to unlock future transfers. Commissions earned while pending are not retroactively transferred; they will be paid from the next billing cycle once your account is active.
- Failed — the Stripe transfer was rejected (e.g. your account was suspended or had an issue). Contact support if you see this status.
What counts as an 'active paying referral'?
A merchant counts toward your tier if and only if they signed up using your referral link and are currently on a paid plan (Init, Pro, or Business). Merchants on the free plan do not count. Your tier is recalculated live on each commission event, so it goes up as merchants upgrade and down if they downgrade to free or cancel.
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