Buzzbassador billing runs directly through Shopify's Billing API. Shopify is the one facilitating the charges for Buzzbassador. This article covers how Buzzbassador's plans are shown, how revenue share is charged and refunded, and how currency conversion is handled.
Choosing and approving a plan
Pick a plan from the plan picker inside the app. Each plan card shows its monthly price, revenue share, and what's included. A plan with no revenue share says No revenue share on the card, which is the reason it costs more per month.
When you pick a plan, you leave the app to approve the charge in Shopify, then return to the app. Your plan and its features apply as soon as you're back.
If you don't finish approving: your choice is saved. A banner in the app tells you the choice is unfinished and lets you pick up where you left off. If you decline the charge in Shopify, the banner stops offering it and you stay on your current plan.
Upgrading and downgrading: the app compares plans on the monthly fee and the revenue share together, so a cheaper plan that takes a bigger cut is not presented as a saving. If a new plan allows fewer programs than you currently run, the app warns you before you confirm.
How revenue share is calculated
The Free and Build plans charge a percentage of affiliate-generated revenue on top of the monthly price (5% on Free, 3% on Build). Plus has no revenue share.
Shopify takes a dollar amount rather than a percentage, so we work the amount out for each order:
An order attributed to one of your affiliates comes in.
We convert the order total to US dollars, if it isn't already in dollars (see "Orders in other currencies" below).
We multiply the total by your plan's rate and round to the cent.
We send that amount to Shopify as a usage charge on your subscription.
For example, a $200 order on a plan with 3% revenue share is a $6.00 fee.
What the order total includes: the fee is based on the order's current total as Shopify reports it, which includes tax and shipping.
When you're billed
Revenue share isn't charged the moment an order comes in. Shopify adds it to your next bill, when your 30-day billing cycle closes.
Your cycle starts when you approved your subscription, so it's different for every store. There's no single billing date.
Shopify's own billing cycle for your store can differ from the app's. Because of that, one app cycle's revenue share can appear across two different Shopify bills.
Fees you've already earned are still billed if you change plans, cancel, or uninstall.
Development and test stores are never billed for revenue share. Shopify doesn't bill test charges, so you'll see usage charges recorded but never invoiced.
Your spending limit
Each plan with revenue share has a limit on how much Shopify will bill in one cycle. On our standard plans it's $7,500. Once you reach it, Shopify declines further usage charges for that cycle, and revenue share past the limit is not collected. It does not carry over to the next cycle.
You can raise your own limit at any time in your Shopify admin. Changing plans starts a new billing cycle with a fresh limit.
Orders in other currencies
Shopify bills in US dollars only, so any order placed in another currency is converted to dollars before the fee is worked out.
Exchange rates come from Open Exchange Rates (https://openexchangerates.org/; same exchange rate source used by Shopify), and we record one rate per currency each day.
Which rate we use: the latest rate on or before the day the order was placed. Rates recorded later never change what an earlier order was worth.
What gets converted: the order total, including tax and shipping. We convert it to dollars, apply your plan's rate, and round to the cent.
Orders already in dollars aren't converted.
For example, a ¥13,200 order at 150 yen to the dollar is $88.00. On a plan with 3% revenue share, the fee is $2.64.
To protect you from an incorrect charge, we don't bill an order when we don't have a reliable exchange rate for it. You are never charged an amount we can't stand behind.
What happens when you refund an order
When you refund an order that was attributed to an affiliate, you get back the matching share of the revenue share fee. Shopify can't reverse a usage charge, so we return the money as an app credit, a separate payment from us to you.
Shopify tells us a refund was created.
We check how much money actually went back to the customer.
We credit you the same share of the original fee: fee × amount refunded ÷ order total.
For example, on a $200 order with a $6.00 fee, a $50 refund returns $1.50. A full refund returns the whole fee.
A few details:
Partial refunds add up. Refunds by item, by amount, by price edit, and to store credit all count. Several partial refunds on one order add up to exactly the original fee when the whole order has been refunded.
Amounts under a cent are carried forward and included with your next refund on that order.
The credit is based on the original fee, not recalculated at today's rate. Changing plans later does not change what a past refund returns.
An order edit that doesn't move any money doesn't create a credit.
The credit is issued after Shopify has collected the fee. If you refund an order before Shopify has billed the fee, or before you've paid that bill, the credit waits. Once the fee is paid, the credit is issued within the hour.
If a fee is never billed (for example, the store closed before the cycle ended), there is nothing to credit, because you never paid it.
How app credits work
An app credit is a payment from Buzzbassador to you, issued through Shopify. It is not a reversal of the original charge, because Shopify doesn't allow usage charges to be reversed.
One credit per refund. Each refund creates its own credit, so you can match every credit to the refund that caused it.
Credits are issued after the fee is collected, within the hour of Shopify collecting it. Until then, the credit is pending.
How the credit reaches you: Shopify applies app credits against your future Shopify bills for this app.
Credits are never issued for fees you didn't pay. If the fee is never billed, no credit is issued.
Test stores: Shopify never bills test charges, so credits on a development store wait and are closed after 35 days.
Quick answers
Why is my revenue share not on a bill yet? It's added when your 30-day cycle closes, and it may land on one of two Shopify bills.
Why didn't I get a credit for my refund yet? The credit is issued once Shopify has collected the original fee. After that it goes out within the hour.
Can I raise my revenue share limit if I max it out? Yes, in your Shopify admin.
Questions about a specific charge or refund? Message us in the app chat and include your store URL and the order number.