Two Tier affiliate programs pay you commissions both on your own activity (Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead, Pay Per Sale, or Residual Income) and based on the activity of affiliates that you refer to the program.

Very often (but not always) your two-tier commissions are calculated as a percentage of your referrals' earnings. (Another popular approach is to pay a flat bonus when you refer an active affiliate).

Many webmasters imagine two tier affiliate programs as an easy way to make lots of money, thinking they will refer lots of other affiliates, and live off their referral earnings. But, based on experience (having referred hundreds/thousands of affiliates to various programs), I would say it rarely works out that way:

Most affiliates generate little or no revenue (and unfortunately that is likely to include your referrals - and remember you are receiving only a percentage of their commissions if any).
Many affiliates, even good ones, drop out or become inactive in affiliate programs.
Many affiliates join two tier programs with the intention of referring affiliates themselves. As these affiliates generate no clicks/leads/sales, they will generate no two tier commissions for you.
Realistically, it's exceedingly unlikely that Yahoo! or one of the other major web sites will sign-up under your site as a two-tier affiliate.

In short, I would opine that it is usually better to regard any two tier commissions that you might earn as a nice bonus - rather than something that you can necessary build a steady income around.

An example of a two tier affiliate program is AllPosters.

Two Tier Affiliate Programs

Note: The

symbol indicates: Recommended and Verified, we have received commission payments from the particular affiliate program. Note: Obviously we can not guarantee future performance, and we do not any promises that you will be successful with the program.

Affiliate Program	Pay Per Click CPC	Pay Per Lead CPA	Pay Per Sale CPS	Residual Income	Two Tier
AllPosters Posters	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
Art.com Art/Posters	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
AWeber Autoresponders	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes
DishPronto Satellite TV	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
IMC Internet Marketing products	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes
MyTemplateStorage Web Templates	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
QuickCommerce Merchant Accounts	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
RegNow Shareware Software	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
Searchfeed Show Ads	Yes	-	Yes	-	Yes
SiteSell Webmaster Tools	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spam Arrest Stop Spam	-	-	Yes	Yes	Yes
TAF Master Tell-A-Friend	-	Yes	-	-	Yes

Disclosure: As indicated in the individual reviews, our company is a member of most of the affiliate programs listed on this web site. In the case of those affiliate programs which contain a two-tier element, we may receive for helping to recruit additional affiliates.

As explained in our Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures, we try to honestly and fairly describe our own experiences in relation to third party products and services, - however: Our results and experiences with third party products and services are not necessarily typical. Your results and experiences using any particular third party product or service may differ from our results and experiences. An average consumer's results and experience using any particular third party product or service may differ from our results and experiences.

All details of affiliate programs described on this site, were believed to be correct at the time of initial publication. Affiliate program operators may however vary details of their program at any time, without necessarily notifying us. Please check their site's for definitive current details.

Your Comments

Please share your comments and thoughts:

With any business, it is up to the individual owner of said business to ensure the success of the business. You may make more or less than any sample figures or results that might be quoted on our web sites or other publications. All business involves risk, and many businesses do not succeed. Further, Answers 2000 Limited does NOT represent that any particular individual or business is typical, or that any results or experiences achieved by any particular individual/business is necessarily typical.

Copyright © 2000-2018, Answers 2000 Limited

In Association With Amazon.com
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
In Association With Amazon.co.uk
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.� r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Contact Us Privacy Terms Of Use Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Disclosure: Our company may receive a payment if you purchase web hosting, domain registration or other products or services after following a link from this website.

Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures