How it works
- The seller turns on refundable samples for a product.
- The seller sets the refund condition. The common one is "generate orders, one or more".
- The creator buys the product with their own money.
- The creator posts a video that links the product.
- When the video brings in the required orders, the refund goes back to the creator.
What "generate 3 orders for refund" means
It means the seller set the target at three. The creator's content has to bring three orders of that product. Two orders is not enough. The target is the seller's choice, per product.
What happens if the criteria are not met
Nothing is refunded. The creator paid for the product and keeps it. The seller did not give a unit away. No penalty lands on either side in the sources we checked.
Where a seller sets it up
Affiliate Center, then Collaboration, then Open Collaboration. Pick the product. Choose Refundable Samples and set the order target.
Free sample or refundable sample
- Free samples get more yeses. They also go to creators who never post.
- Refundable samples filter for intent. A creator who pays expects to post.
- Top creators tend to skip refundable offers. They have free product on the table already.
- Use refundable samples for new creators with no history on your product.
- Keep free samples for creators who already brought you revenue.
That last split is the rule we run on every shop. Product goes by fit and revenue history, never by follower count.
How to choose the order target
Set the target from what the product can do, not from hope.
- Look at your last 90 days. How many orders does a typical first video bring?
- Set the target at or just under that number. A target nobody reaches teaches creators to ignore the offer.
- Keep it the same for every new creator on that product. One rule is easier to explain.
- Go higher only on expensive products, where one unit costs you more.
How to brief a creator on a refundable sample
Most missed targets are briefing problems.
- Say the target in the first message. "Three orders and it is refunded."
- Send the two points the video must make.
- Send one example of a video that brought orders.
- Say when you will check in. Then check in.
- When they hit the target, tell them the same day. Send the next product free.
What to track
- Refundable samples bought.
- Videos posted from those samples.
- Creators who hit the target.
- Revenue from those creators in the following 30 days.
The last line is the one that matters. A creator who earns the refund and then posts again is the creator to keep. That is how a list of strangers becomes a short list of people you fund. It is the first of the four rules we run every shop on.
One caution
Do not switch every product to refundable at once. Creators who already brought you revenue should never be asked to pay. Keep their samples free and fast. The refundable route is for first contact only.
Running this for a brand is what we do. Book a discovery call.