What's the difference between a referral and an affiliate?
What's the difference between a referral and an affiliate?
Referrals are your customers sharing with friends — both sides
typically earn a discount or gift. Affiliates are creators and
partners who apply to promote you and earn cash commissions or
coupons per sale. Shopjar runs both; the referral side is
self-serve, the affiliate side has applications and payouts.
Widgets don't show on my storefront
Widgets don't show on my storefront
Turn on the Shopjar app embed in your theme editor (dashboard
Setup Guide → Activate app → Refresh status). The
thank-you page and customer account widgets additionally need
their app block placed in Shopify’s checkout editor — see
Storefront widgets & pages.
A referral sale wasn't tracked
A referral sale wasn't tracked
Attribution needs the friend to arrive via the referral link or use
a referral coupon. Check the coupon on the order, the member’s
status (approved, not blocked), and whether fraud protection
flagged it — IP-flagged sales show as “Fraud via IP” and can be
approved manually if legitimate.
A reward or commission wasn't issued
A reward or commission wasn't issued
Work through: rule is Active → conditions pass (first-order,
order value, products) → approval mode isn’t Manual with the
reward sitting in Pending → the member isn’t excluded by a rule’s
member targeting.
Emails aren't being received
Emails aren't being received
Check the template’s toggle is on (each email can be disabled),
remember new stores are limited to 10 emails/day until
verified, and consider a
custom sending domain for better
deliverability. In test mode, emails are never sent.
An affiliate can't log in to the portal
An affiliate can't log in to the portal
OTP codes only go to approved members — check their status.
Also confirm Allow Email OTP for Guest Login is enabled in
Settings → Referral & Affiliate Dashboard.
Bulk payout skipped members
Bulk payout skipped members
Usually a missing PayPal email — the review step lists who and
why. Affiliates can add their own PayPal address in the
member portal.
A refund still counted toward rewards
A refund still counted toward rewards
Enable auto-revoke (Affiliate → Settings → Revoke Commission)
with the Refunded/Canceled statuses, and use Auto approve after
delay set past your return window so nothing is paid before
refunds can happen.
Why is a feature locked?
Why is a feature locked?
Locked features show “Included in Essential / Starter / growth” —
that’s plan gating, not a bug. See
Billing & plans for the full map.
Need help?
Book a call
Schedule a free call with our team for personal setup assistance.
Contact support
Chat with us directly — we’re happy to help with any question.
Install Shopjar
Get Shopjar Referral & Affiliate Marketing from the Shopify App Store.