Lesson
The sample request queue
Review affiliate sample requests, authorize $0 Shopify orders, or reject with a reason.
The Samples page is a review queue: affiliates request product samples, and you decide what ships. The page puts it plainly — “Review affiliate sample requests. Authorizing creates a zero-cost Shopify order.”
Reading the queue
Requests are organized into four status tabs: Pending, Approved, Rejected, and Failed. Each request row shows the product and variant, the SKU, the requesting affiliate and their program, and the shipping address — everything you need to make a call without leaving the page.
Authorize or Reject
- Authorize creates a zero-cost ($0) Shopify order for the sample. The confirmation toast shows the Shopify order name, so you can find it in the store admin immediately.
- Reject asks for a reason — and the affiliate sees it, so write something useful (“ask again after your next three posts”) rather than a bare “no”.
The Dashboard card
Pending samples also surface as a card on the Dashboard, so requests don’t sit unanswered just because nobody opened the Samples page. For an agency VA, clearing this queue is a good daily checklist item — creators waiting on a sample are creators not posting.
