Answers

Paying UK micro-influencers: fee, commission or both

Usually both: a flat fee for an agreed post, plus commission on the sales it brings. Fewer creators will work for commission alone: in one survey, only 17.2% said they would without a base fee.

The question: “What should I pay UK micro-influencers: a flat fee, commission, or both?”

A fee for the post, commission for the sales

For most small brands, pay both: a flat fee for an agreed post and a commission on the sales it brings. The fee buys a commitment that the content goes up, in the format and on the date you agreed. The commission keeps rewarding the creator when their audience buys, and shows you who sells.

Commission alone shrinks your pool. In a creator survey by the US agency The Motherhood, reported in January 2024, only 17.2% said they would work commission-only with no base fee, though nearly half said it might depend on the rate. As a top-up it helps: in a 2026 Modash survey of 57 creators, 79% said a commission would make them more likely to agree to work with a brand.

Setting the fee

Price on what a creator's posts actually do. Ask for their rate, look at the views on their recent posts, and compare quotes as cost per thousand views rather than per follower. Then check it against your own numbers: the fee plus product and postage, divided by your margin per order, is how many orders the post needs to pay for itself.

Write down what the fee covers: the format, the date, how long the post stays up and whether you can use it in your own ads. The Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct from ISBA and the Influencer Marketing Trade Body, written for UK practitioners, asks brands to set out the deliverables, to be clear about how, where and for how long the content will be used and how long it should stay up, and to keep to payment deadlines. Running a post as a Meta partnership ad needs the creator's permission, so agree it, and its price, up front.

Setting the commission

Set the rate from your margin, not from what other brands pay: decide what you can give away per order and still make money, and stay inside it. Give each creator their own code and link. Shopify reports orders for each discount code, but codes travel: extensions such as PayPal's Honey find working codes and apply them at checkout, so a code can be credited with a sale its creator did not make, while buyers who skip the code go uncounted.

If commission is most of what you pay, use a tool built for it. Shopify's Collabs app is free to install on most Shopify plans, lets you invite creators or take applications, gives approved creators personal links and codes, and pays commission through your Shopify bill, with a 2.9% processing fee on automatic payments.

When to pay, and what the rules say

Agree the timing in writing. ISBA's 2018 micro-influencer contract template, which it makes available to the whole industry, leaves it to you, with 50% on signing and 50% on completion as its example. Paying the fee once the post is live means you never pay for a post that does not appear.

Whatever you pay with, it counts as payment. The October 2026 ASA, CAP and CMA guide includes money, free products, an exclusive discount and commission, and treats a code or link that earns per sale as affiliate marketing, which is advertising. Every such post must make clear upfront that it is an ad (an "Ad" label at the start is the simplest way), and the brand shares responsibility for it.

Where Autone fits

With Autone you set each creator's fee, plus the product and its postage, and every fee and every payment waits for your approval. Each creator gets their own discount code, and every order that uses it shows in your own Shopify, so you can check sales creator by creator. Plans are $199, $499 or $999 a month, month to month, with a 30-day free trial.

When Autone is the wrong choice

If you want to pay creators on commission alone, a tool built for affiliate payouts, such as Shopify Collabs or an affiliate network like Awin, is the more natural fit; Autone is built around a fee you set for each creator, agreed before they post. It is also built for Shopify brands, so look elsewhere if you sell on another platform.

Questions

Does a commission-only post still need an ad label?

Yes. Under the October 2026 ASA, CAP and CMA guide, a link or code that earns the creator money per click or sale is affiliate marketing and counts as advertising. The guide advises against labels such as "aff" or "afflink"; use "Ad" at the start.

Should I pay before or after the post?

Either can work if it is written down. ISBA's 2018 micro-influencer template gives 50% on signing and 50% on completion as an example; paying once the post is live means you never pay for one that does not appear.

Can I use a creator's post in my own ads?

Only if you agree it. The ISBA and IMTB code asks brands to be clear about where creator content will be used, how often and for how long, and Meta's partnership ads need the creator's permission.

Sources

The Motherhood, "Influencer Affiliate Programs: Ad Age Covers The Motherhood's Report" (11 January 2024): only 17.2% of creators surveyed are willing to work on an affiliate or commission-only basis without a base fee; nearly 94% prefer flat-fee stipends. (themotherhood.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Modash, "Commission isn't enough: 57 creators say they want more from affiliate programs" (19 October 2026; 57 creators and 70 influencer marketers): 79% of creators said affiliate commission would incentivise them to agree to work with a brand; 68% still accept affiliate commissions as total or partial payment. (modash.io, checked 2026-11-11)
Modash, "How to pay influencers" (9 November 2026): reports that 79% of creators surveyed said commission makes them more likely to work with a brand when it is on top of a flat fee. (modash.io, checked 2026-11-11)
ISBA and IMTB, Influencer Marketing Code of Conduct (version 4, November 2024, aimed at UK practitioners): brands will set out a scope of work or description of services/deliverables (4.3); be clear about how content is to be used, including where, how often and for how long (4.4); how long contracted content should stay up (4.6); the exact nature of the fees and how they will be paid (4.8); and will work to payment deadlines and make every effort not to let payment drift (4.9). (isba.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
ISBA, "ISBA Influencer Contract Templates": the contracts are available for the entire industry to use; the micro-influencer template is for a one-off or low-value campaign. (isba.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
ISBA micro-influencer contract template (2018): the Payment Milestones section is filled in by the brand, with "50% on signature, 50% when completed" as its example; the consideration is paid subject to satisfactory receipt of the deliverables. (isba.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
Meta Help Center, "How to create a partnership ad": an advertiser needs partnership ads permission from the creator, for example an ad code the creator shares, to boost their content as a partnership ad. (help.instagram.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Shopify Help Center, Sales reports: the "Sales by discount codes" report shows the number of orders and total sales for each discount code. (help.shopify.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Honey (part of PayPal): pops up at checkout to search for coupons and, if it finds working codes, automatically applies one to the cart. (joinhoney.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Modash, "How to set up influencer discount codes" (September 2026): some followers buy without entering the code, so pair codes with tracking links; a coupon site that obtains a code can credit a creator with sales they did not influence. (modash.io, checked 2026-11-11)
Shopify Collabs on the Shopify App Store: free to install; personalised links and codes for approved creators; affiliate commissions tracked and paid automatically via the Shopify bill; a 2.9% commission processing fee on automatic payments may apply. (apps.shopify.com, checked 2026-11-11)
Shopify Help Center, "Pay creators on Collabs": a 2.9% processing fee applies to every automatic commission payment and is reflected in the Shopify bill. (help.shopify.com, checked 2026-11-11)
ASA, CAP and CMA, "Influencers' guide to making clear that ads are ads" (October 2026): payment includes money, free products, an exclusive discount or a commission; a link or discount code that pays per click-through or sale is affiliate marketing and counts as advertising; both the creator and the brand are responsible; advises against labels such as "Aff" and "Afflink"; names Awin among affiliate networks. (asa.org.uk, checked 2026-11-11)
CMA, "Social media endorsements: guidance for brands" (updated 28 August 2025): any incentive or reward, including money, commissions, discounts and gifts of products, is payment, and the content must be labelled as an ad. (gov.uk, checked 2026-11-11)

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