Affiliates ask for pay-per-sale because it pays today. Programmes offer revenue share because it pays less today. Both are right, and the argument is settled by one number that neither side usually calculates: how long a referred subscriber actually stays.
The two models in one line each
PPS - a fixed amount per converted sale, paid once. RevShare - a percentage of what that customer pays, for as long as they keep paying. Hybrids exist and are usually a smaller PPS plus a reduced percentage, which suits affiliates who need cash flow but believe in the product.
The break-even calculation
Take a subscription at 30 a month, a 50% revenue share, and a PPS offer of 60. RevShare pays 15 a month, so the affiliate passes the PPS figure in month four and every month after that is upside. The programme pays more in total from month five onward.
| Average retention | Affiliate earns on PPS | Affiliate earns on 50% RevShare | Which is better for the affiliate |
|---|
| 1 month | 60 | 15 | PPS, decisively |
| 3 months | 60 | 45 | PPS |
| 4 months | 60 | 60 | Break-even |
| 8 months | 60 | 120 | RevShare |
| 18 months | 60 | 270 | RevShare, decisively |
The table also explains the arguments. A programme with two-month retention offering RevShare is offering something worth less than it sounds, and experienced affiliates know it. A programme with twelve-month retention pushing PPS is buying its own future cheaply, and sophisticated affiliates decline.
Which one your retention says you should offer
Under three months, offer PPS and stop apologising for it - RevShare on short retention is a promise the product cannot keep, and affiliates who take it once do not return. Three to six months, offer both and let the affiliate choose; the choice itself tells you what they think of your funnel. Over six months, lead with RevShare and use PPS only to open a relationship with an affiliate who needs proof.
Measure retention by traffic source, not as one number. Search traffic and social traffic frequently differ by a factor of two in this category, and an affiliate sending the better cohort is worth a better rate.
Chargebacks change the arithmetic
PPS carries a hidden liability: the sale can be reversed after the affiliate is paid. Standard protection is a hold period - typically thirty days - before a PPS commission is released, and a clawback clause for reversals after that.
RevShare is self-correcting here, because a refunded month simply is not shared. That property matters more than it looks in adult, where dispute rates run above mainstream e-commerce and a programme paying PPS with no hold can be drained by a single affiliate with stolen card traffic.
Cookie window and attribution
Thirty days is the common window. Longer windows favour affiliates and are worth offering only if attribution is accurate, because a ninety-day window with last-click attribution means paying for conversions your own retargeting produced.
Two rules keep disputes rare. Publish the window and the attribution model together, since one without the other is meaningless. And record the full click path rather than the last touch, even if you pay on last click - when an affiliate disputes, the path is the evidence, and having it converts an argument into a five-minute answer.
What programmes get wrong
- One rate for everyone. The affiliate sending twenty subscribers a month with eleven-month retention is not the same asset as one sending two hundred that churn in six weeks.
- Paying on registration rather than on payment. Invites fraud immediately, and the fraud arrives within days rather than months.
- No self-service reporting. Affiliates who cannot see their numbers assume they are being shorted and move their traffic. Real-time stats cost engineering and buy trust.
- Silent term changes. Cutting a rate without notice ends relationships permanently in a market this small, where affiliates talk to each other.
- Slow or unreliable payouts. The single most-discussed attribute of any adult programme, and the cheapest reputation to earn or destroy.
Minimum payout, and why it is contentious
A threshold of 100 is normal and defensible - transfer costs make smaller payments uneconomic. A threshold of 500 with no expiry is a way of never paying small affiliates, and it is read that way. If you set a high threshold, add a rule that unpaid balances are released after a fixed period regardless, which costs almost nothing and removes the main complaint.
Tracking without breaking privacy
Third-party cookies are unreliable and getting worse, so attribution increasingly runs server-side through postbacks. That is better for accuracy and better for the affiliate, but it means the programme holds the record and the affiliate must trust it - which loops back to reporting. Publish the postback specification, let affiliates test it against a sandbox, and disputes drop to near zero.
Tiering, and how to do it without insulting anyone
A single rate for every affiliate overpays the weak and underpays the strong. Tiers fix that, and they fail when they are built on volume alone - volume rewards whoever sends the most traffic rather than whoever sends the best.
| Tier basis | Rewards | Failure mode |
|---|
| Volume of sales | Reach | Pays most for the cohort that churns fastest |
| Retained revenue at month six | Traffic quality | Slow to reward a new affiliate who is genuinely good |
| Blend, reviewed quarterly | Both, imperfectly | Needs explaining, which most programmes avoid |
The blend works if the rule is published. An affiliate who can see why they are on a given rate will push to move up; one who suspects the rate is arbitrary moves their traffic instead.
Fraud patterns specific to this category
Three appear regularly and all three are detectable in the first fortnight. Stolen-card traffic converts unusually well and then produces a chargeback spike four to six weeks later - which is exactly why the PPS hold period exists. Incentivised sign-ups show near-zero engagement after the first session. And cookie stuffing shows up as an implausible ratio of attributed sales to actual click volume.
The single most useful control is watching the chargeback rate per affiliate rather than only in aggregate. One affiliate can carry the whole programme's ratio past the point where the processor takes an interest, and in aggregate reporting that is invisible until the letter arrives.
Common questions
RevShare or PPS - which pays the affiliate more?
It depends entirely on retention. At 30 a month with a 50% share, RevShare passes a 60 PPS offer in month four. Under three-month average retention PPS wins; over six months RevShare wins decisively.
Should we hold PPS commissions?
Yes - typically thirty days, with a clawback clause for later reversals. PPS is paid before the chargeback window closes, and in this category dispute rates are high enough that an unheld programme can be drained by one affiliate with stolen card traffic.
What cookie window is standard?
Thirty days. Longer windows favour affiliates and are only worth offering with accurate attribution - a ninety-day last-click window means paying for conversions your own retargeting produced.
What is the fastest way to lose good affiliates?
Slow payouts and silent term changes. Payout reliability is the most-discussed attribute of any adult programme, and in a market this small affiliates compare notes.
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