Two-Way Commission and Referral Discounts

Two-way commission gives the referred shopper something too: the affiliate still earns their commission, and the customer who arrived through their link gets a discount at checkout. Affiliate and Referral Program for WooCommerce applies it automatically to referred carts, and this guide covers turning it on, setting the discount store-wide or per product, and what the shopper sees. Part of the plugin documentation.

What two-way commission does

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It adds a discount line to the cart of anyone who arrived through an affiliate referral. That turns a referral link into an offer the affiliate can promote — “use my link and save” — which converts far better than a bare recommendation.

Two points that decide whether it suits your margins:

The affiliate’s commission is not reduced by the discount. They earn on the product totals as usual; the discount is yours to fund.
It is a discount, not a second commission. Nothing is credited to the shopper’s account and no extra commission record is created.

Turn it on and set a store-wide discount

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Go to: WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Commission.
In the Enable/ Disable settings column, turn on Enable Two Way Commission.
In Set User Discount for 2Way Comm., choose a Discount Type — Percentage or Fixed — and enter the Discount Amount.
Save Changes.

The Commission screen with Enable Two Way Commission switched on and the Set User Discount for 2Way Comm fields filled in. — The referred-customer discount

A percentage is taken from the cart’s product subtotal; a fixed amount is taken off the cart once. The discount can bring a cart down to zero but never below it.

Set a different discount on individual products

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After the feature is on and you have reloaded the admin, each simple product gains a Referee Commission Setting tab in its Product data panel, with a Commission Type and Commission Amount. Despite the field names, these set the discount the referred customer receives on that product — not the affiliate’s commission, which stays on the Add Commission box.

The Referee Commission Setting tab in a product's Product data panel with a discount type and amount entered. — A per-product referred-customer discount

Per-product values take priority: when a referred cart holds any product carrying its own discount, the cart discount is the sum of those product discounts and the store-wide amount is not used. A fixed per-product discount counts once per unit. If none of the products in the cart carry a discount, the store-wide amount applies.

The per-product tab is available on simple products. For variable, grouped or external products, set the store-wide discount instead — it applies to referred carts containing any product.

What the shopper sees

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On the cart and checkout, referred shoppers get a line called Referral Discount alongside the totals, applied automatically — no code to enter and nothing to claim. The discount is not taxed; taxes are calculated on the products as normal.

A storefront cart totals area showing the automatically applied Referral Discount line for a referred customer. — The discount on a referred cart

It applies while the referral is attached to the visit, so a shopper who arrives through a link and buys in the same session sees it — including shoppers who check out as guests.

This is the affiliate program’s customer discount. If you want ordinary customers — not affiliates — to refer friends and earn store credit, that is the separate customer referral module: see Set Up a Refer a Friend Program in WooCommerce. The two run independently and have their own rewards.