Summary
CHALLENGE
- Wanted to run affiliate marketing without building a large team or tracking referrals in spreadsheets by hand.
- Needed a tool that fit cleanly into their Shopify store and did not add manual work, after comparing several affiliate platforms.
SOLUTION
- Launched a single program with a flat 10% commission on every product, set after checking margins.
- Let affiliates self-serve: they pick products on the site and generate their own referral links in UpPromote.
- Stayed close by email, helping affiliates with product questions, commissions, and coupon changes.
RESULTS
- Steady growth in the affiliate program and long-term relationships with affiliates.
- A professional program a small team can run, with tracking accurate to completed Shopify sales, cancellations included.
- Now weighing a higher plan to automate payouts and tiers as the program scales.
LESSONS
- Keep the offer simple: one program, one flat rate that is easy to calculate.
- Check margins before setting commission so the rate stays comfortable across budget and premium products.
- Get tracking right so time goes to affiliate relationships, not manual reconciliation.
NEO Sabers makes replica lightsabers for people who grew up on Star Wars and never stopped wanting one in their hands. These are not simple toys.
The blades light up, shift colour, and flash on impact during duels, paired with sound effects and profiles a fan can control from a phone over Bluetooth.
The catalogue runs from budget sabers to premium Neopixel and Proffie builds, character replicas, and double-bladed hilts, alongside a line of anime-inspired katana swords for cosplayers.
Alina Ansari has led NEO Sabers for five years, starting in SEO before taking over the store’s ecommerce operations, from order processing to customer support and marketing. She keeps seeing the same reaction at events like the LA anime expo: fans, kids and adults alike, holding a movie prop for the first time.
Star Wars is a bit of an old movie, so everyone has watched it, and they just want to have it in their hands.
Alina Ansari, Ecommerce Operations Lead at NEO Sabers
To turn that fandom into sales, NEO Sabers leaned on affiliate marketing. But they wanted a program they could run without hiring a team to babysit it.
How did NEO Sabers choose a tool it would not have to babysit?
Before committing, NEO Sabers tested several affiliate apps. They were not chasing the longest feature list. They wanted the one that fit into their Shopify store cleanly and did not pile on manual work.
The team runs lean. Alina already covers ecommerce operations, from orders to customer support, while a colleague handles paid ads. An affiliate program that demanded constant spreadsheet upkeep would have pulled that small team away from the work that grows the store.
Shehriyar Irfan, who helps run the program, described what tipped the decision.
We compared several affiliate platforms and then we chose UpPromote. It was easy to set up, integrated smoothly with Shopify, and had all the features we need in one place.
Shehriyar Irfan, NEO Sabers
For NEO Sabers, ease of setup mattered more than a long menu of options. They wanted to launch quickly and keep the day-to-day light.
Why does NEO Sabers run one program with a flat commission?
Plenty of merchants build layered affiliate programs with different rates for different products. NEO Sabers went the other way on purpose.
They run a single program with a flat 10% commission on every product. Every affiliate gets the same deal. There are no tiers to manage and no per-product math to track.
The rate is not guesswork. The team checks margins before setting it, so the commission stays comfortable across a catalogue that runs from budget sabers to premium builds.
We have overall 10% commission on our products. That is for us and easy to calculate.
Shehriyar Irfan, NEO Sabers
Simplicity here is the strategy, not a shortcut. A flat rate is easy to explain to affiliates and easy for a small team to run.
How does NEO Sabers onboard affiliates without sending product or scripts?
NEO Sabers does not send free products to affiliates or hand them scripts. Affiliates browse the store, pick what they want to promote, and generate their own referral links inside UpPromote.
That self-serve setup keeps onboarding fast. Affiliates do not wait on the brand to send products or approve creative before they can start.
From there, the team stays close by email. They answer questions about products and commissions, and when an affiliate wants a coupon changed, they handle it. The support is hands-on even though the tracking is hands-off.
Affiliate onboarding is simple, very simple, and commission tracking is accurate with Shopify, for cancellation also.
Shehriyar Irfan, NEO Sabers
Accurate tracking matters for a store that deals with cancellations. It means commissions reflect real, completed sales without anyone reconciling them by hand. The program mostly runs itself, which frees the team to focus on the affiliates.
What has the program delivered for a lean team?
NEO Sabers did not share revenue figures in this conversation, and the story is honest for it. What they pointed to instead was consistency and control.
The program has grown steadily, and the team has built long-term relationships with its affiliates rather than churning through one-off promoters.
The bigger win is operational.
UpPromote has allowed us to build a professional affiliate program without needing a large team.
Shehriyar Irfan, NEO Sabers
The team is now weighing a move to a higher plan to automate more of the payout and tier work as the program grows. For now, the lean setup is doing its job.
What would NEO Sabers tell merchants starting out?
NEO Sabers is a useful counterpoint to the idea that a good affiliate program has to be complicated. Theirs is deliberately plain, and that is exactly why a small team can sustain it.
Instead of spending time managing spreadsheets and referrals manually, we can focus on building relationships with affiliates and promoting our products.
Shehriyar Irfan, NEO Sabers
For merchants starting out, the lesson is to remove friction first. Get the tracking right, keep the offer simple, and spend the time you save on the people actually promoting your brand.
