Keep your upsells on a checkout you host: use SamCart when you already have affiliates

You already have a network listing

You already sell on ClickBank or Digistore24, and you are deciding whether SamCart should handle checkout and joint-venture tracking. SamCart Inc. sells a hosted checkout, with sales pages, subscriptions, courses and reporting in the same account. You recruit those affiliates, you approve who can sell, and you pay them after each sale.

Before you pay a monthly fee for cart software, compare what you keep on a network sale. The SamCart plan is a monthly bill on top of that amount.

Compare one network sale

The prices here come from SamCart's price list and its terms, and the experience notes come from long-term user reports. The research method page explains how those prices and reports are gathered.

What SamCart is

The homepage calls SamCart the digital business platform that builds, runs and scales an online business. In that account you get sales pages, a hosted checkout, subscriptions, courses and reporting. You pay for the software each month, and the buyer pays on the checkout you set up.

SamPay uses Stripe Connect. The terms of service leave taxes with the vendor. ClickBank's seller page works differently: a marketplace of nearly 100,000 affiliates, with tax remittance, 1099s and affiliate payouts handled on the network sale.

The contact page lists SamCart Inc. at 3200 Gracie Kiltz Ln, Suite 400, Austin, TX 78758. The terms name co-founder Brian Moran in the SMS program section.

Checkout, SamPay and the processors on Pro

SamPay is on every plan at 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. SamCart calls that the processor fee, separate from the monthly subscription.

Using Stripe, PayPal or Authorize.net instead of SamPay requires the Pro plan. The terms allow SamCart to charge transaction fees on that third-party volume, and they say those fees can change with notice. The rate quoted here is the SamPay figure printed with the plans.

Core includes unlimited pages, products and checkouts, cart abandonment, an AI assistant, one-click AI page design, the courses app, an Integration Engine and one team seat. You can sell a course from the same account as the checkout. Pro adds one-click upsells, order bumps, A/B tests, Subscription Saver, advanced analytics, an API and ten team seats.

The affiliate program is private, and it is on Pro

The Affiliate Center article calls it your own private sales team. You get a signup page, an approval step, and promotional links that can point to any URL. The cookie credits the sale in the SamCart checkout. The plan comparison shows the Affiliate Center on Pro only.

Every product starts at a 0% commission until you set a percentage or a flat amount. If two affiliates refer the same buyer, the last one gets the credit.

The payout step gives you a CSV with one row per affiliate. You send the money through PayPal MassPay, by check, or by another method you choose. SamCart builds the file. You send the payment.

The JVZoo review covers connecting your own processor, the platform fee you still pay that network, and the file you use to pay affiliates. The Digistore24 and JVZoo page sets those two networks side by side for a launch. The payout timeline shows the hold and the reserve on a network sale. The review index lists every network and cart covered here.

SamCart pricing: Core, Pro and the trial

Two cards show a monthly price, and the yearly switch is marked 25% off. SamCart offers a 7-day trial on its price list. The terms require a card, and they charge the full plan price when the trial ends if the account is still open.

The subscription renews every billing cycle. Cancel at least five days before the next bill, or you will be charged for another cycle. If you cancel mid-cycle, SamCart keeps the fee for the month you are in. That rule covers the SamCart subscription. The three cards are Core, Pro and Custom. Custom pricing requires booking a call.

The SamCart fees page places these plans beside the networks. A network fee comes off the sale. SamCart's charge is the monthly plan.

When SamCart is worth it for a network vendor

I would add Pro when the affiliates are already people you know, and you want order bumps and one-click upsells on a checkout you host. The Affiliate Center tracks them. You still export the file and send the commissions.

Keep the network when affiliates have to find the offer in a marketplace, or when the company charging the card has to remit the tax. ClickBank's seller page describes tax remittance and affiliate payouts as part of each network sale. A separate article covers that same checkout decision for Digistore24 and JVZoo.

One operator said the monthly software cost is too high to repeat for every business. Put a typical order into the fee calculator and set that comment beside what you keep. Count Pro as its own monthly cost. The alternatives page lists the other networks and carts if you want a marketplace or a different checkout.

SamCart complaints, and which product they describe

On a digital-marketing thread, an operator called the checkout plain and reliable enough. That comment is about whether the cart stays up. It is separate from a billing dispute.

On Trustpilot, a buyer described a $7 course bought in March 2025, a year of access, and a $239 charge attempt in March 2026. The complaint is about a training renewal. If you are buying a SamCart course, weigh that story against the five-day cancellation rule. A vendor judging the checkout is looking at the software, which is a different purchase.

Reviews that blend the course billing with the software make the checkout sound like a surprise renewal. The Austin address, the terms and the plan table identify the company. Know the cancellation window before a course trial becomes a paid plan, because that renewal is what the complaint describes.