Integrating the Stripe Buy Button with Rapid Affiliates enables you to streamline purchases while ensuring that every transaction captures essential affiliate referral data. In this guide, we focus on the crucial step of passing your unique reference ID through metadata during the Stripe checkout session creation.

Integrating the Stripe Buy Button

Start by embedding the Stripe Buy Button on your website where customers make purchases. Whether you are using a custom component or a pre-built solution, ensure that the button is connected to your backend endpoint that initiates the creation of a Stripe checkout session. This integration not only simplifies the purchase process but also sets the stage for effective affiliate tracking.

Capturing and Passing the Reference ID

A key part of this integration is capturing the affiliate reference ID. When the tracking script is correctly installed on your site, the reference ID can be retrieved from the global object. For example:

const refId = window.rapidaff?.ref;

This value is essential because it links each transaction back to the right affiliate, ensuring that referrals and commissions are accounted for accurately.

Incorporating the Reference ID in the Checkout Session

When your backend creates a Stripe checkout session, it is important to include the captured reference ID in the session’s metadata. By assigning this value to a key (commonly named rapidaff_ref), Rapid Affiliates can easily detect, track, and manage affiliate referrals. Below is an example of how you might implement this in a Node.js environment:

const stripe = require('stripe')(process.env.STRIPE_SECRET_KEY);

app.post('/api/create-checkout', async (req, res) => {
  const { refId } = req.body; // Retrieve the reference ID from the client request
  try {
    const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
      payment_method_types: ['card'],
      line_items: [{
        price: 'YOUR_PRODUCT_PRICE_ID',
        quantity: 1,
      }],
      mode: 'payment',
      success_url: 'https://yourwebsite.com/success',
      cancel_url: 'https://yourwebsite.com/cancel',
      metadata: {
        rapidaff_ref: refId // Pass the reference ID for affiliate tracking
      },
    });
    res.json({ url: session.url });
  } catch (error) {
    res.status(500).json({ error: error.message });
  }
});

In this example, the checkout session is created with the necessary parameters, and the reference ID is securely attached within the metadata. This practice ensures that every completed transaction is automatically linked to the correct affiliate referral.

Best Practices and Troubleshooting

• Script Verification: Ensure that the tracking script is properly installed so that window.rapidaff?.ref reliably returns the affiliate reference ID.
• Conditional Checks: Always verify the existence of the reference ID before appending it to the metadata to avoid potential errors during session creation.
• Testing: Conduct thorough testing in a staging environment to confirm that the metadata is being transmitted and recorded as expected.
• Error Handling: Implement robust error handling on your backend to manage any issues that arise during the checkout session creation.

Final Thoughts

By carefully capturing and passing the affiliate reference ID during the checkout session creation, you enable your Rapid Affiliates program to automatically track referrals, assign commissions accurately, and handle related scenarios such as refunds or disputes. This integration not only simplifies your payment processing but also empowers your affiliate program to scale efficiently with minimal manual intervention.