Refer-a-friend links with coupons, store credit or points, plus an affiliate program with commissions and payouts, on one tracking engine.
Available Updated Oct 22, 2026Version 1.0.0CS-Cart, Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 – 4.21.x No core file edits
Built for
Referral & Affiliate Program: overview1 of 22
What it does
For stores that want word of mouth and partner sales to work for them. Customers share a link or code from their account, invite friends by e-mail and follow their rewards. Friends get a single-use welcome coupon. Bloggers and partner sites apply as affiliates, get your approval and earn a commission in percent or a fixed amount, with rates per category and per affiliate. Both programs share one link, cookie window and ledger.
How it works
A visitor opens a link and the code is kept in a consent-aware cookie. When the friend signs up, a welcome code is e-mailed. The first paid order starts the hold; after it the referrer gets store credit, points or a coupon. Affiliates earn on every order in the cookie window, see clicks, orders and balance, and request payouts that you mark paid after paying by PayPal or bank. Pages stay cacheable with the full page cache.
Features
Personal referral link and code for every customer, any page as link target
Copy and share buttons, e-mail invitations with daily limits
Welcome bar and referral code field for invited visitors
Single-use welcome coupon from a core promotion
Referrer reward as store credit, reward points or a coupon, fixed or percent
Hold period after payment, automatic reversal on refunds and cancellations
Self-referral and duplicate-account checks, caps and manual approval
Affiliate applications with your terms and admin approval
Commission in percent or fixed per order, rates per category and per affiliate
Affiliate dashboard with link builder, clicks, orders, commissions and payouts
Payout requests, mark paid with a reference, store credit payouts
Ledger, affiliates, payouts and referrers in the admin panel with CSV export
Consent-aware referral cookie and full page cache support
Read-only REST API
Multi-Vendor ready: commissions do not change vendor payouts
What you get
Package
kv_referral_program-1.0.0.zip, installed through Add-ons → Manage add-ons
Updates & support
12 months included. Download new versions from your account and install them in Add-ons → Manage add-ons or the Upgrade Center.
License
1 production installation. Staging, dev and localhost are free and unlimited. The add-on keeps working after the update period ends. How licensing works
Compatibility
We list only the builds we install and test on. “Tested” means the full test plan was run on that build; “Supported” means the build is inside the supported range and uses the same hooks.
CS-Cart version and edition compatibility
CS-Cart version
CS-Cart
CS-Cart Ultimate
Multi-Vendor
Multi-Vendor Ultimate
4.22 and later
Testing next
Testing next
Testing next
Testing next
4.21.2
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
4.20.x
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
4.19.x
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
4.18.x
Supported
Supported
Supported
Supported
4.17.2
Supported
Supported
Tested
Supported
Before 4.17.2
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Not supported
Last tested build: Multi-Vendor 4.17.2, Oct 22, 2026Tested on: Multi-Vendor 4.17.2
Requirements
Platform
CS-Cart or Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 – 4.21.x
PHP
PHP 7.2.5 – 8.3, as supported by your CS-Cart version
Requirement
MySQL or MariaDB with InnoDB (the add-on tables use InnoDB)
Requirement
A cron job is recommended (it ends hold periods and expires welcome coupons). Without one, the schedule runs once an hour while administrators use the admin panel
Requirement
Optional: the Store Credit Wallet add-on (Kavio Labs) for store credit rewards and payouts; the core Reward points add-on for point rewards; the Cookie Consent Mode add-on (Kavio Labs) to set the referral cookie only with consent
Core changes
None. Hooks and template overrides only
1.0.0
Oct 22, 2026
Latest
Added 12
Personal referral link and code for every customer; any store page can be a link target; codes editable in the admin panel.
Consent-aware link tracking (cookie with the Cookie Consent Mode add-on, browsing session without consent), first or last click, attribution window, click statistics; full page cache safe.
Refer a friend page with copy and share buttons, e-mail invitations with limits, friends and rewards; welcome bar and referral code field for invited visitors.
Welcome coupon for friends (single-use codes of a core promotion with auto-generated coupons).
