Shopify Collabs: How to Run Creator and Affiliate Partnerships

Shopify Collabs gives Shopify merchants a simple way to turn creators, customers and brand advocates into affiliates: you recruit creators, send them products, give each one a tracked link and discount code, set commission, track referred sales and pay commission without building an affiliate system yourself. But if you read an older guide, note one important change: as of 1 October 2026, Collabs is still available to merchants, but Shopify is not accepting general new creator sign ups, so new creators can only join through a direct invitation or an approved application to your brand.

That makes Collabs excellent for managing creators you recruit yourself, and weaker as your only way to discover them. It is also where the comparison with an affiliate network such as Awin matters: Collabs is native to Shopify and creator focused, while Awin opens a far wider ecosystem of creators, editorial sites, cashback, voucher, comparison and technology partners. This guide covers Collabs from the merchant side, including setup, recruitment, commission, payouts, UK disclosure and when a network is worth its extra cost, with details checked on 1 October 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Shopify Collabs lets merchants recruit creators, issue tracked links and codes, send gifts, track sales and pay commission automatically, on every Shopify plan except Starter and Retail.
• Shopify is not accepting general creator sign ups, but you can still invite creators directly and approve applications, so recruit elsewhere and use Collabs to manage the relationship.
• Collabs is free to install, with a 2.9% fee on automatic commission payments; on a £100 sale at 10% commission that is £10.29 in total, against £13.50 plus a monthly fee on Awin Access.
• Commission sits in a holding period, 30 days by default, so cancelled and refunded orders drop out before you pay.
• Paid, gifted or commission earning creators must label posts clearly as ads in the UK, and the ASA recommends an upfront Ad label.
• Awin makes sense when you want reach beyond creators: the Awin programme we launched for Awake Organics reached 210 active publishers within three days.

Quick Answer

Shopify Collabs is Shopify's creator and affiliate app. Merchants can invite creators, accept applications, send free products or discounts, generate affiliate links and codes, set commission, track referred Shopify sales and automate payouts. It is available to UK merchants on eligible plans, although Shopify is not taking general new creator sign ups, so creators join through your invitations or approved applications. It is free to install, with a 2.9% fee on automatic commission payments, and suits creator led programmes, while a network such as Awin makes more sense when you want a much broader publisher ecosystem.

Table of Contents

• What Is Shopify Collabs?
• Is Shopify Collabs Still Available, and Who Can Use It?
• How Do You Set Up Shopify Collabs?
• How Do You Find and Approve Creators?
• How Do Commissions, Gifting and Payouts Work?
• What Must UK Creators Disclose?
• Shopify Collabs or an Affiliate Network Such as Awin?
• Can You Run Shopify Collabs and Awin Together?
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• Related Articles

What Is Shopify Collabs?

Shopify Collabs brings creator recruitment, applications, affiliate links, discount codes, commission tracking, product gifting, creator payments and sales reporting into one place. The model is simple: a creator promotes your store, a customer clicks their link or uses their code and buys, Collabs attributes the sale and the creator earns the commission you set, paid after a holding period. Because it sits inside Shopify, referrals connect to the same order data you already use, rather than a separate spreadsheet, code system and payment process.

Collabs combines influencer and affiliate models. Influencer marketing pays for content and reach, such as £500 for a Reel whether it sells one order or 100, while affiliate marketing pays only for tracked results. With Collabs you can invite a creator, send a free product, give them a personal code and link, pay 12% on referred sales and track their orders, and agree any fixed content fee separately if they are also making assets for you.

Is Shopify Collabs Still Available, and Who Can Use It?

Yes. Shopify says Collabs is available on all plans except Starter and Retail, it needs Shopify Network Intelligence switched on in your privacy settings, and the App Store listing shows it as free to install. UK merchants can use it, and UK creators are among those, with US and Canadian creators, who can join Collabs' open access programme.

The catch is on the creator side. Shopify currently says Collabs is not accepting general new creator sign ups: existing creators keep their accounts, and new ones can only join through a merchant's direct invitation or an approved application to a brand. Your routes are still searching Collabs' existing creators, inviting people by email, inviting creators you found elsewhere, adding an application form to your store and opening products to existing creators. So do not install Collabs and expect 30 perfect UK TikTok creators to appear: recruit from your customers, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, marketplaces, your email list, reviews, events and TikTok One, then use Collabs to manage tracking and commission; see our guide to user generated content for Shopify.

How Do You Set Up Shopify Collabs?

