How Faire Direct Commission Rules Work for CPG Brands

Faire Direct commission is 0% only when the retailer relationship qualifies under Faire's policy. Sending a link, uploading a customer list, or recognizing the store name after an order does not always establish that qualification. The timing, channel, response, and documentation matter.

Use Direct as an order-taking system for relationships you create and maintain. Keep proof as you work. When an eligible account is classified incorrectly, use Faire's formal commission-change process instead of moving the order off-platform.

How Faire Direct commission works

Faire Direct is a suite of order-taking tools that includes a personalized wholesale website, invoices, the brand app, links, widgets, and QR codes. Retailers can order through the brand's Faire shop while using Faire payment terms and other eligible retailer benefits.

When the first order with your brand comes through the qualifying Direct tools, Faire says the relationship automatically receives 0% commission. Payment processing still applies. The retailer can continue ordering through Faire without marketplace commission on that qualified relationship.

Read the current Faire Direct overview and Faire Direct commission policy before changing your workflow. Platform rules change, and older summaries often leave out the evidence requirements.

The four ways a relationship can qualify

Faire's policy lists four main paths.

The first order uses Faire Direct tools

The cleanest path is the retailer's first order with your brand through your Direct link, widget, invoicing tool, or other qualifying tool. The relationship should qualify automatically.

Use the correct link in buyer email, on your wholesale website, in social profiles intended for trade buyers, and on event materials. Test it before a campaign or show.

The retailer bought from you in the previous four years

If the retailer's first Faire order arrives through the marketplace but the store bought from you during the prior four years, you can request a commission change. Faire currently requires an invoice as proof.

The invoice should show the brand, retailer identity, invoice number, order date, itemized products and prices, and total due. A customer profile, packing slip, shipping label, order-history screenshot, payment receipt, or order-confirmation email is not an accepted substitute under the current policy.

The retailer responded to Direct outreach in the previous year

A lead can qualify when you encouraged the retailer to order through your Faire Direct link during the prior 12 months and the retailer responded in writing. The documentation must show the response, Direct link, date, and retailer identity as it appears on Faire.

An email open or automated reply does not count as a written response. The communication needs to show an actual interaction.

You sent Direct outreach in the previous three months

A lead can also qualify without a response when your documented outreach containing the Direct link occurred during the three months before the retailer's first order. The proof must show the link, date, and retailer details.

This path makes recordkeeping part of acquisition. Your first 90 days on Faire should include source tagging and evidence capture from the first campaign.

What documentation Faire accepts

For prior customers, Faire says invoices are the only accepted documentation for commission-change requests. The retailer identity must connect the invoice with the Faire account.

For leads, the platform accepts several forms of dated evidence when they meet the policy requirements:

• Marketing email campaigns and individual emails
• Social media direct messages
• Retailer comments on a brand post
• Text messages
• Direct mail with proof of the recipient and send date
• Trade-show evidence combining the retailer badge and material containing the Direct link or QR code

The Direct link must be visible or verifiable. If the link is hidden behind text that does not mention Faire, Faire recommends capturing the destination in the screenshot.

Faire Messenger messages, phone calls, customer lists, retailer business cards, wholesale applications, email-send data, follows, and likes are not accepted lead documentation under the current policy. They may show familiarity, but they do not prove qualifying Direct outreach.

Build evidence into the outreach workflow

Do not reconstruct proof after commission appears on an order. Save it when the outreach happens.

Use these fields in the customer record:

1. Faire retailer name and location
2. Buyer name and contact channel
3. Relationship type, customer or lead
4. Date of the last pre-order communication
5. Direct link used
6. Response date when applicable
7. Evidence file or invoice URL
8. First Faire order date
9. Qualification status

Name files consistently. A simple format such as retailer-date-channel makes the evidence easy to find. Preserve the original invoice or screenshot instead of copying details into a note.

For email campaigns, keep the message, subject line, Direct link, date, and recipient evidence. For one-to-one messages, make the retailer's email address visible. For trade shows, photograph the retailer badge and the dated material with the QR code while the context still exists.

The process should be boring. That is the point. No founder memory. No last-minute screenshot hunt.

Uploading a retailer is not enough

Adding a store to the Faire customer list does not automatically create a 0% relationship. Faire says the brand must have encouraged the retailer to order through the Direct link under the applicable path.

The customer list still matters because it supports campaigns and account organization. Keep it current, segment it, and send relevant Direct communication. Do not treat the upload itself as qualification.

Similarly, a message that bounced, was rate-limited, or went to an unsubscribed recipient may not establish delivered outreach. Monitor delivery and keep evidence of communication that actually reached the retailer.

Request a Faire commission change

If an eligible relationship receives marketplace commission, open the retailer's most recent order on the Faire website. Find the commission field, choose the commission-change request, identify whether the relationship is a customer or lead, and upload the required evidence.

Faire's commission-change instructions say requests must be completed on the website, not the mobile app. Submitted requests cannot be edited, so review every file first.

The current reimbursement outcome depends on payout timing:

• If the most recent order has not been paid out, an approved request receives 0% commission on that order and future orders.
• If it was paid out but placed within the previous 30 days, Faire says it reimburses commission on that most recent order and applies 0% to future orders.
• If it was paid out and placed more than 30 days ago, past commission remains unchanged while future orders receive 0%.

Submit quickly. The policy makes delay expensive even when the relationship qualifies.

Do not move Faire-introduced accounts offline

Faire's brand terms prohibit using the platform to establish a retailer relationship and then moving transactions off-platform to avoid fees. A retailer discovered through the marketplace does not become a Direct account because you later email them a link.

Keep marketplace-introduced relationships on the platform unless another legitimate qualification path applies and Faire approves it. Use Direct for accounts and leads your brand brings into the system.

This distinction should shape the broader Faire profitability model. Do not forecast 0% commission for accounts that have not qualified. Model marketplace and Direct cohorts separately.

Use Faire Direct across the buyer journey

Direct works best when it is present before the retailer is ready to order.

Your wholesale website. Put the Direct link or widget where trade buyers expect to find ordering information.

Buyer outreach. Include the link in relevant one-to-one messages and campaigns. Explain the ordering benefit instead of dropping a naked URL.

Trade shows. Put the QR code on buyer material and preserve the evidence Faire requires for event relationships.

Existing customers. Invite eligible accounts to use the order-taking workflow before they discover the brand through marketplace search.

Reorders. Make the same qualified route easy to find when the retailer needs replenishment. The Faire reorder playbook adds the timing and account context.

Direct should reduce ordering friction. It does not replace retailer fit, sell-through, account support, or sound economics.

Audit Faire Direct every month

Review these items monthly:

• Direct orders that unexpectedly carried commission
• New marketplace orders with a possible prior relationship
• Evidence files missing the link, date, response, or retailer identity
• Customer records approaching the three-month outreach limit
• Existing retailer invoices that need organized storage
• Bounced or undelivered campaigns
• Commission-change decisions and denial reasons
• Direct and marketplace contribution by cohort

Use the audit to fix the workflow, not to stretch the definition of a relationship. The complete Faire success guide places Direct inside a wider system of acquisition, conversion, retention, and profit.

If the brand also sells directly outside marketplaces, keep the channel roles clear. The independent retailer channel strategy explains when direct account development should sit beside Faire instead of trying to repurpose Faire-introduced relationships.

Treat qualification as an operating process

Faire Direct commission rules reward a documented relationship established before the first marketplace order. Use the correct tools, keep evidence at the moment of outreach, and submit eligible corrections quickly. The cleanest system protects margin without crossing the platform's policy line.