What is Pay Per Sale (PPS) Affiliate Marketing?

Another example of a Cost Per Action (CPA) program is Pay Per Sale (PPS). PPS is a commission structure where the merchant pays its affiliates an agreed upon percent commission fee for each qualified sale that is generated by the affiliate. In many cases the sale is not qualifies for 30 or 60 days after to allow for returns and bill processing.

The Basics
In a pay per sale agreement, the advertiser only pays for leads generated at their destination site. No payment is made for visitors who don't complete orders.

A sale is generally a purchase that is completed by the shopper. One risk to the advertiser is the potential for fraudulent activity by incentivized 3rd-parties or marketing partners. Some false sales are easy to spot. Nonetheless, it is advisable to make a regular audit of the results.

CPS or CPL - Which is better?
Which one is better?

You will find that per-sale programs will often have higher pay-outs than per-lead programs. The usual reason for this being that the merchant has profited from the sale so he gives you a cut.

Pay Per Lead, on the other hand, is done to acquire new customers. This may or may not result in money changing hands at that point in time. The merchant with this type of program recognizes the importance of a customer's 'lifetime value', meaning that they hope to sell that customer something in the future to recoup the acquisition costs.

In these times when traditional advertising is so expensive, and in many cases not very effective, pay per lead programs can be as rewarding for the merchant as pay per sale programs.