Choosing Shopee affiliate creators: why 3,000 followers can beat 50,000
When you choose Shopee affiliate creators, the follower count is the wrong place to start. What matters is how many people watch each video. Here is the sum to run, and the rules our own affiliate procedure follows, from finding creators to sending samples.
To choose Shopee affiliate creators, look at the views their videos get, not at how many followers they have. A creator with 3,000 followers whose videos get 500 views each shows your product to five times as many people as a creator with 50,000 followers whose videos get 100. The follower count is what a creator could reach; the views are what they do reach.
An affiliate is a creator who posts about your product with a link to it and earns a commission, a share of each sale made through that link. On Shopee, a store follows what its affiliates sell on the affiliate dashboard in Seller Centre.
Views or followers: which number to look at
Followers are the people who chose to see a creator in their feed. Views are the people who actually watched a video, and the two do not always move together. To compare creators of any size, turn them into one number, views per 100 followers: divide the views a video gets by the followers, then multiply by 100.
| Per creator | Creator A | Creator B |
|---|---|---|
| Followers | 3,000 | 50,000 |
| Views a video | 500 | 100 |
| Views per 100 followers | 17 | 0.2 |
Creator A: 500 divided by 3,000 is 0.167, and times 100 that is 16.7, about 17. Creator B: 100 divided by 50,000 is 0.002, and times 100 that is 0.2.
Creator A has less than a tenth of the followers of Creator B and five times the views on every video. For every 100 people who follow A, about 17 watch a video; for every 100 who follow B, fewer than one does.
Followers tell you who could watch. Views tell you who did.
What happened when the samples stopped
A sample is a unit of your product sent free to a creator, so that they can use it and film it. Affiliate sales run on new videos, and new videos need product in the hands of creators. The table is read from real screens of the Shopee affiliate dashboard of a client store, name removed.
| Shopee affiliate dashboard | July 2026 | September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | IDR 77.3m | IDR 33.7m |
| Orders | 854 | 387 |
In August 2026 the store sent 0 samples to creators. On the dashboard, Penjualan is sales, Pesanan is orders and JT is million.
In July, affiliates brought in IDR 77.3 million of sales from 854 orders. In August, the store sent no samples at all. In September, affiliate sales were IDR 33.7 million from 387 orders. Half of 77.3 is 38.65, so September sales were less than half of July. Half of 854 is 427, so the orders fell below half too.
A channel that runs on new videos slows when the samples stop. That is why our procedure treats a sample as an investment, not a gift. The whole story of this store is in the case study of a food and beverage brand.
How to find Shopee affiliate creators: four a day
Our affiliate procedure researches four creators every working day, on each platform the store sells on. One of the four comes from rival product tags: open videos in your category, find the ones that tag a rival product, and note the creator. They already film products like yours for buyers like yours.
| Each week | Target |
|---|---|
| Creators researched | 40 |
| Written to, about their own video | 25 |
| Agreed to join | 5 or more |
| Replies | 1 in 5, or better |
Four a day, five working days, two platforms: 40 a week.
How to choose affiliates: skip, score, then write
Before anyone is scored, three kinds of creator are skipped:
- Under 1,000 followers.
- Thin views: videos that few people watch, set against the followers.
- 60 days without a post.
Everyone left is scored out of 100 on three things. Fit: whether the creator and their viewers match your product. Engagement: how much viewers react, in comments, likes and shares. Views: what each video reaches, set against the followers as in the sum above. Fake followers and bought views are rejected before any commission is paid.
The first message to a creator names one of their videos, so that it reads as written to them and not to a list. If no reply comes, one follow up goes out on day 3. A third message is never sent; the procedure moves on to the next creator.
- Day 1
- Your video on quick office lunches was so good. Our chili sauce would fit your next one.
- Day 3
- Following up once. Happy to send the product list if it helps.
- Day 7
- No third message. Move to the next creator.
The first line names one of their videos.
Affiliate samples: no listing, no sample
A sample costs you the product, its packing and its delivery, and pays back only through the videos it leads to. So our procedure sends one in three steps:
- The creator adds your product to their showcase, the list of products they sell from their profile.
- A post is agreed, within 7 days.
- One sample is sent.
No gifts go to creators who have not listed you. Commission works the other way round: it rises in steps with what a creator sells, and it is never cut.
Commission is paid out of your margin, what a sale leaves you after the platform fees, the product and its packing. The fees differ by category and are on the income statement in Seller Centre. Set the commission against that margin, as you would check a voucher against your margin after fees, because sales can rise while profit falls.
What to check this week
- Open the affiliate dashboard in Shopee Seller Centre (Affiliate Marketing Solution) and note affiliate sales and orders for the last three months.
- Set the samples sent in each of those months beside those figures.
- For each creator, take the average views of their last few videos, divide by their followers and multiply by 100.
- Drop anyone under 1,000 followers, with thin views, or with 60 days without a post.
- Send a sample only once your product is in their showcase and a post within 7 days is agreed.
- Check each commission rate against the margin of its product.
If you would rather not run this yourself, our Creator Network package does it every month: 100 or more creators contacted and filtered, fake followers and bought views filtered out before any commission is paid, and commission set against your margin. It aims for 50 or more active creators, a target and not a promise, since creators decide whether they post. To see where your store stands first, take the store check.
Questions sellers ask
How many followers should a Shopee affiliate have?
No follower count makes a good affiliate on its own. Our procedure skips creators under 1,000 followers and scores the rest on fit, engagement and views. Above that line, views matter more than size: 3,000 followers with 500 views a video reach five times as many people as 50,000 followers with 100.
Should I send free samples to affiliate creators?
Yes, as an investment, not a gift: one sample, once your product is in their showcase and a post within 7 days is agreed. Keep them going. In one client store none went out in August, and affiliate sales went from IDR 77.3 million in July to IDR 33.7 million in September.
How can I tell if a creator has fake followers?
Compare the followers with what the videos get. A large following whose videos get very few views, or views with almost no comments, is a reason to look closer. Our procedure rejects fake followers and bought views before any commission is paid, and reviews every month which creators stay.
How much commission should I give affiliates?
Set it from your margin, not from what other stores pay. Work out what a sale of the product leaves you after the platform fees, the product and its packing, and keep the commission well inside that. Our procedure raises commission in steps as a creator sells more, and never cuts it.