Refficks

WooCommerce affiliate tracking with Refficks

Your WooCommerce store reports each paid order, refund and cancellation to Refficks through two webhooks, so a sale with a partner's code credits that partner.

Nobody has walked these steps against a real WooCommerce setup yet. They are built from the provider's documentation, listed at the bottom of this page.

What it gives you

  • A paid order credits the partner whose coupon was used, or a buyer Refficks already knows.
  • An order with no coupon credits the partner whose link the shopper followed, when the Refficks script ran on the order-received page and the shopper accepted cookies.
  • Partners earn on the goods after coupons, with their tax unless you switch tax off. Shipping and fees never count, and a gift card earns when it is spent, not when it is bought.
  • A partial refund takes back the same share of the commission as its money is of the whole order. Through the Refficks plugin it takes back the share its goods are of the goods partners earned on, and postage or a fee refunded alone takes nothing back.
  • Through the Refficks plugin, an order with no coupon credits the partner whose link the shopper followed with cookies accepted, whichever page they finish on, and an order the store could not send waits in the store until Refficks can be reached.
  • An order cancelled or failed after it was paid takes back what is left of its commission.

What it does not

  • Without the Refficks plugin, a shopper who uses no coupon is credited through a partner's link only if they reach the order-received page with cookies accepted; otherwise only if Refficks already knows them by their email.
  • Orders are counted 90 seconds after WooCommerce reports them, so the order-received page can say which visit each came from.
  • Without the Refficks plugin, a refund is measured against the whole order, shipping included, because WooCommerce's webhook does not say which lines it was for.
  • Without the Refficks plugin, WooCommerce does not send again what it failed to deliver, and switches a webhook off after five failures.
  • Cash on delivery counts once the order is Completed.
  • Renewals from WooCommerce Subscriptions are not counted yet.
  • An order from a copy of your store, such as a staging site, is kept and never counted.
  • The buyer's IP address is replaced with a one-way code before anything is stored.

Steps

These are the steps as they read inside Refficks. Where one says “below”, it means this guide's page in Refficks, where your own script, addresses and checks are.

  1. 1. Connect your store

    Type your store's Site Address, from WordPress › Settings › General, and press Connect. Refficks shows you a delivery address and a secret. The secret is shown once.

    Rather install a plugin? The Refficks plugin connects from WordPress and needs none of the webhooks below, nor the script: it is downloaded from the WordPress guide in this list.

    The connection is made on this guide in Refficks, once you have an account.

  2. 2. Add the "Order created" webhook

    In WordPress, open WooCommerce › Settings › Advanced › Webhooks and press Add webhook. Name it "Refficks: order created", set Status to Active and Topic to Order created, paste the delivery address and the secret, and choose API version WP REST API Integration v3.

    Press Save webhook. WooCommerce checks the address straight away, and the check below turns green.

  3. 3. Add the "Order updated" webhook

    Add a second webhook the same way, named "Refficks: order updated", with Topic Order updated and the same address and secret. Payments, refunds and cancellations arrive only through this one: without it, no order is ever counted paid.

  4. 4. Put the Refficks script in your site's header

    On every page. WooCommerce knows its own customers and never the visit, so the script is how a buyer reaches Refficks as somebody it has seen arrive through a partner's link.

    On the order-received page it also tells Refficks which visit the order came from, using the order key in that page's address, so a shopper who followed a partner's link and used no coupon still credits that partner. Refficks waits 90 seconds before counting an order, so that page has time to load first.

    Your copy of the Refficks script, with your own key in it, is on the Integrations page in Refficks.

  5. 5. Make each partner's code a coupon

    In WordPress, open Marketing › Coupons and add each partner's code, spelt the same. An order paid with that coupon is credited to that partner.

  6. 6. Place a test order

    Order something with a partner's coupon and pay by direct bank transfer, then mark the order Processing; or pay cash on delivery and mark it Completed. It arrives below as a sale. Refund part of it to see the commission take back its share.

Sources

Have an account? Open this guide in Refficks for your own script and the checks that show when it is working. New to Refficks? Create an account.

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