The question comes up constantly, and the honest answer disappoints: it depends on whom you reach. A 50% commission on something nobody buys pays less than 4% on something everybody wants.
1. Does the product convert?
The most important factor and the least examined. A known product, with a good sales page and a coherent price, converts on its own. An obscure product needs you to do all the convincing.
2. How long the cookie lasts
The cookie is the window in which a purchase still counts as yours. Some programmes give hours, others days or months. For a product with a slow decision, a short cookie cancels out much of your work.
3. How and when it pays
Payment terms, minimum payout and a reputation for actually paying. A programme that pays in 90 days with a high minimum locks up your cash.
4. Does it match the people you reach?
The decisive criterion, and the only one that depends on you. If your audience is parents, the best programme is the one that sells to parents — whatever the commission table says.
The broad families
- Marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, AliExpress): lower commission, high conversion, enormous catalogue. Good for starting;
- Digital products (ClickBank, Digistore24, Gumroad and the like): high commission, conversion depends heavily on the creator;
- Services and subscriptions: they pay on a recurring referral, which is the model that accumulates most over time.
A criterion almost nobody uses
Recurrence. A commission paid once pays once; a commission on a subscription pays every month for as long as the customer stays. Two programmes with the same headline rate are not the same programme if one of them repeats.
