This guide explains how Affelios billing works, including billing cycles, unit usage tracking, and invoice management. Understanding these concepts is essential for managing your program costs and optimizing your affiliate marketing budget.
Billing Overview
How Affelios Billing Works
When you start a program with Affelios and choose a plan, you’ll initially be charged for the cost of that plan. Then, in every billing cycle, you’ll be billed for your plan’s fee plus any additional costs tied to your unit usage, according to the rates for those units under your plan.
Billing Components
Plan Fees
Plan Fees
Base Subscription Cost:
- Fixed monthly fee for your chosen plan
- Includes core platform features and functionality
- Covers basic program management tools
- Provides access to affiliate dashboard and reporting
- Commission plan management
- Affiliate onboarding and management
- Basic reporting and analytics
- Standard support and documentation
Unit Usage Costs
Unit Usage Costs
Usage-Based Charges:
- Additional costs based on platform usage
- Calculated according to your plan’s unit rates
- Added to your monthly plan fee
- Varies based on program activity and scale
- Ad Requests - Media asset serving and display
- Click Processing - Affiliate link tracking and redirects
- Transactions - Commission processing and payments
Total Billing
Total Billing
Monthly Invoice Calculation:Billing Transparency:
- Detailed breakdown of all charges
- Unit usage reporting for each service
- Clear pricing structure and rates
- Predictable cost management
Unit Usage Tracking
Usage Monitoring
At the end of each day, Affelios reports the total volume of units for the previous day. The reported amount will be available for view within the billing section of your account.
Types of Chargeable Units
Ad Requests
Ad Requests
What Are Ad Requests:
- Media asset serving and display requests
- Banner advertisements and creative assets
- HTML5 content and promotional materials
- Image and video content delivery
- Each time a media asset is requested
- When affiliates access promotional materials
- During creative asset serving
- For all media content delivery
- Real-time monitoring of ad requests
- Daily reporting of total volume
- Historical usage analytics
- Cost optimization insights
Click Processing
Click Processing
What Is Click Processing:
- Affiliate link tracking and redirects
- Click attribution and routing
- Link validation and processing
- Traffic source identification
- Each affiliate link click processed
- Link redirect and tracking operations
- Attribution data processing
- Click validation and routing
- Click volume monitoring
- Processing efficiency metrics
- Daily click processing reports
- Performance optimization data
Transactions
Transactions
What Are Transactions:
- Commission processing and calculations
- Payment processing and settlements
- Financial transaction handling
- Revenue attribution and reporting
- Only when transactions are processed
- Pending transactions are not charged
- Processed on the day of completion
- Based on actual transaction volume
Usage Reporting
1
Daily Reporting
Affelios reports total unit volume for the previous day at the end of each day.
2
Billing Section Access
View your unit usage reports in the billing section of your account dashboard.
3
Usage Analytics
Monitor trends, patterns, and optimization opportunities in your usage data.
4
Cost Management
Use usage data to optimize your program and control costs effectively.
Billing Cycle Management
Monthly Billing Process
Billing cycles correspond to calendar months, with invoices issued on the first day of each month. Following the generation of an invoice, payment via credit card is processed shortly after that.
Billing Cycle Details
Calendar Month Cycles
Calendar Month Cycles
Billing Period:
- Billing cycles align with calendar months
- January 1st to January 31st = January billing cycle
- February 1st to February 28th/29th = February billing cycle
- Consistent monthly billing regardless of signup date
- Invoices created on the first day of each month
- Covers the previous month’s usage and fees
- Includes detailed breakdown of all charges
- Available for download and review
Payment Processing
Payment Processing
Payment Timeline:
- Invoice generated on the 1st of each month
- Credit card payment processed shortly after
- Automatic payment processing for convenience
- Email notifications for payment status
- Credit card payments (primary method)
- Automatic recurring billing
- Secure payment processing
- Payment confirmation and receipts
Unit Compilation Process
Unit Compilation Process
Daily Unit Tracking:
- Units compiled at end of each day
- Previous day’s data reported daily
- Real-time usage monitoring available
- Historical data maintained for analysis
- Units from previous day not compiled on 1st of month
- On 2nd day of month, gather units from last two days
- Approach taken for accounting accuracy
- Prevents alteration of finalized billing periods
Understanding Your Invoice
Invoice Breakdown
Understanding the tracking of unit usage is crucial when reviewing an invoice. Your invoice will reflect the costs incurred from the cumulative total of your unit usage.
