The $90 Question: How the Commission Side of the Partnership Works

Most partner inquiries start with the product. Then, two or three messages in, the real question shows up. It usually arrives as “and what do we get out of it?” — asked politely, with a hedge in front of it, because people feel awkward asking about money.

They should not feel awkward. If the money side is vague, the partnership is vague. So here is the whole answer, written out once.

One number, and it does not move

The commission is a fixed amount per completed piece — $90 on the current partner sheet. Not a percentage of whatever you decide to charge. Not a sliding scale that gets better if you promise volume you may never hit.

Fixed sounds less exciting than a tiered ladder. It is better. A tiered structure pays the partner who front-loads a big order and then goes quiet. A flat number pays exactly the same whether this is your first piece this year or your fortieth. The groomer in a strip mall and the studio with three photographers are on identical terms.

If you quote the piece at $329 and the client orders, $90 of that arrangement is yours. If you sell during the launch window at $249, the sheet says what that does to the split, and the answer is on the same page as everything else. Nothing about the money is negotiated per order, which is the part partners end up appreciating most once they are six orders in.

What it is not

There is no sign-up fee. No exclusivity contract. No annual quota that quietly voids your terms if you miss it. No minimum order to keep the rate alive.

Minimum order is one. One piece, for one client, is a real order and gets the real terms. This matters more than it sounds. Most suppliers who say “low MOQ” mean ten, and the pet business that wants to test the product with a single confident client has to buy nine pieces it cannot sell. One is a test you can afford to lose, which is the only kind of test worth running on a product that sits in your clients’ grief.

When the commission is actually earned

On delivery. Not on the inquiry, not on the quote, not when the client says “let me think about it.”

A completed piece is one that was produced from an approved preview and reached your client’s door. That definition matters because made-to-order has two failure points before production even starts: the client changes their mind, or the preview never gets approved. Neither of those costs you anything, and neither earns you anything. Nobody invoices you for work that did not happen.

The other edge case: a piece arrives damaged. Arrives damaged or doesn’t match your approved preview? We’ll remake it free. The remake is free for your client and commission-neutral for you — you do not earn twice on one piece, and you do not get clawed back because the carrier had a bad week. The replacement counts as the same order.

How it is tracked

By order number, not by memory. Every piece that ships against your account gets a line, and once a month the lines add up to one number. If a client orders direct and mentions your studio, that order lands on your ledger the same as one you submitted through the partner form — the credit follows the mention, not the form.

You never have to audit us with a spreadsheet. But you can, because the order numbers are all there. Partners who have been burned by a “trust us” arrangement before usually ask about this first, and the answer is the same every time: the ledger is the ledger, and you can see it.

What you never front

No inventory. No deposit to us. No case of pieces in your back room waiting for a buyer.

The client pays for the piece, on the terms you quoted them. You never buy a keepsake before you have sold one. This is the whole reason a grooming salon, a daycare, or a one-person photography studio can offer a $329 product without a $3,000 bet sitting on a shelf.

It also means your commission is never at risk to production. If the piece does not get made, there is no cost split to argue about later. The whole chain runs on finished goods.

What the client sees

The price you quoted them. One number.

The word commission does not appear on any invoice your client receives, because your client is not the party to that arrangement. A family paying for a memorial piece should see a price for a memorial piece. The split behind it is between the studio and the supplier, and it stays there.

Practically: say “the piece is $329” and stop. You do not need to explain the supply chain, the margin, or who pays whom. Clients who push on it are usually not objecting to the number — they are asking whether it is worth it, which is a different question, and it is covered in the price conversation.

Two pieces in one order

Per piece means per piece. A family that orders one for the living room and one for the grandmother generates two commissions, not one divided by two. Multi-pet photos that stay on one piece are one commission. The unit is the finished object, and it is always easy to count.

Same for repeat clients. A household that comes back a year later for a second piece from a different photo is a new order with new terms and the same fixed number. There is no diminishing rate for loyalty, because the work per piece did not diminish.

The questions that show up in month two

Can I run my own promotion on it? Within reason, yes — it is your client and your price to quote. The floor and the current launch window are on the partner sheet, and if a promotion idea sits outside it, ask first. The answer has been yes so far, but ask.

What if a client asks where it is made? Say it is made to order, from their photograph, and that it ships worldwide with free shipping in the US. If they want the material answer: two layers of high-clarity glass with the photo sealed between them — not natural quartz crystal — on a solid wood base. That is true, it is enough, and it is covered properly in the white label piece.

What does the piece actually weigh, for my own shipping questions? 7.9″ / 200 mm across, 20 mm thick, 1.8 kg (nearly 4 lb) — though for your clients it ships direct, so the honest answer is usually “you will never lift it.”

How long does production take? 15–18 days from the approved preview. Quote it that way, with the word “from,” because the preview step is where clients lose track of the calendar. The step itself is in the preview walkthrough.

If any of this needs to be in writing with your name on it, request the partner sheet here. It has the number, the timing, and the launch window on one page.