Assigning Tiers to your partners

Who is this article for?

Program managers who want to define partner levels, communicate tier benefits to partners, and use tiers to customize offers. Partnership tiers must be enabled on your plan. If you do not see Tiers under Partner Management in your dashboard, contact your Customer Success Manager or support@partnerstack.com. Developers should see the PartnerStack API documentation for programmatic tier management.

What are partnership tiers?

Partnership tiers let you define levels within your partner program and describe what partners need to qualify for each level and what they receive when they get there. You organize tiers into tier collections, add individual tiers to each collection, and assign partners to the tier that matches their standing in your program.

Each tier includes qualifying criteria, a list of benefits, and an optional tier image. Partners assigned to a tier can see their current level, compare tiers, and view the benefits available at each stage.

Why use partnership tiers?

Partnership tiers help you motivate partners to grow with your program:

• Define clear partner levels — organize partners into named tiers such as Silver, Gold, or Platinum
• Set transparent expectations — describe the criteria partners must meet to qualify for each tier
• Highlight tier-specific benefits — show partners what they unlock at each level, from commission rates to support and co-marketing perks
• Customize offers by tier — use tier-based trigger rules so only eligible partners see and earn specific offers
• Run multiple tier structures — create separate tier collections for different partner types or programs

Tip: If you are just launching your program, consider starting with a single compelling offer before adding tiers. Tiers add setup and ongoing management overhead. See Recruiting partners step 2: Build your partner commission structure for guidance.

How partnership tiers work — a real example

Flapjack.ai runs a solution partner program with one tier collection called App Partner Tiers. The collection has four tiers:

Setting up partnership tiers

You need tier permissions to create and manage tiers. Check with your account admin if you cannot access the Tiers page.

Step 1: Create a tier collection

A tier collection groups related tiers together. The collection name is visible to partners.

To create a tier collection:

1. Log in to your PartnerStack vendor dashboard
2. Under Partner Management, click Tiers
3. Click + New tier collection
4. Enter a Collection name (for example, App Partner Tiers)
5. Click Create collection

Your new collection appears in the Tier collections table with its creation date, number of tiers, and status.

Tip: Use a collection name that describes the partner group it applies to, such as Reseller Tiers or Affiliate Tiers. You can create multiple collections if different partner types follow different tier structures.

Step 2: Add tiers to your collection

After you create a collection, open it to add individual tiers.

1. Click the collection name in the Tier collections table
2. Click + Add tier
3. Enter a Tier name (for example, Gold or All Star)
4. Under Describe the qualifying criteria for this tier, enter each requirement on its own line (for example, Make your first sale or Complete certifications)
5. To add more criteria, click Add another custom criteria
6. Under Tier benefits, add each benefit:
   • Choose benefit name — a short title partners will see
   • Describe the tier experience — details about what the partner receives
7. To add more benefits, click Add another benefit
8. Under Tier image, upload an icon for this tier
   • Images must be square and at least 200px wide and 200px tall
   • Accepted formats: .jpg or .png
9. Click Save

Repeat these steps for each tier in your collection. Use the tier tabs (Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on) to switch between tiers after you save them.

Tip: Drag the handle next to each criteria or benefit to reorder items. The order you set here is the order partners see on their tier chart.

Step 3: Review and edit tiers

To view or update an existing tier:

1. Go to Tiers and open your tier collection
2. Click the tier tab you want to review
3. Review the preview card on the left to see how the tier appears to partners
4. Click Edit to change the tier name, criteria, benefits, or image
5. Click Save

To delete a tier, open it and click Delete tier. You cannot delete a tier that has partners assigned to it.

Assigning partners to tiers

Partners must be assigned to a tier before they can see tier information in their dashboard. Tier assignment is separate from tier setup — you define tiers first, then assign partners to the tier that matches their standing.

Assign a tier via the API

When creating or updating a partnership through the PartnerStack API, pass the tier by name using the tier field:

{"tier": "Gold"}

The tier name must match a tier you have already created in your program.

Assign a tier via partner import

When importing partners with a CSV file, include a partner_tier_key column with the tier key:

For more on imports, see Using the import tool.

View a partner's tier

After a partner is assigned to a tier, you can see their current tier on:

• The All Partners list (Tier column)
• The partner detail view, under partnership information

To remove a partner's tier, update the partnership via API and set tier_key to null.

Updating a partner's tier

Once a partner has been assigned to a tier, you can move them to a different tier or remove their tier assignment using the PartnerStack API. There is no dashboard action to update a partner's tier today.

Before you update a tier, confirm the tier name exists in your program and the partner's partnership key (visible on their partner detail view).

Use the Update a partnership endpoint to change which tier a partner is in.

To update a partner's tier:

1. In your PartnerStack dashboard, go to Settings > Integrations to find your production public and secret keys
2. Open the Update a partnership API reference
3. Authenticate with your public key as the username and your secret key as the password
4. Set the path parameter partnership_key to the partner's partnership key
5. In the request body, pass the tier_key for the tier you want to assign:

{"tier_key": "tier_UWjSmVBIxRQoaP"}

6. Send the request

You will receive a 200 response if the tier was updated successfully. The partner's tier status and eligible offers update based on their new tier.

Tip: You can find tier keys by retrieving your tier configuration through the API, or by working with your PartnerStack contact if you need help locating them.
 

What partners see

Partners see tier information after they have been assigned to a tier.

On their program home page, partners see a Tier status card showing:

• Their current tier name, image, and badge
• Current tier benefits — click to open a detail view
• Their next tier and a link to View the tier chart

The tier chart displays all tiers in the collection side by side. Partners can compare qualifying criteria and benefits across tiers and see which tier they are in today.

Partners without an assigned tier do not see tier information in their dashboard.