CourseIndex.com is free for merchants to join. Merchants will only pay commissions on approved sales at a rate determined by the merchants themselves. CourseIndex.com charge a small fee as a percentage of any commissions paid out to affiliates. So, for merchants, there are no set-up costs, no fixed or monthly ongoing costs - simply a small fee based on approved commissions. So, no sales = no fee!
CourseIndex.com is free for affiliates to join.
Every confirmed sale that is attributable to an affiliate will generate a commission for that affiliate. In addition, CourseIndex.com will charge the merchant a percentage network access fee, based upon the value of the commission.
Let's assume a merchant payout of 10% per sale and a CourseIndex.com network access fee of 25% of the commission. A Health and Safety at Work course retails at $100 and is sold via an affiliate.
| Total revenue | $100.00 | |
| Commission for the affiliate @ at 10% | $10.00 | |
| Network access fee @ 25% of commission | $2.50 | |
| Total cost of sale (sum of commissions paid) | $12.50 | |
| Gross profit | $87.50 | |
| Total commissions paid out by the merchant as a percentage | 12.50% |
Merchants will continue to process sales using their existing Moodle (or other LMS) ecommerce system. The merchant will bank the funds as normal. There is no change to this process at any point.
If a sale is attributable to an affiliate, then the CourseIndex.com system will be automatically notified of this and of the commission value.
CourseIndex.com will bill the merchant the total commission value.
Courseindex.com will pay the affiliate and retain the network access fee balance.
The actual commission paid to the affiliate is determined by the merchant. The merchant is free to set this payout rate at their chosen value.
Affiliates are business people motivated by the value of commissions they could earn. Simply put, the higher the potential payout, the more affiliates you will attract, and the harder they will work.
We anticipate 10% being the lowest commission value set on CourseIndex.com. Anything above that becomes ever more generous. 20% would be average, 25% - 35% would be great, and anything above 40% is going to get you a lot of affiliates! You need to remember that an affiliate network is basically a reseller network. What level 'trade price' would you offer a valuable reseller? Remember, no sale = no fee, and also that sales that originate via an affiliate are probably sales that wouldn't have occurred naturally. It is worth being generous whilst your affiliate network establishes itself. Over time, 'super affiliates' will emerge to whom you may offer special incentives, discounts and promotions.
The actual rate you choose will be determined by the sales price itself, the popularity of the subject area, the uniqueness of your course offer, the credibility of your course offer, the quality of your courses, other expenses you will incur, and many other factors.
Where a sale is approved and a commission becomes due to the affiliate, CourseIndex.com charges a small Network Access fee. This is set at 25% of the commission payable. So, if you owe an affiliate $10 commission, we will charge 25% on top, or $2.50, bringing your total cost of sale to $12.50. We will invoice you this amount. We will then pay the affiliate on your behalf.
Prospective merchants should review the Merchant FAQs for additional information.
