Tracking commissions

Every commissionable sale a partner refers is recorded for you, with no button to press. The Commissions tab is the running record: what was sold, who sent it, how it was matched, and what stage it has reached.

Go to Affiliates in the main menu, then open the Commissions tab.

Reading the list

Each row is one commission.

• Date is when it was earned.
• Affiliate is the partner, with their code underneath.
• Source is what was bought: Order, Event tickets, Course, Coaching or Membership. On a recurring membership it also shows which payment this is, so you can see a partner earning on payment 2, 3 and so on.
• Via is how the sale was matched: Coupon or Link.
• Basis is the amount the commission was calculated from, which is what the buyer paid after any discount, without tax or shipping.
• Commission is what the partner earned. If any of it has been clawed back after a refund, that shows underneath in red.
• Status is the stage it has reached.

The arrow button on the right jumps you to the original purchase, so you can see the order, the ticket sale, the booking or the member behind the number.

The five statuses

Accrued means earned but still inside your hold period. It is not payable yet.

Approved means the hold period has passed and it is ready to go into a payout. TribeNest moves commissions from accrued to approved automatically once the hold is up, so you do not have to watch a calendar.

Paid means it was included in a payout you recorded.

Clawed back means the sale behind it was refunded and the commission was reversed.

Voided means you cancelled it by hand.

Filtering

Two filters sit above the list.

• Status narrows to one stage, for example everything Approved and therefore ready to pay.
• Flagged switches to Flagged for review, showing only the ones that want a human eye.

Click Clear to see everything again.

Flagged commissions

A commission is flagged when a partner's own coupon code was redeemed by the partner's own email address. It is not proof of anything (plenty of partners genuinely buy from the creators they promote), but it is the pattern behind most self-dealing, so it is worth a look.

Two things are true about a flagged commission:

• It stays visible in the list with a Flagged marker.
• It does not clear the hold period on its own. It waits for you.

Once you have looked at it and you are happy:

1. Filter to Flagged for review.
2. Find the row.
3. Click Unflag.

If you are not happy with it, void it instead.

Voiding a commission

Voiding removes a commission from every payout calculation. Use it when a sale should never have earned anything: a test order, a duplicate, a partner breaking your terms.

1. Find the row.
2. Click Void.
3. Read the confirmation and click Void again.

A commission that has already been paid, voided or clawed back cannot be voided.

Refunds and clawbacks

When you refund a purchase, the commission on it is reversed for you automatically. You do not have to remember to go and find it.

The reversal is proportional. A full refund reverses the whole commission. A half refund reverses half of it. The amount reversed shows on the row underneath the commission figure, and once the whole thing is reversed the status becomes Clawed back.

What happens next depends on whether you had already paid the partner:

• Not yet paid. The commission simply drops out of what is payable. Nothing else happens.
• Already paid. The amount is carried forward and offsets the partner's next payout, so it comes out of future earnings.

Currency

Amounts are shown in the currency of each commission, and your program currency is noted at the bottom of the list so you always know which one is the baseline.

A weekly routine that works

1. Filter to Flagged for review and clear the queue, unflagging the fine ones and voiding the rest.
2. Filter to Approved to see who is ready to be paid.
3. Head over to the Payouts tab and settle up.

Next steps

• Turn approved earnings into money in paying your affiliates.
• Adjust your hold period in setting up your program.