How to Set Up and Manage Commission Tiers

PartnerPortal supports flexible commission structures. You can define a default commission model for the whole portal, then override it in more specific places when needed.

The most important rule is:

Today, the practical precedence order is:

Commission record -> Lead -> Partner -> Partner Group (coming soon) -> Global tier

PartnerPortal supports three core commission structures:

• Recurring percentage paid every commission period
• One-time percentage paid once
• Fixed amount paid as a flat commission

For recurring commissions, you can also control the duration:

• Forever for ongoing commissions
• a fixed number of commission periods

The duration setting applies only to recurring commissions. It does not apply to one-time percentage or fixed-amount commissions.

Global commission tiers are the default commission rules for your portal.

If you do not apply a more specific override, these are the commission structures that partners in your portal will use.

You manage them from:

Portal Setup -> Program Details -> Partner Tiers

1. Open Portal Setup → Program Details.

2. Find the Partner Tiers card.

3. Turn on Enable Partner Tiers if you want to use a tier-based structure.

4. Choose your program settings:

   • Calculation frequency — how often tiers recalculate automatically
   • Measure revenue — whether revenue counts only within each period, or accumulates over the partner’s lifetime
   • Allow demotion — whether a partner can move back down when they no longer meet a tier’s requirements

5. Configure the Base Tier first. This is the default tier every partner starts with. It has no requirements.

6. Add any higher tiers you want to use for larger or more successful partners.

7. For each tier, set:

   • the tier name
   • the requirements a partner must meet to reach it (see below)
   • the commission type
   • the commission rate or fixed amount
   • the commission duration

8. Use the arrows to order your tiers from lowest to highest. When a partner qualifies for more than one tier, the highest tier they qualify for wins.

9. Save the tier program. Before anything is applied, PartnerPortal shows you exactly which partners would change tier or commission, so you can confirm or cancel.

The base tier always exists and acts as the fallback commission structure for the portal.

Higher tiers are assigned based on their requirements. As partners meet them, they move into higher tiers automatically.

Each tier above the base defines the requirements a partner must meet to reach it. Click Edit in a tier’s Requirements column to manage them.

A requirement is a measure plus a minimum value. Three measures are available today:

• Revenue — commission-tracked revenue attributed to the partner
• Leads submitted — leads the partner registered themselves
• Won deals — the partner’s deals that have been won

A tier can combine several requirements, and you choose whether a partner must meet all of them or any one of them.

Two details matter when you mix measures:

• Revenue follows your “Measure revenue” setting. It counts either per period or all-time, depending on what you chose.
• Lead and deal counts are always all-time totals. A requirement like “10 won deals” means ten deals ever, not ten per period — even on a program that measures revenue per period.

Global tiers are not just labels. They drive both:

• which tier a partner belongs to
• which commission structure is applied by default

In the live product today:

• the base tier is the default for every partner
• higher tiers are assigned automatically when a partner meets their requirements
• when the tier system recalculates, each partner gets the highest tier whose requirements they currently meet

Tiers recalculate on your chosen calculation frequency, and immediately when you save changes to the tier program.

This is the base layer of the commission model. More specific overrides can replace it.

The Allow demotion setting controls what happens when a partner no longer meets their tier’s requirements.

With demotion on, they move back down at the next recalculation. This is the classic “hit your number every period or lose the rate” model, and it is how every portal behaved before this setting existed.

With demotion off, tiers are permanent. Once a partner earns a tier, they keep it — and its commission structure — even if their numbers later fall below the requirements. The only way to move them down is to pin them to a different tier manually.

New portals start with all-time revenue measurement and demotion off. Portals created earlier keep the original behavior — per-period revenue with demotion allowed — until you change these settings. Because changing them can move many partners at once, the save preview shows you the full impact before anything is applied.

Partner-group-level commission tiers are coming soon, but they are not live yet.

The intended model is:

• you define a commission structure for a partner group
• partners in that group inherit the group-level structure unless a more specific override exists

When this is released, it will sit between the partner-level settings and the global tier defaults.

For now, treat partner-group commission logic as planned, not available.

Partner-level commission settings are live today.

You manage them from:

Partners -> open a partner -> Commission Details

The partner screen gives you a Commission Tier control with three modes:

Automatic means the partner follows the normal tier system.

In this mode:

• the partner’s tier is derived automatically
• the partner’s commission values follow that automatic tier result

Use this when you want the partner to follow your normal program rules.

Pinned means the partner is locked to a specific tier, including the base tier if needed.

In this mode:

• you pick which global tier the partner should use
• the partner stops floating between tiers automatically
• the partner’s commission settings stay tied to the chosen tier’s current values

That last point matters: pinned is not just a one-time copy. If you later update the pinned tier’s commission settings, the pinned partner follows those updated tier values.

Manual means the partner keeps custom commission values instead of inheriting them from a tier.

In this mode, you can set:

• commission type
• commission rate
• fixed amount
• duration

This is useful when one partner needs custom terms that should not affect anyone else.

Lead-level commission overrides are also live today.

You manage them from:

Leads -> open a lead -> Commission settings

When a lead is created, it starts with the partner’s current commission settings. After that, a vendor user can turn on Manual Commission for that specific lead.

When manual commission is enabled on a lead, you can override:

• commission type
• commission percentage
• fixed amount
• duration

This is the right place to handle deal-specific exceptions, such as:

• a one-off negotiated rate
• a different payout duration for a strategic deal
• a fixed-amount commission for one specific lead

Once you override the lead manually, that lead no longer just follows the partner’s default settings.

The most specific live override is the individual commission record itself.

You manage it from:

• the Commissions page by opening a commission record
• or from lead and partner commission-detail flows that open that record

On an editable commission record, users can override:

• commission type
• commission percentage
• fixed amount
• duration

This is the last-mile override layer. If a commission record has its own manual values, those values take precedence over the lead, partner, and global tier configuration behind it.

The easiest way to think about the system is:

1. Start with your portal-wide global tier structure.
2. Let partners stay Automatic when they should follow the normal rules.
3. Use Pinned or Manual partner settings only when a partner needs special treatment.
4. Use lead-level overrides for deal-specific exceptions.
5. Use commission-record overrides only when you need a one-off correction on the final commission itself.

If more than one level seems applicable, the most specific one wins.

Pin that partner to Tier B in the partner’s Commission Details screen.

Set that partner to Manual and enter the custom values directly.

Turn on Manual Commission in the lead’s Commission settings card and enter the custom values for that lead only.

Edit the commission record directly, as long as it is still editable.

On your calculation frequency, and immediately whenever you save changes to the tier program. Saving first shows a preview of every partner who would change tier or commission, so nothing moves without your confirmation.

No. Lead and deal counts are all-time totals. Only revenue can be measured per period, controlled by the Measure revenue setting.

With demotion on, they move down at the next recalculation. With demotion off, they keep the tier and its commission permanently; you can still pin them to a different tier manually.

The base tier never has requirements — it is the default for partners who do not qualify for anything higher. A higher tier with no requirements is only assigned when it sits at the bottom of the ladder; anywhere else it cannot be reached. In practice, give every tier above the base at least one requirement.

The partner-facing program page lists each tier with its requirements and commission, written out in plain language. If you show your program on the public sign-in page, visitors see the same list.

If you want the broader payments model, see Understanding Payments. If you want the day-to-day workflow after the rules are configured, see How to Manage Commissions.