Pay per Sale

Pay per Sale is a billing model in which advertisers only pay when a referred visitor actually completes a purchase. Payment is either a fixed amount per sale or, much more commonly, a percentage commission on basket value. The model carries the lowest risk for advertisers and is the standard model in affiliate marketing.

How it works and tracking

Affiliates or ad networks send visitors to the shop via a tracking link, and a cookie or server side tracking attributes the later purchase to the referrer. Cookie lifetime ranges, depending on the programme, from a few hours to ninety days. More complex setups use last click attribution, multi touch models or server side conversion APIs to compensate for cookie loss.

Commissions and typical values

Commissions vary strongly by industry. In fashion and lifestyle they are often between five and fifteen per cent, while digital products such as software or online courses can reach thirty to fifty per cent. Low margin sectors like groceries or electronics usually pay only one to five per cent, which must be offset by high volume.

Practical use

In day to day marketing, Pay per Sale suits advertisers with clean tracking and a clearly measurable purchase event. For long sales cycles, advice intensive products or pure lead businesses, Pay per Lead is the better choice, since the purchase happens far away from the ad contact and tracking becomes unreliable.