Creator tools
Creator earnings estimator: a range, not a number
Six of your own numbers in, a monthly commission range out, and every intermediate step printed so you can check the arithmetic. It refuses to give you a single figure, and the reason is the point.
Some links here are affiliate links — if you buy, the retailer may pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. We have earned $0 from them so far. Here’s how it works.
Part of: For creators
This estimator turns six of your own numbers into a monthly commission range, and shows every intermediate step so you can check it. It deliberately refuses to produce a single figure: with the placeholder values below the answer is $1.80 to $50.40 a month, a spread of 28 times, and that spread is the real finding. Anyone quoting you one confident number for creator earnings has hidden three assumptions.
The arithmetic, longhand
On the placeholder inputs — 10,000 followers, 8 posts carrying a link per month, an average order value of $60.00 and a commission rate of 5% — the chain runs like this. Commission per order is $60.00 × 5% = $3.00 at both ends, because neither of those inputs is a range.
| Step | Low end | High end |
|---|---|---|
| Reach per post | 15% of 10,000 = 1,500 | 35% of 10,000 = 3,500 |
| Link clicks per post | 0.5% of 1,500 = 7.5 | 2% of 3,500 = 70 |
| Orders per post | 1% of 7.5 = 0.075 | 3% of 70 = 2.1 |
| Orders per month (×8 posts) | 0.6 | 16.8 |
| Commission | 0.6 × $3.00 = $1.80 | 16.8 × $3.00 = $50.40 |
The calculator above prints those same figures. If it does not, the calculator is wrong and we would like to know.
Why the range is so wide
Three multiplied percentages, each uncertain by roughly a factor of two to four, compound into a factor of 28. That is not a defect in the model, it is the shape of the problem, and it is why published creator-earnings figures should be read with suspicion.
- Reach is the most volatile and the least under your control. It moves with format, timing and whatever the platform changed last week.
- Click rate depends on where the link sits and how the post is written. It is the input a creator can actually improve.
- Conversion belongs to the retailer, not to you. Price, stock, shipping cost and checkout all decide it after the click has happened.
Keep reading
Where to get an average order value
Use your own paid statements if you have them. If you do not yet, these are median asking prices from live US listings pulled on 2 September 2026 — a starting point, not a benchmark, and a ceiling rather than an expectation wherever discounting is common.
| Category | Median live listing | Distinct retailers |
|---|---|---|
| Planners and journals | $17.17 | 15 |
| Candles | $22.99 | 18 |
| Headphones | $29.99 | 15 |
| Bakeware | $49.99 | 15 |
| Suitcases | $60.78 | 20 |
| Cookware | $79.95 | 16 |
| Dumbbells | $90.99 | 18 |
| Monitors and laptop stands | $110.50 | 21 |
Method: CJ product API, US advertisers, keyword pulls filtered to titles naming the product type and de-duplicated by link and title, pulled 2 September 2026 during this run.
Last verified 2 September 2026 against live CJ product-feed pulls taken during this run, and the calculator's own output checked against the longhand arithmetic printed above
Some links here are affiliate links. LinkToLooks has earned $0 from them to date — no network has approved us yet — so nothing on this page is picked to hit a payout.
Four things this cannot model
- Returns and reversals. A commission can be paid and then clawed back weeks later when the order is returned. Apparel and shoes are the worst affected.
- Cookie windows. A click that converts after the window closes pays nothing, and windows differ by programme.
- Repeat and cross-purchases. A click that lands on your link and buys something else entirely may still pay you, depending on the programme. That works in your favour and is not counted here.
- Approval and payout lag. Money earned this month is usually not money received this month.
How to actually use it
- Replace every default with your own measurement. The defaults exist so the page does something when it loads, not because we think they describe you.
- Narrow the range by measuring, in this order: click rate first, because you can see it in your own link data within a week; then order value; then conversion, which you can only get from statements.
- Re-run it monthly. The point is watching the range narrow as you replace guesses with facts.
- Never quote the high end to anybody, including yourself. The low end is the number to plan on.
Narrowing the range is the actual work
A 28-fold range is not a useful planning number, and the temptation is to pick a middle value and call it an estimate. Resist it. The range is wide because three of the six inputs are genuinely unknown to you today, and the work is closing them in a specific order.
Click rate first, because it is the one you can measure within a week. Any link shortener or platform analytics view will tell you how many people clicked against how many were reached. Replace both the low and high figures with what you actually saw across your last five posts, and the range narrows immediately.
Order value second. Until you have statements, use the measured medians in the table above for the category you actually link, and treat them as a ceiling wherever discounting is common — more than half of headphone listings and travel accessories carried a price below list on the day we measured.
Conversion last, because it is not yours. It belongs to the retailer, and it is decided after the click by price, stock, shipping cost and checkout friction. You cannot estimate it and you should not try; you can only read it off statements once orders exist.
Run the estimator again each month. If the gap between your low and high figures is not shrinking, you are guessing rather than measuring, and no calculator fixes that.
Questions
Is this a prediction of what I will earn?
No. It multiplies the numbers you typed and shows the working. Every percentage in it is yours to supply, and the defaults are placeholders rather than benchmarks.
Why does it give a range instead of a number?
Because a single number would be false precision. With the placeholder inputs the range spans $1.80 to $50.40 a month, a factor of 28, and that width is the honest answer to how much three unknown percentages matter.
What should I put in for reach, click rate and conversion?
Your own figures, from your own platform analytics and your own affiliate statements. We publish no benchmarks for any of the three, because we hold no data that would make one honest.
Where can I get an average order value?
From your own paid statements if you have them. If you do not, our live category measurements give a starting point: median asking prices ran from $17.17 for planners to $110.50 for monitors on 2 September 2026.
Does this send my numbers anywhere?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser, nothing is transmitted, nothing is stored and there is no email gate.
Sources and scope
- Median order values: CJ product API, US advertisers, pulled 2 September 2026 during this run.
- The estimator runs entirely in your browser. No input is transmitted or stored, and there is no email gate.
- No benchmark reach, click or conversion rate is published anywhere on this page, because we hold none.
Keep reading
How this guide was made. We research and draft these guides with AI, then a person checks every price, link and factual claim against the source before it publishes. We work this way because it lets us re-verify prices across hundreds of guides in a day, which is what keeps the numbers here current; it does not decide what we recommend. Anything we could not verify is labelled as unverified rather than filled in.