Second-Tier Commission

Earnings from the activity of affiliates in your downline — the generic term for multi-level commission layers in affiliate programs.

Second-tier commission is the umbrella term for earning on other affiliates’ production, whether called sub-affiliation, referral override, or network margin.

Distinguish it from MLM

Legitimate programs cap depth at one (occasionally two) tiers with overrides funded by the operator as a recruiting cost. Structures where earnings depend primarily on recruiting rather than traffic, with deep tiers, replicate multi-level-marketing dynamics and attract both regulatory attention and low-quality participants. If a program’s pitch leads with the downline rather than the traffic economics, that’s the tell.