The technical setup is quick; the strategy takes more thought:

1. Install Collabs from the Shopify App Store and open it under Apps, adding your contact email, product category, primary audience and the countries you want creators in.
2. Write a specific brand profile: UK organic skincare brand looking for creators aged 30+ who make simple, sensitive skin routines gives people a reason to self select; we are an exciting brand does not.
3. Create your application page: customise the imagery, text and a few useful questions (platforms, audience location, content type, favourite products, whether they are already customers), then link it from your footer, social bios and outreach.
4. Choose your programme type: open access lets eligible existing creators generate links without approval, at one commission for all products or chosen collections; invite programmes let you pick creators and set a destination page, customer discount and commission, with different terms for different groups.
5. Decide the customer offer: a code such as 10% off can help, but commission plus a 15% discount can get expensive on tight margins, and strong creators can sell without one.
6. Set a commission you can afford: 15% on a £100 order is £15, plus a 2.9% fee of about £0.44, so roughly £15.44 before any discount, gifted product, returns or other costs.

How Do You Find and Approve Creators?

The wrong creator with a big audience is still the wrong creator. Inside Collabs you can search creators by keyword, location, social account and audience size across platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Twitch, and Shopify sets no universal follower minimum, which helps, because 4,000 relevant UK followers can be worth more than 400,000 in the wrong country. Judge audience relevance, content quality, engagement, location, brand fit, past commercial posts and whether they already use similar products.

You can invite creators from their Collabs profile, by email or in bulk by CSV, up to 100 invitations in any seven days, and invitations expire after 30 days, which makes Collabs a good operational layer even when discovery happens on TikTok or Instagram. Review applications rather than approving everyone: check audience, geography, content style, how often they promote anything offered to them, category relevance and whether their existing paid posts are properly labelled, because a creator who ignores disclosure rules becomes your brand risk too.

Then give partners a brief with product benefits, the customer profile, approved and prohibited claims, brand assets, links, the current offer, launch dates, stock notes and disclosure requirements. Good creators still need creative freedom: the brief says what is true and important, and they decide how to make it interesting to their audience.

How Do Commissions, Gifting and Payouts Work?

You set a percentage commission per programme, across all products, chosen collections or different invite programmes, and you can move a creator into a better programme as they prove themselves while their link and code stay the same. Start from contribution margin: a £100 order with £35 product cost, £8 fulfilment and £4 payment costs leaves £53 before marketing, and £15 commission, a £0.44 fee and a £10 customer discount already use about £25.44 of it. That is why skincare, electronics, coffee subscriptions and fashion all need different rates, and why a competitor paying 20% is no reason for you to.

Creators earn through tracked links and discount codes, with extra setup needed for custom storefronts. Invite programmes can include a customer discount, but remember that 15% commission plus 15% off costs both, not 15%. Collabs can also send creators a free product, a percentage discount or a fixed discount; a claimed product gift creates an order in your admin with free shipping, which beats creating £0 orders by hand. A gift does not guarantee content, though, so agree any required posts separately and clearly.

Payouts are automatic. Commission enters a holding period, 30 days by default and adjustable from 1 to 90, during which commission on cancelled or fully refunded orders is removed and you can dispute it; after that it is added to your Shopify bill and, once paid, reaches creators who have set up bank or PayPal payouts. The 2.9% fee applies to the commission, not the whole sale, so 10% commission on £100 means a £10 commission and a £0.29 fee, and because payments run in US dollars, currency conversion charges can apply.

What Must UK Creators Disclose?

Affiliate marketing is advertising: being paid only after a sale does not make it an independent recommendation. ASA and CAP guidance says content tied to commission earning links or codes counts as advertising, that free products and other gifts are incentives too, and that brands can be jointly responsible, so product seeding belongs in your compliance process as much as paid deals.

The ASA recommends a clear, prominent Ad or #Ad label at the start, so people know it is advertising before or as they engage, and warns that Sponsored, Gifted, Supported by, In association with, Brand Ambassador and Affiliate may not be clear enough. Tagging your brand or saying use SARAH10 does not explain that the creator earns money either. Platform paid partnership tools help but do not guarantee compliance, and ASA research in February 2026 found consumers still struggle to tell influencer ads from organic posts, so brief every creator on disclosure before they start.

Shopify Collabs or an Affiliate Network Such as Awin?

Collabs and Awin overlap, but the clearest difference is who you want to recruit:

Collabs' strengths are native Shopify tracking, no subscription, gifting, application pages, discount codes and automatic commission. Awin says it connects advertisers with more than one million partners in over 180 countries, including creators, editorial and media sites, cashback and loyalty schemes, voucher and comparison sites and technology partners, with tracking, commission rules, reporting and publisher payments. Its UK pricing starts at £99 plus VAT a month on Access with a 3.5% tracking fee per transaction and a three month minimum, or £199 on Accelerate at 2.5% with APIs, automation and benchmarking, with no standard joining fee though integration charges can apply.

