Discounts and creators
In the Seller Center under Marketing (Creators, Referrals, Sale) you set three programmes per listed product. All three are at the expense of your earnings as a brand, not the platform's, and all three cost you something only when a purchase actually happens. Every commitment can carry an end date ("runs until"); without a date it keeps running. The marketplace picks up changes within two minutes.
Creator commission. Per product you set two percentages: the commission for the creator and the discount for customers. A creator creates an account, chooses their code and is approved once their details are complete. The code is personal, and that code carries exactly your two rates. When a customer enters the code at checkout, the discount is deducted from the order value immediately; after payment, a commission credit for the creator is created automatically, calculated on the discounted price. Without your commitment (commission greater than zero) the product is not shown to any creator, even if it is live in the shop.
Your commission rate is a net rate. If the creator owes VAT on their promotion service, it is added, and you bear it on top of the commission. That is the case when the creator is under standard taxation and based in the same country as you. The tax is shown separately on the credit note we issue in your name, and you can deduct it as input tax. If the creator is a small business, no VAT arises. If they are based in a different country from you, only the net amount is withheld, and you owe the tax in your own country yourself (reverse charge, see Taxes).
Referrals. Any customer can share a product via a personal link. Per product you set what percentage of credit the referrer receives and what percentage of discount the referred person gets. If someone buys via the link, the referred person gets the discount immediately, and the referrer receives a product-specific credit after payment, once per pair of referrer and referred. The referrer can redeem the credit when later buying this product herself; she selects it at checkout, it is not offset automatically. Redeemed credit also reduces our commission basis: with €10 of credit and 7.5% commission, we give up €0.75 of our share, so you bear €9.25, not €10.
Sale. A promotional price for a limited time. It applies on the marketplace, not in your own store, and must be below the regular price.
Worked example
The same order as under What it costs, now with a creator code: 10% discount for the customer, 10% commission for the creator.
In this example the creator is under standard taxation and, like you, based in Germany.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Product €35.00 less 10% discount | €31.50 |
| The customer pays (with €4.90 shipping) | €36.40 |
| less payment fee | −€0.80 |
| less commission (€1.99 net + €0.38 VAT) | −€2.37 |
| less creator commission (10% of €31.50) | −€3.15 |
| less VAT on the creator commission (19%) | −€0.60 |
| Your payout | €29.48 |
Without the code it would have been €36.42. Discount and creator commission together cost you €6.94 per order in this example. In return, the creator brought the sale that might otherwise not have happened.
Of the €6.94, €0.60 is VAT that you can deduct as input tax. With a creator who is a small business or based in another country, the VAT line drops out and your payout is €30.08.
Free samples for creators
If you want to send a creator a sample, do so directly from your shop, without an order through the marketplace. For tax purposes a sample in exchange for promotion is a barter-like transaction in which both sides must declare and document; that is why we stay out of it, and it appears in none of our statements. What you agree with the creator about it is your business.