About billing (for Shopify merchants)

You can add payment information for billing while setting up a YouTube Shopping affiliate program. This article explains how to set up billing information for your affiliate program.

On this page

• How it works
• Set up billing

How it works

Eligible creators on YouTube can earn affiliate commissions for promoting and tagging your products in their videos. When viewers click on tagged products and make a purchase within the attribution window of 30 days, YouTube will charge you for affiliate commissions.

Affiliate commissions are calculated by multiplying the purchase amount by the commission rates you’ve set, excluding taxes and other fees. All affiliate commissions are first subject to the pending period you've specified. The pending period ranges from 30 to 50 days. Within this timeframe, commissions may be reversed if the transaction was canceled or returned. After transactions have passed the pending period, they are locked and will be billed in the following billing cycle.

You will be billing on the first of each month for all locked transactions during the previous month. Transactions are locked after they have surpassed the pending period.

Instructions

Set up billing during sign-up

To sign-up for the program, you will need to add a valid billing profile. To add a billing profile, login to your Google and YouTube channel app in Shopify and follow the instructions provided below:

1. Go to YouTube Shopping affiliate program and under “Billing”, click Add.
2. A new window will open, directing you to the Google payments center, where you will be prompted to set-up your payment profile.

If your Google payments account already has an active monthly invoicing line of credit, you can request to use this line of credit at the time of onboarding. Provide your payments profile ID, email, and Google Merchant Center ID. After submitting the request, you’ll receive a response via email within 5 business days.

After the request is approved, you’ll need to return to the YouTube Shopping affiliate program card on Google and YouTube app on Shopify to complete the setup. Accept the terms and conditions or add a credit card if monthly invoicing couldn’t be used successfully.

Update your payment profile after sign-up

After sign-up, if you'd like to update your billing profile, you'll do so in Google Merchant Center following the steps below:

1. In Merchant Center, select “YouTube affiliate” under “Marketing” in the left-navigation menu.
2. On the "Youtube Affiliate", find the "Settings" card and select “Manage Settings”.
3. On the page that opens, navigate to the “Billing Info” section and click Edit.
4. A new window will open, directing you to the Google payments center, where you will be prompted to update your payment profile.

Access invoices

All invoices will be emailed to the account on file and can also be downloaded in the Google payments center. To download an invoice:

1. Go to the Google payments center.
2. Click on the Subscription and services tab.
3. Select the invoice you want to download.
4. Click Actions, and then select download.

Payment disputes

Follow the steps below to make a payment dispute:

1. Go to the Google payments center.
2. Click on the Subscription and services tab.
3. Select the invoice you want to dispute.
4. Click Actions, and then select dispute and request change.
5. Complete the dispute request form.

For more information about billing setup, refer to Account settings for payments profile.

For any questions related to billing, refer to the Billing FAQs.

Related links

• Get started with the YouTube Shopping affiliate program (for Shopify merchants)
• Frequently asked questions