The three ways to scope a campaign
Every campaign starts with one choice: pay one rate across the whole store, limit it to a collection, or hand-pick specific products with their own rates. That choice is what makes per-product rates possible in the first place.
Whole store keeps setup simple and fair across your catalog. A collection narrows earning to one part of your range. Specific products is where per-line commission actually lives: pick the items, then set a rate for each one.
Rules apply per order line, not per order
A commission rule is checked against each order line individually, not against the order total. That is what lets a hero product carry a higher rate than the rest of an order in the same purchase.
A rule can carry its own percentage or a fixed amount, or exclude a product from commission entirely. For anything the rules do not name, you choose what an unmatched line earns: your default rate, or nothing.
An excluded product and an unmatched line are different things: excluded always pays nothing, unmatched follows whatever default you set.
The per-line payout breakdown
Because rules apply per line, every payout traces back to the product that earned it. A creator's commission on an order is not one opaque number: it is the sum of what each line in that order paid, and that breakdown is visible on the order itself.
That traceability also makes billing auditable: the platform fee applies on top of the commission total, and Billing, Balance and VAT shows how that total reaches your invoice.
Example figures.
Patterns brands actually use
A higher rate on a hero product pushes exactly the item you want creators promoting hardest. A margin-driven rate ties commission to what each product actually earns you, rather than one blanket number. Excluding gift cards and other non-margin items keeps commission tied to real product sales.
None of these patterns are required, and none guarantee a result: they are ways brands commonly shape a campaign once it carries more than one product.
Where you set it
Per-product rates are configured in the campaign wizard, in the same step where you choose scope and rate. Editing rates later updates the campaign page creators see, so a rate change is never silent.
The Shopify app and your connected catalog are what make the specific-products picker show real inventory instead of placeholder rows.
Can one product earn nothing?
Yes. Excluding a product from a campaign's commission rules means it always pays nothing, regardless of order value or which creator sold it.
What do unmatched products earn?
Whatever you set as the default for that campaign: either the standard rate or nothing. Unmatched is a separate case from excluded, and you choose which way it falls.
Does the platform fee change per rule?
No. The platform fee follows your account's fee tier and applies to the commission total; per-line rules change the commission itself, not the fee formula on top of it.
Setting Up a Campaign
All six wizard steps: scope, details, channels, per-line commission, discount codes, rewards, and the checks before launch.
Lower Your Platform Fee
How network volume moves your fee from Standard down through Silver, Gold, Platinum and Floor.
Billing, Balance and VAT
Top-ups, escrow, country-aware VAT, and the monthly invoice, explained honestly.