How do you decide between flat fee vs commission?

[Ayse.AfilliateGrowth]

Hi everyone,
When working with influencers, how do you decide which pricing model to use?
Do you usually go with a flat fee, a commission-based deal, or a mix of both?
What factors influence your decision creator size, risk, margins, expected performance, or past results?
I’d love to hear how others approach this in practice.

[Ayse.AfilliateGrowth]

That makes sense, adjusting the model based on the size of creators and margins. Thanks for sharing your approach.

[Ayse.AfilliateGrowth]

@finnya

Great question — this usually depends on risk tolerance and margins more than anything.

Most brands I’ve seen use a mix depending on the creator tier:

• Smaller / micro creators → commission-heavy (lower upfront risk, performance-based)
• Mid-tier creators → hybrid model (smaller flat fee + commission)
• Larger creators → mostly flat fee, sometimes with a performance bonus

The main factors that influence it:

• Profit margins (can you afford strong commission?)
• Confidence in conversion (past results > follower count)
• Audience alignment (niche matters more than size)
• Content usage rights (ads, whitelisting, etc.)

If margins are tight or you’re testing a new creator, commission-first is safer. If you know they convert, a hybrid model usually aligns incentives well.

Curious — are you working with creators for product seeding/testing right now, or scaling something that’s already proven?

Appreciate the breakdown, the margin and risk make lots of sense. Adjusting the model based on confidence in conversion rather than follower size alone. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Have hybrid deals generally worked better for you rather than pure comission setups