Tiers and progression

The three creator tiers, what each unlocks, and how to move up the ladder.

The creator tier system

Creators progress through three tiers as they drive sales. Each tier unlocks access to more products in the shared catalog — particularly the ones with higher commission rates.

A "sale" here means a completed order that was tagged by you in a video. Refunded, cancelled, or disputed orders don't count.

The numbers (0, 20, 100) are cumulative — your tier reflects total sales ever, not in any specific window.

Why tiers exist

Sellers set commission rates per product (between 2% and 30%). The higher-commission products are the ones sellers care about most — they want serious creators to promote those, not random new accounts.

Tier-gating high-commission products means:

• New creators (hustler) get a chance to learn on lower-stakes products.
• Sellers offering higher commission see their products in the hands of proven creators.
• Buyers see promotions from creators who've earned the right to pick the premium products.

It's a meritocracy — show you can sell, you get access to more.

What you can promote at each tier

Hustler tier

Products available to you in the catalog:

• All products with commission rate of 10% or less.
• Some products with rates between 10-15% (sellers can choose to open these to all tiers).

Practically, this means you can promote everyday products — household items, casual fashion, basic accessories, food items. The high-margin "premium" products (luxury watches, specialty electronics, designer pieces) are mostly locked.

Influencer tier

Adds:

• All products with commission rate up to 20%.
• Most products in the mid-margin tier.

Now you can promote slightly more premium items — better fashion, higher-end beauty products, more accessories.

Partner tier

Adds:

• All products up to 30% commission (the cap).
• The full catalog is available.

You now have access to everything sellers list. Top creators at this tier can choose the products that fit their audience without restriction.

How quickly can you progress?

Realistic timeframes for an active creator:

• Hustler → Influencer (0 → 20 sales): 1-3 months. Achievable with consistent posting and a real audience.
• Influencer → Partner (20 → 100 sales): 6-12 months. Requires a larger audience or higher conversion rates.

These are averages. Top creators with established audiences can blow past these quickly; smaller creators take longer or plateau at Hustler / Influencer.

The system isn't trying to gate you — it's trying to match access to demonstrated ability.

What about tier downgrades?

Tiers only go up — they don't go down. If you hit Influencer at 20 sales, you stay at Influencer even if you stop posting for months.

You can also be manually downgraded by admin for:

• Pattern of low-quality promotion (videos that don't show the product clearly, misleading tags).
• Buyer complaints traceable to your videos (you promoted something as "amazing" that turned out to be a fake).
• Policy violations (promoting prohibited items).

These are rare. Most creators steadily progress and stay at their peak tier.

The commission floor at each tier

Sellers can set a minimum commission rate floor when listing a product. If they set a floor of, say, 15%, only Influencer+ creators can see it. Hustler-tier creators won't even know it exists.

This is the technical mechanism behind tier-gating: the floor matches the tier's min_commission_rate capability.

From your side as a creator, the catalog browse simply shows you products you can promote. You don't see locked products; you don't get rejection messages. The catalog feels right-sized for your tier.

Tier badges on your profile

Approved creators get a small tier badge on their profile and on their videos. The colours:

• Hustler — bronze.
• Influencer — silver.
• Partner — gold.

Buyers see the badge as a signal of how established the creator is. It's a small thing but contributes to trust on borderline purchases.

The verified creator concept

We sometimes call top-tier (Partner) creators "verified" because they've passed two filters:

1. The initial admin review (creator application).
2. Demonstrated sales performance (100+ sales).

There's no separate verified-creator subscription — the partner tier IS the verified state. You earn into it by selling, not by paying.

If you're looking for "verified creator" features, you're really looking for Partner tier features. They're the same thing.

Moving up — practical advice

Be in the right niche

Some niches naturally drive more sales than others. Beauty, fashion, electronics, and food categories have lots of catalog products with buyers actively shopping. Niche fields with fewer products (or niches where buyers don't typically buy from videos) take longer.

If you're stuck at Hustler with a tiny niche, consider broadening slightly — staying authentic but covering products your audience would also be interested in.

Pick well-converting products

Some products convert better than others. A 50,000 UGX item with strong photos and a verified seller will convert better than a 500,000 UGX item from a new seller. Watch your conversion data (Creator Hub → Insights) and refine which products you push.

Post often

The single biggest predictor of tier progression is post frequency. Creators posting 3+ videos a week progress 3-5× faster than those posting once a month.

Build cross-platform

Most of your traffic likely comes from your TikTok or Instagram audience. As that audience grows, your KampalaSnap conversions grow with it. Keep posting cross-platform with KampalaSnap-tagged videos as part of the mix.

Build relationships with sellers

Some sellers are happy to send free product samples to creators they trust. Reach out directly via WhatsApp on the shop profile. "Hi, I'd love to make a video about [product] for my audience — would you be open to sending one?"

Not every seller agrees, but many do. Free product = real video = strong content. You're not breaking any rules by accepting product samples (it's standard influencer practice).

Common questions

Do tier upgrades happen automatically?

Yes. The system recomputes your tier nightly. When you hit 20 sales, the next morning you're Influencer. Same at 100 for Partner.

You get a notification: "🎉 You've reached Influencer tier. New products are now in your catalog browse."

Can I see exactly how many sales I've driven?

Yes. Creator Hub → Insights → Total sales driven. Shows your running count + how many sales you need for the next tier.

Do sales from my own shop count toward my creator tier?

No. Self-promo sales (you promoting your own catalog products) don't count. The tier system is about driving sales for OTHER sellers.

What about sales from my videos where the buyer found the product through search, not the tag?

Only sales attributed to your tag count. If a buyer watched your video, then later searched for the product and bought it without going through the tag, that doesn't attribute to you.

The system tracks the tag-tap-to-purchase chain specifically.

Can I lose Partner status?

In rare cases yes — if admin flags major policy violations or a pattern of harming buyers. For normal operation, no — Partner status is permanent.

Why is the commission rate range 2-30%?

The minimum (2%) exists because below that, the math doesn't work for either side. The maximum (30%) is set to prevent sellers from "selling at cost" through creators and turning the program into a loss-leader for traffic. Most products land in the 8-20% range.

Are there incentive promotions for creators?

Occasionally — KampalaSnap runs short-term campaigns where specific products have boosted commission rates for a limited time. You'll see notifications when this happens. Worth jumping on quickly.

What's next

• Building your storefront — your curated product picks.
• Earnings and withdrawals — the money you're earning toward the next tier.