How do I budget for a creator campaign where I only pay for results?

The example uses assumed values, not industry figures. Put in your own shop data, above all the average order value and return rate of the products going into the campaign.

1. Set the target, say €27,000 in net sales after returns over the campaign period.
2. Work out the average order value excluding VAT: €71.40 gross is €60 net at the standard 19% rate (§ 12(1) UStG). Leave shipping out.
3. Divide the target by the average order value: €27,000 ÷ €60 = 450 orders that are kept. If, say, one order in four comes back, you need 450 ÷ 0.75 = 600 orders. Plan stock and shipping for the 600.
4. Work out the variable cost: say 12% commission on the net value kept, so €27,000 × 0.12 = €3,240. That is €7.20 per kept order.
5. Add the fixed items, assuming 20 creators: samples at €30 cost price each (€600), shipping at €6 each (€120) and 15 hours of internal time at €50 (€750), €1,470 in total.
6. Your planned budget is €3,240 + €1,470 = €4,710. That is a CPO (cost per order) of €4,710 ÷ 450 ≈ €10.47 per kept order. Creator fees, discount codes and platform fees are not included in the example.
7. Run the best case too: if the creators sell twice as much, net sales rise to €54,000, commission to €6,480 and the budget to €7,950. Get that amount signed off internally from the start, or limit it with a cap.

The calculation above assumes that the 20 creators you send samples to actually post. In practice, that is the hardest part. An affiliate programme, a listing on an affiliate network or a platform where creators can pick your products does not produce a single post on its own. Many partners in a programme never become active, and the creators you most want rarely post without a specific reason.

With pure commission this costs you little money, because no commission is due without a sale. It costs you the target. Say only 8 of the 20 creators post and each brings the planned share: you end up with 180 kept orders instead of 450, so €10,800 in net sales and €1,296 in commission. Samples, shipping and time still cost €1,470, and your CPO rises from €10.47 to (€1,296 + €1,470) ÷ 180 ≈ €15.37.

So the hardest line in the budget is not the commission rate. It is what gets creators to post within the campaign period, as many as possible at the same time, and how you see afterwards who actually sold. These are the usual ways, each with a catch:

• Commission only: costs nothing until a sale, but gives nobody a reason to post now. You only see who took part once the results are in.
• Sending samples: you pay for goods and shipping up front. Without an agreement, no post is promised, and the rest of the campaign carries the samples sent to creators who never post.
• A fee per post: the post is agreed, but the cost is due even without sales, possibly plus the artists’ social levy.
• A bonus or pool for a fixed period: gives many creators the same reason at the same time. The total is fixed in advance, and the rules for sharing it out need to be too.
• Asking creators one by one: mainly costs your time, because you handle and follow up each agreement separately.

Pay per click needs one more assumption: how many clicks it takes to get one order. Take it from your own shop data, such as the share of visits that end in an order, and set a cap per creator, because clicks cost money even when nobody buys.

If you pay self-employed creators a fee for advertising photos, videos or texts they make themselves, the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK, the artists’ social insurance fund) says it counts towards the Künstlersozialabgabe (artists’ social levy). The rate is 4.9% in 2026 and 5.0% in 2027, so €98 on a €2,000 fee excluding VAT in 2026. According to the KSK, affiliate commission, payments to a GmbH (limited company) and separately shown VAT do not count. As a brand advertising itself, you are liable once the fees for your jobs for self-employed artists or writers add up to more than €1,000 in a calendar year (§ 24(2) sentence 2 KSVG).

If you want to use posts in ads or on your website as well, name those uses explicitly in the contract. If they are missing, the scope follows the purpose both sides based the contract on (§ 31(5) UrhG). So budget for the rights from the start rather than renegotiating them after the campaign.

With pure commission, costs and sales rise together. If your commission per sale stays below the order’s contribution margin, meaning what the order leaves you after goods, shipping, payment and returns but before marketing, extra sales still leave you something. A cap then mainly protects your cash flow and your internal sign-off. With pay per click, bonuses and codes that end up on voucher sites, it protects your margin as well.