Collabs is probably enough when you run Shopify, your programme is mainly creators you recruit yourself, you have a strong customer or social community and a limited affiliate budget: a new beauty brand with 20 customers, 15 Instagram creators and five TikTokers has little reason to pay for a network. Awin earns its cost when you want editorial publishers, media, cashback, loyalty, voucher, comparison, technology or international partners, or richer commission rules, reporting and validation. Network reach can arrive fast: the Awin programme we launched for Awake Organics reached 210 active publishers within three days.

Can You Run Shopify Collabs and Awin Together?

Yes, and there can be a sensible split: Collabs for customers, small creators, ambassadors and UGC creators who also post, and Awin for editorial publishers, cashback, voucher and comparison partners, larger affiliates, technology partners and international recruitment. That keeps Collabs' low friction creator management without giving up a wider network, but give every active partner one primary programme rather than signing the same creator up to both, or you invite questions about which link wins, which code applies, which platform reports the sale and whether one order triggers two commissions.

Discount codes need rules too. Creators like codes because they are easy to say on video, and voucher sites like them because shoppers search for them, so a creator's SARAH15 can end up ranking for your brand plus discount code and paying commission to shoppers who were already at checkout. Decide who may publish creator codes, whether voucher partners can use them, the rules on brand search bidding and code scraping, and whether new and returning customers earn the same commission.

Why Matters Perspective

Disclosure: Why Matters is an Awin partner as well as a Shopify agency, but that does not mean every merchant needs Awin. For a smaller brand starting with a handful of creators, Collabs is a very sensible first tool: it is inside Shopify, has no monthly fee and handles tracking, codes, gifts and commission without another contract. The tool is not the strategy, though: the work is still setting a commission your margin supports, finding the right partners, briefing them, checking tracking and posts, validating orders and moving budget to partners who bring profitable new customers.

When a programme grows beyond creators, we prefer a specialist network, because a strong affiliate programme eventually mixes content sites, creators, comparison sites, loyalty and cashback partners, carefully controlled voucher sites and technology partners, each needing different commission economics: a publisher writing an in depth review for a new customer deserves different treatment from a voucher site appearing seconds before checkout. Our affiliate marketing agency service starts with margin, tracking and partner type rather than publisher count. If you are just starting, Collabs can be enough; once the model is proven, compare a network, because paying for scale before you have a programme worth scaling is the costly mistake.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Shopify Collabs?

An affiliate and creator management app for Shopify merchants. It lets you recruit creators, issue affiliate links and discount codes, send gifts, track referred orders, set commission rates and pay commission automatically.

Is Shopify Collabs free?

It is free to install. Shopify adds a 2.9% processing fee to automatic commission payments, on top of the commission you agree with each creator, and currency conversion charges can apply because payments run in US dollars.

Is Shopify Collabs still available?

Yes, on every Shopify plan except Starter and Retail. Shopify is not accepting general creator sign ups, but you can still invite creators directly and approve applications, and existing Collabs creators can keep using it.

How many followers do creators need?

Shopify sets no universal minimum. You can filter creators by audience size, location and platform, and a smaller creator with the right audience is often a better partner than a large account in the wrong market.

How do Collabs commissions work?

You set the commission rate, and sales through a creator's link or code earn it. Commission waits through a holding period, 30 days by default and adjustable from 1 to 90, then appears on your Shopify bill with the 2.9% fee before the creator is paid.

Can I use Collabs and Awin together?

Yes. Many brands use Collabs for direct creator relationships and Awin for publishers, cashback, comparison and technology partners. Give every partner one primary programme so a sale is never paid twice.

Do creators have to label posts as ads in the UK?

Yes, when they are paid, gifted or earn commission. The ASA recommends a clear upfront Ad label and warns that Gifted, Sponsored, Affiliate, a brand tag or a discount code on its own may not be clear enough.

Final Thoughts

Shopify Collabs makes most sense as an affiliate operating system for creator relationships rather than an influencer discovery app, handling applications, invitations, commission, codes, links, gifting, attribution and payouts without another subscription. A good first version is simple: set one sustainable commission, build an application page, invite customers who already make good content, recruit a few relevant creators, brief them on the brand and disclosure, send product selectively, track orders and new customers, and reward the partners who bring profitable sales.

Once that works, decide whether Collabs still gives you enough reach. If you want editorial, comparison, cashback, loyalty, voucher and technology partners alongside creators, a network such as Awin is a different proposition, not just a dearer Collabs: creators first, prove the economics, then broaden. For help setting up and managing a wider partner programme, see our affiliate marketing agency page.

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