Commission only means zero upfront cost for the brand and no base pay for the creator. The brand ships product, or just a brief; the creator is paid only from results: a share of the ad spend behind the video, a share of each order, or a fixed amount per order. No fee for filming or posting.
It is one end of the pay spectrum; a flat fee is the other; the hybrid, a small base plus commission, sits between.
Example. A brand offers commission only at 20 % of sales and 10 % of ad spend. Ten creators post. Seven bring fewer than five orders each and never become ads; they cost the brand the product it shipped. Three bring 40, 55 and 90 orders of $45, and the brand spends $4,000 across their videos as ads. The brand pays $1,665 in sales commission and $400 in ad spend share, all of it on sales and ads that happened. Example numbers, not a benchmark.
When brands use it. The pain this answers: “Why add to my CPA when I can just pay $200-300 a video?” It is for a brand that will not add to its CPA before a video has proved itself. It works when the brand can count sales (links, codes, a connected store) or read spend per ad, and when the product is easy enough to film that creators will take the risk. It struggles when the product is expensive to ship, rarely rebought, or sold mostly in stores. It also gets fewer takers than a deal with a base: a new brand on Reddit offered 15 % and nothing else and “didnt get responses” (Reddit, 29 Aug 2026). The fix is a base, not more creators.
The creator’s view. Commission only is a bet. Creators take it when the brand is known, the product sells on sight, and the count is visible; they turn it down when it is not. Free product is a material connection, so the post needs a disclosure either way (FTC).
On HourlyUGC. Commission-based campaigns have no base pay. The creator earns 1 to 50 % of each order or $1 to $500 per order, or 1 to 30 % of the ad spend behind their video on Meta. The same campaign can add a per-video or hourly base when the brand wants to. Next step: start a campaign on HourlyUGC.