• Overall cap in euros: the campaign rate applies up to it, your programme’s standard rate after that.
• Cap per creator: a single link or code cannot use up the budget on its own.
• Fixed pool: you set the amount in advance and share it out by contribution to results. The cost is fixed, and the amount per sale falls as more is sold.
• Click cap: pay per click only up to a fixed number per creator per day or per campaign.
• Announce the rule in advance: the cap, a cut-off date and time, what applies afterwards and how you will tell the creators.

Budget plan [campaign]

Period: [start] to [end]
Target net sales after returns: €[amount]
Average order value excluding VAT: €[amount] | assumed return rate: [value]%
Total orders: [number], of which kept: [number]

Creators
Asked: [number] | agreed: [number] | posted: [number]
Reason to post: [samples, fee, bonus or pool]

Variable cost
Commission: [rate]% on net value kept = €[amount]
Clicks: [number] × €[amount] = €[amount], cap per creator: €[amount]
Bonus or pool: €[amount]

Fixed items
Samples: [number] × €[amount] | shipping: [number] × €[amount]
Creator fees and usage rights: €[amount], artists’ social levy: €[amount]
Discount codes: €[amount] | fees: €[amount] | internal time: [hours] × €[amount]

Planned budget: €[amount] | best case: €[amount]
If only [number] creators post: CPO €[amount]
Overall cap: €[amount] | cap per creator: €[amount]
After the cap: [rule], creators informed on [date]
Sales approved: [days] after delivery | payout: [date]

In Germany, consumers who buy online usually have a right of withdrawal (§ 312g(1) BGB). There are exceptions, for example sealed goods that are not suitable for return for health or hygiene reasons once the seal has been removed after delivery (§ 312g(2) no. 3 BGB). The Widerrufsfrist (withdrawal period) is 14 days (§ 355(2) BGB) and, for goods, starts once the buyer has received them (§ 356(2) BGB). Sending the withdrawal in time is enough (§ 355(1) sentence 5 BGB). Once the withdrawal is sent, the buyer has 14 days to send the goods back (§ 355(3), § 357(1) BGB).

If your shop has not informed buyers properly about the right of withdrawal, the period only starts once it does so (§ 356(3) BGB), and the right of withdrawal expires at the latest 12 months and 14 days after receipt of the goods (§ 356(4) BGB). Longer voluntary return periods push approval back accordingly.

An example: a purchase on Monday 30 November 2026, delivered on Wednesday 2 December. The withdrawal period runs until 16 December (§§ 187, 188 BGB), so a withdrawal sent on that day can still arrive days later. If the buyer withdraws on 16 December, the goods must be sent back by 30 December. So it is early January before you see if they come back. Sales from the end of a month can therefore only be approved reliably in the month after next.

For cash flow, that means you pay for samples and shipping, €720 in the example, before the first post, and commission on sales only weeks after the revenue. If a creator, network or platform charges VAT that is legally owed, you deduct it as Vorsteuer (input VAT), offsetting it against your own VAT, if you are entitled to do so and hold a proper invoice (§ 15(1) UStG). Then you plan the budget net and the payment gross. If a creator based abroad bills you, you usually owe the VAT yourself (reverse charge, § 13b(5) UStG).

With wyrld Boost you put your budget behind creators who feature your products, starting right away. You set the campaign budget, products, KPIs and time frame in advance, as with the fixed pool above. KPIs, the measures the payout is based on, can be purchases, clicks, watch time or reach, for example. Many creators take part at once and feature your products in their own videos and storefronts. Creators decide for themselves if they take part, so what is fixed before the start is the budget, not the number of posts or the sales.

The pool goes to the creators according to the KPIs they hit. wyrld agrees with you before the start how it is split, and after the campaign you see which creator delivered which results. For each Boost campaign you decide where people buy: only in your shop, on Amazon, or with price comparison across the shops that carry your product. Creators label their Boost campaign videos as advertising. Check with your tax adviser or the Künstlersozialkasse before the start how a pool is treated for the artists’ social levy.

With the brand and shop subscription you see every day which creators feature your products, who drives clicks and who actually sells. In your affiliate programme wyrld shows up as a single partner, and the subscription shows who is behind it. wyrld measures clicks through the links, and the shops report purchases. You can set your own terms for the creators who sell, and for your next plan you have figures per creator instead of assumptions. Prices for the subscription and Boost are available on request.