Percentage of Transaction
An incentive structure that pays a percentage of the transaction value as commission. The most common incentive structure.
Last updated: April 9, 2026
Percentage of Transaction is an incentive structure that pays a fixed percentage of a transaction’s value as the commission. It’s the most common incentive structure in affiliate marketing because it scales naturally with sale size.
When a customer converts, Siren multiplies the configured percentage by the qualifying transaction value and creates an obligation for that amount. Line item filters control which parts of the transaction count toward the total, so you can exclude shipping, taxes, specific product categories, or anything else you don’t want to pay commission on.
How it works
If the incentive is set to 10% and a customer buys $250 worth of products (after line item filters are applied), the commission is $25. If they buy $1,000 worth, the commission is $100. Larger carts generate larger payouts without any reconfiguration.
If you set filters to exclude shipping and taxes, a $250 order with $20 shipping and $15 tax would calculate commission against $250, not $285. Filters are how you make sure you’re paying out on margin you actually earned.
Where this works
This structure fits any program where you want collaborators’ payouts to scale with sale size. It’s the default choice for standard affiliate programs, creator royalty programs, and revenue-share arrangements.
The basic affiliate program recipe uses this structure for a conventional percentage-based commission. The product royalty program recipe applies it to pay creators a percentage when their own products sell, so creators earn more when their products are in higher-value carts.
When to avoid this
For low-margin products, a percentage commission can eat your margin before you break even. A fixed fee gives you predictable unit economics in that case. Use Fixed Per Transaction or Fixed Per Product instead.
It’s also a poor fit for lead-generation programs where no transaction value exists at the moment you want to pay. If you’re paying affiliates for qualified leads or form submissions, there’s nothing to take a percentage of. Fixed Per Transaction handles that cleanly.
Heavy discounting is another trap. If your store runs frequent sales, percentage commissions fluctuate with the discounted price, which can feel unfair to affiliates who drove the sale. A flat fee avoids that volatility.