GoAffPro

When launching a store on Shopify, installing Shopify Collabs feels like the natural first step. It is accessible inside your Shopify admin, lets you browse a directory of creators, and issues basic affiliate links and discount codes. However, as your affiliate channel grows, Shopify Collabs limitations become apparent quickly. Besides the feature limitations, the processing fee also reduces margins.

GoAffPro is an excellent choice for new brand merchants who are starting their affiliate marketing programs. It also serves as a seamless alternative for existing Shopify Collabs users looking to scale up their affiliate programs and establish custom commission structures.

GoAffPro vs. Shopify Collabs at a glance

Feature/Capability	GoAffPro	Shopify Collabs
Platform Fees	0% transaction fees (Free & Flat-rate plans)	2.9% processing fee on automatic payouts
Affiliate Portal White-labelling	Full affiliate portal white-labelling options with custom domain	Generic Shopify Collabs network portal
Commission Features	Product, Collection, Commission Rules, Modifiers Royalties & Groups	Basic default & product/collection rates
Lifetime Attribution	Yes (with Customer-Affiliate Connect)	Not available
Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)	Multi-level affiliate network available	Not supported
Payout Methods	Auto-Scheduled PayPal, Store Credit (Gift Cards/Coupons), Manual Payments	Automated via Shopify bill (with 2.9% fee) or manual
Tax Compliance	Invoices, Tax Deduction, W-9 form collection & 1099 generation.	Has to be managed externally
Platforms	Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, BigCommerce, Magento and more	Shopify only

Branded Experience: Generic Collabs Portal vs. GoAffPro’s White-Label Subdomain

First impressions dictate how seriously affiliate partners treat your brand. When an affiliate logs into Shopify Collabs, they are routed to a generic interface. The portal is embedded in a page of your store. It does not provide any option to customize the affiliate dashboard interface, such as creating custom dashboard pages, adding custom information there for affiliates (to streamline onboarding).

GoAffPro flips that. You can run your affiliate portal on a subdomain of your own shop, such as partners.yourbrand.com, by adding a single CNAME record. Then make it yours: logo, colors, editable dashboard text, translations, custom dashboard pages, and custom CSS/JS coding. You can also upload digital assets for your affiliates, which they can use in their promotions.

GoAffPro essentially lets you run a dedicated, white-label affiliate portal for your brand program.

Commission Rules & Advanced Attribution

While Shopify Collabs lets you set up product and collection-specific commission rates, that is essentially the extent of commission customization you get with them.

With GoAffPro, in addition to product- and collection-specific rates, you get options like commission modifiers and rules that let you customize commission rates based on parameters like customer status (old vs. new, order tags, coupon code, order totals, etc.)

It also offers advanced commission features, like lifetime commissions (using customer-affiliate connect), royalty commissions, multi-level affiliate network, and affiliate groups. These let you create complex, segmented commission compensation plans for your program.

Therefore, while Collabs gives you commission rates. GoAffPro gives you a whole commission system.

Pricing & Commission Payments: Eliminating the 2.9% “Success Tax”

While Shopify Collabs markets itself as a free app, it charges a 2.9% commission processing fee on all automatic payouts. If you pay out $10,000/month in affiliate commissions, Shopify Collabs charges $290 in monthly fees to transfer your money.

In contrast, GoAffPro has no transaction or payout processing fees, even in the Hobby plan(free plan), which gives you greater control over how and when partners are paid.

GoAffPro also offers more flexibility in relation to commission payments to affiliates:

• It offers the option for commission payments via PayPal Payouts to affiliates from within the app. You can also automate it using the payment scheduler for automatic monthly payments to affiliates.
• You can also choose to pay commissions to affiliates in the form of store credit, such as discount coupons or gift cards. GoAffPro can automatically generate them for affiliates (when marked as paid).
• GoAffPro also offers various options for tax compliance and accounting. You can generate invoices for commission payments you make to affiliates and collect signed W-9/1099 tax forms.

These functions make GoAffPro more flexible in terms of commission payouts that merchants make to affiliates (with no charges or transaction fees on payouts to affiliates).

In addition to the features previously mentioned, GoAffPro provides several options, including email marketing for sending promotional emails, as well as tools for targets and boosters to reward affiliates. It also includes party plans, influencer seeding, and more. These features make GoAffPro a comprehensive and effective choice for growing an affiliate program.

Migrating from Shopify Collabs to GoAffPro?

If you want to move from Shopify Collabs to GoAffPro, the migration takes less than 30 minutes with zero downtime or broken campaigns:

1. Install GoAffPro and set up your portal domain, default commission, and commission structure, like lifetime commissions, multi level commissions, etc.
2. Export the creator list and other data from Collabs > Import them into GoAffPro with the CSV bulk import option, or send your data files to the GoAffPro team at [email protected], and they can import it for you.
3. Announce the move with your new portal link. Run an email marketing campaign to notify all imported affiliates of this change and the new portal dashboard where they can log in.