Invoice Components
Invoice Components
Plan Fee:
- Base monthly subscription cost
- Fixed fee regardless of usage
- Core platform access and features
- Standard support and documentation
- Ad Requests × Ad Request Rate
- Click Processing × Click Processing Rate
- Transactions × Transaction Rate
- Total usage-based costs
- Plan fee + unit usage charges
- Taxes and fees (if applicable)
- Final amount for payment
Usage Details
Usage Details
Detailed Breakdown:
- Daily unit usage for each service
- Rate calculations and totals
- Historical comparison data
- Cost optimization recommendations
- Clear line-item billing
- Detailed usage explanations
- Historical trend analysis
- Cost projection tools
Cost Management & Optimization
Budget Optimization
Effective cost management helps you optimize your affiliate program budget and maximize ROI while maintaining necessary functionality.
Cost Optimization Strategies
Usage Monitoring
Usage Monitoring
Regular Review:
- Monitor daily usage reports
- Identify usage patterns and trends
- Track cost increases and decreases
- Set usage alerts and notifications
- Reduce unnecessary ad requests
- Optimize click processing efficiency
- Streamline transaction processing
- Implement usage best practices
Plan Optimization
Plan Optimization
Right-Sizing:
- Choose appropriate plan for your needs
- Upgrade or downgrade based on usage
- Consider usage patterns and growth
- Evaluate feature requirements
- Compare plan costs vs. benefits
- Analyze ROI of platform features
- Consider alternative solutions
- Optimize for your specific use case
Usage Efficiency
Usage Efficiency
Best Practices:
- Optimize media asset delivery
- Implement efficient tracking methods
- Streamline transaction processing
- Monitor and reduce waste
- Cost per conversion tracking
- Usage efficiency ratios
- Performance vs. cost analysis
- Optimization recommendations
Budget Planning
1
Historical Analysis
Review past usage patterns to predict future costs and plan your budget accordingly.
2
Growth Planning
Factor in expected program growth when planning your budget and choosing plans.
3
Cost Monitoring
Set up regular monitoring and alerts to track costs and identify optimization opportunities.
4
Regular Review
Conduct monthly reviews of your billing and usage to ensure optimal cost management.
Troubleshooting Billing Issues
Common Billing Questions
Address frequently asked questions about billing, usage, and invoice management.
Billing Questions
Understanding Charges
Understanding Charges
Q: Why is my bill higher than expected?Common Causes:
- Increased affiliate activity and clicks
- Higher transaction volume
- More media asset requests
- Plan upgrade or feature additions
- Review detailed usage breakdown
- Check for unusual activity spikes
- Compare with previous months
- Contact support for clarification
- Only when transactions are processed
- Pending transactions are not charged
- Charged on the day of processing
- Based on actual completion status
Usage Questions
Usage Questions
Q: How can I reduce my unit usage costs?Optimization Strategies:
- Optimize media asset delivery
- Implement efficient tracking
- Reduce unnecessary ad requests
- Streamline transaction processing
- Only processed transactions are charged
- Pending transactions may be cancelled
- Charging occurs upon completion
- Ensures accurate billing for actual usage
Payment Questions
Payment Questions
Q: When is my payment processed?Payment Timeline:
- Invoice generated on 1st of month
- Payment processed shortly after
- Automatic credit card processing
- Email confirmation sent
- Update credit card information
- Change billing preferences
- Contact support for assistance
- Manage payment methods in dashboard
Getting Support
Need help understanding your billing or resolving billing issues? Our support team can assist with:
- Detailed billing explanations and breakdowns
- Usage optimization recommendations
- Payment method updates and changes
- Billing dispute resolution and clarification
Next Steps
Billing Management
Now that you understand Affelios billing, use this knowledge to optimize your program costs and manage your affiliate marketing budget effectively.
- Review your current billing and usage patterns
- Set up usage monitoring and alerts
- Analyze cost optimization opportunities
- Plan your budget based on usage trends
- Monitor daily usage reports regularly
- Optimize program efficiency to reduce costs
- Review and adjust plans as needed
- Maintain cost-effective affiliate operations
- Pricing Page - Current plan costs and unit rates
- Cancel Subscription - Subscription management
- Setup Guide - Program configuration and optimization
- API Documentation - Programmatic billing and usage management
Regular monitoring of your usage patterns helps you optimize costs and choose the right plan for your needs. Set up usage alerts to stay informed about your program’s activity and costs.