If you’re running an affiliate program today and came across this article, you may simply need to know how to properly reject a commission that should not be paid.
Rejecting commissions gives you full control over which sales are eligible for payouts. SATHI allows you to manage each affiliate’s incoming commissions by flagging suspicious activity inside Fraud Center or rejecting orders based on your brand’s specific policies — giving you visibility into the exact signals, evidence, and activity behind each alert to help protect your program integrity.
Rejecting a commission ensures that only valid and eligible transactions are included in payouts, helping ensure that only genuine activity is rewarded.
We’ve listed down some common and legitimate reasons brands reject commissions:
The specific sale is not eligible based on brand’s policy
Fraud-flagged activities, including:
Identity Match: The ambassador purchased the product themselves
Coupon codes were leaked onto deal or discount forums
Self-Referral: The customer email matches the ambassador’s email
The ambassador requested a refund
Paid Ads Abuse: Paid traffic is detected or the affiliate is posting their code on ads
Geo Traffic Signals. Traffic is coming from unexpected or unusual locations
High Risk Orders: Shopify detected potential fraud signals on the transaction
To reject a commission from Payments:
Navigate to Payments
Go to Pending Commissions
Under Actions, click the (…)
Select Reject
You can also reject multiple commissions at once by selecting the checkboxes beside affiliate names.
Here’s how:
To reject a commission from Fraud Center, you’ll need to access two sections for now:
1.1 — Commission Flags Section
Navigate to Fraud Center
Go to Commission Flags
Affiliates requiring review will appear under the Pending Review tab
Under Actions, click the (👁) icon to review the exact fraud signals and activity detected
Click (❌) Reject Commission if you confirm the commission is invalid
1.2 — Paid Ads Section
Go to Pending Review
Open a profile with an amount shown under Commission at Risk
Click Resolve
Click Reject Commission
Confirm and Resolve the action
Once a commission is rejected:
The commission is immediately removed from pending commissions in Payments and deducted from the affiliate’s “Upcoming” earnings amount
If rejected via Fraud Center, the transaction moves to the Rejected tab and the amount is reflected in the Amount Recovered tab.
If rejected via Payments section, the rejected amount is reflected under the Revenue Protected tab
If rejected via Paid Ads section, the rejected amount moves to the Resolved section.
The affiliate will no longer receive payout for the rejected transaction, and the amount will be excluded from future payout calculations
Review Fraud Center regularly
Review Fraud Center before approving or paying commissions. Scheduling weekly reviews can help catch issues early and maintain program quality.
Communicate clearly with affiliates
Before rejecting a commission, communicate the issue clearly with the affiliate and explain the next steps. Maintaining transparency helps affiliates understand policy violations and improve future behavior.
Use warning emails when needed
You can also choose to warn affiliates before rejecting commissions. SATHI includes a Paid Ads Abuse Warning email template under Settings, which you can customize based on your program guidelines.
Still need help?
Reach out anytime using the button at the bottom-right corner of your dashboard, or email us at [email protected]