Referrer reward as store credit (Store Credit Wallet add-on), reward points or a coupon, fixed or percent of the first order, after a paid status and a hold period; reversal on refund and cancel statuses.
Fraud checks: same e-mail, IP, address, phone or payer name, duplicate friends, existing customers; monthly and total caps; minimum first order; manual approval or automatic rejection of flagged entries.
Affiliate program: application form with terms, admin approval or automatic approval, suspension, commissions in percent or fixed per checkout, rates per category and per affiliate, new-customers-only option, link builder and dashboard.
Payout requests with a minimum, mark paid with a reference, rejection, store credit payouts; negative adjustments for refunds after a payout.
Admin: ledger with bulk approve/reject and CSV, affiliates, affiliate page, payouts with CSV, category rates, referrers; scheduler with cron, cron URL and admin fallback.
Read-only REST API (/api/kv_referrals, /api/kv_affiliates) and a small PHP API.
Multi-Vendor: one reward per split checkout, one commission per vendor order, vendor payouts unchanged.
Tested on Multi-Vendor 4.17.2. First release.
Can I use it only for refer a friend, or only for affiliates?
Yes. Switch off Enable the affiliate program or Enable refer a friend. The other program keeps working with the same links.
What does the friend get?
A single-use code of the promotion you choose, by e-mail and on their Refer a friend page, when they create an account through the link or code. The discount is the promotion's bonus, so you set it in Marketing → Promotions. Without a welcome promotion, friends get nothing and the welcome bar is not shown.
When does the referrer get the reward?
After the friend's first order reached a paid status and the hold period (14 days by default) passed without a refund or cancellation. With manual approval or fraud flags, after you approve it.
How do you detect self-referrals?
When the friend's order is placed, the add-on compares it with the referrer: the mailbox (dots and +tags ignored for Gmail), the order IP with the referrer's IPs, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the payer name, and the friend's details with the referrer's other friends. Matches are flagged; you decide in the ledger, or let flagged entries be rejected at once.
Does the add-on pay affiliates automatically?
No. Affiliates request a payout and you pay them by PayPal or bank transfer, then mark the payout paid. Only store credit payouts are credited automatically, when you mark them paid.
What happens when an order is refunded?
During the hold period the reward or commission is rejected. A commission that was already paid out gets a negative adjustment on the next payout. A delivered referral reward is final; take back store credit in the Store Credit Wallet if needed.
Does it work with the full page cache of CS-Cart 4.21?
Yes. Pages contain the same script configuration for every guest. The code is kept in the browser and sent with a separate request, so cached pages stay shared and no session data is written by guest page views.
Is the referral cookie GDPR-compliant?
With the Cookie Consent Mode add-on, the cookie is set only after the visitor allowed the chosen category (Marketing by default). Without consent, the code is kept only in the browser tab session or not at all. Mention the referral program in your privacy policy.
Does it work in Multi-Vendor?
Yes. Rewards and commissions are a marketplace cost and do not change vendor payouts. A split checkout counts as one referral; each vendor order gets its own commission line.
The admin panel shows a license notice.
Open Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Referral & Affiliate Program → Settings → License. The status line says what is wrong: no key, a key for another add-on, a revoked license, or a domain that the license does not cover. Fix it and click Check now. See License.
Does the add-on work on my staging copy?
Yes. Subdomains of your licensed domain (for example staging.yourstore.com) and local development hosts (localhost, private IP addresses, .local, .test) are covered by the same license.
What happens if your license server is down?
Nothing changes for 14 days: the add-on keeps working and retries every hour. Only if no check succeeds for 14 days is it switched off until the next successful check.
Does the license check slow down my storefront or checkout?
No. The check runs in the admin panel or from cron, once a day. The storefront never runs it.
Add a released add-on to this order and save 15% on it. It uses the same edition and store domain.
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Loyalty Program with VIP TiersBronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers that customers reach automatically by spend or orders, with perks built on CS-Cart user groups.
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Order Source & UTM AttributionSee which channel, campaign and landing page brought every order, with revenue by channel.
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