Inventory-Based Commissions
In this article, we explain how to track individual employee sales of a product (and therefore commissions) by creating a Bundle of the products.
To set up commissions, it helps to have a firm understanding of how Bundles work. Please check the Bundles article here if you are not familiar with bundling.
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Understanding the Commission Tracking Method
The concept is the same regardless of which catalog experience you're using:
How it works:
Create regular products (e.g., King Mattress, Queen Mattress) that represent your actual inventory
Create a tracking product (e.g., "Posturepedic Mattress - Commission Tracking") with variants for each employee
Convert those employee-specific variants into bundles that link to the regular products
When selling, employees select their specific variant
Run reports filtered by employee name/code to see who sold what
The benefit: You get employee-level sales tracking while maintaining accurate inventory counts!
Example Scenario
We'll use a mattress in this example, but any product can be substituted and work just as well.
The setup:
You sell King and Queen mattresses
You have two salespeople: Mark (Sales Person A) and Emily (Sales Person B)
You want to track who sells which mattress for commission purposes
We will use a mattress in this example, but any product can be substituted and work:
Step 1: Create Your Base Inventory Products
The first step is making sure you have a "King Mattress" and "Queen Mattress" set up as individual products, so we can link those individual products as components to the 'commission' bundled variants.
What to create:
Product: "King Mattress"
Product: "Queen Mattress"
Why: These represent your actual physical inventory that will be deducted when sales are made.
You'll need individual King and Queen mattresses in your inventory to link the 'Posturepedic' variants later.
Step 2: Create Your Commission Tracking Product
Once you are sure you have individual King and Queen mattresses in your inventory, create another product titled something like "Posturepedic Mattress - Commission Tracking" (or whatever naming convention works for you).
Why this product exists: This is what employees will select at the point of sale to track their individual sales.
Step 3: Create Variants for Each Employee
We need variants for each size AND each salesperson combination.
From the Product Details Page:
Steps:
Open your "Posturepedic Mattress - Commission Tracking" product
Go to the Variants & Bundles section
Click + Create Variant
Create four variants with these names:
King - Sales Person A (Mark)
King - Sales Person B (Emily)
Queen - Sales Person A (Mark)
Queen - Sales Person B (Emily)
Pro Tip: The salesperson's name may print on receipts, so feel free to use codes or initials instead (e.g., "King - A" or "King - M").
You should now have all variants listed and ready to bundle.
Step 4: Convert Variants to Bundles
Now the magic happens, we'll link each employee-specific variant to the actual inventory products.
From the Variants & Bundles Section
For each variant:
In the Variants & Bundles section, find the variant (e.g., "King - Sales Person A")
Click on the Convert to Bundle icon for that variant
In the bundle setup, link to the actual inventory product:
King - A and King - B → Link to "King Mattress" (quantity: 1)
Queen - A and Queen - B → Link to "Queen Mattress" (quantity: 1)
Save the bundle configuration
Repeat for all four variants.
What this does: When "King - Sales Person A" sells, it deducts 1 King Mattress from your actual inventory while tracking that Mark made the sale.
How It Works in Practice
At Point of Sale
Employee A (Mark) makes a sale:
Selects "Posturepedic Mattress - Commission Tracking"
Chooses variant: "King - Sales Person A (Mark)" or "Queen - Sales Person A (Mark)"
Sale completes
Employee B (Emily) makes a sale:
Selects "Posturepedic Mattress - Commission Tracking"
Chooses variant: "King - Sales Person B (Emily)" or "Queen - Sales Person B (Emily)"
Sale completes
What happens behind the scenes:
Whether you sell "Queen - A" or "Queen - B," the exact same physical Queen Mattress is deducted from inventory
The sale is recorded under the employee-specific variant
Your inventory stays accurate while tracking individual sales
Tracking Sales by Employee
This is where the magic pays off!
Running Commission Reports
Steps:
Go to Metrics > Reports
Run a Product Sales Report for your desired date range
Use the Search function to filter by employee identifier:
Search for "A" or "Mark" to see Mark's sales
Search for "B" or "Emily" to see Emily's sales
Pro tip: Use unique codes (not just "A" or "B") to make searching easier and avoid false matches. For example: "MARK-" or "EMP-A-" as prefixes.
What you'll see: All sales made by that specific employee, with quantities and revenue totals. Perfect for calculating commissions!