How to Reject Referrals and Commissions

Rejecting referrals and commissions gives you full control over which sales are eligible for payouts. Whether you're dealing with duplicate accounts, policy violations, chargebacks, or other fraudulent activity, Affonso provides flexible tools to manage these situations while protecting your program integrity.

Looking for self-referral specific guidance? See our dedicated guide on How to Reject a Self-Referral or Invalid Affiliate Sale.

Common Reasons to Reject Referrals

You might need to reject referrals and commissions for several legitimate reasons:

• Duplicate accounts: Same customer signing up multiple times to earn referral bonuses
• Policy violations: Affiliates using prohibited marketing methods (spam, misleading ads)
• Chargebacks: Customer disputed the charge or requested a refund
• Invalid traffic: Bot traffic, click fraud, or cookie stuffing attempts
• Terms violations: Any activity that breaches your program terms and conditions
• Self-referrals: Affiliates referring themselves (see our dedicated guide)

How to Reject a Referral

Rejecting a referral blocks all future commissions from that specific customer relationship.

1. Navigate to your Referrals dashboard
2. Find the referral you want to reject
3. Click the "⋯" dropdown in the referral row
4. Select "Change Status"
5. Choose "Rejected" from the available statuses
6. Confirm the change

The referral status immediately changes to REJECTED, and any future purchases from that customer through that affiliate will no longer generate commissions.

How to Decline Individual Commissions

Sometimes you need to reject specific commissions without blocking the entire referral relationship. This is useful for chargebacks or one-time policy violations.

Option 1: From the Referrals Dashboard

1. Open your Referrals dashboard
2. Find the referral containing the commission
3. Click the "⋯" dropdown
4. Select "View Transactions"
5. In the transaction modal, find the specific commission
6. Click the "⋯" dropdown for that transaction
7. Select "Change Status"
8. Choose "Declined"

Option 2: From the Sales Dashboard

1. Navigate to your Sales dashboard
2. Locate the specific sale you want to decline
3. Click the "⋯" dropdown for that sale
4. Select "Change Status"
5. Choose "Declined"

The commission is immediately removed from pending payouts and marked as declined. The affiliate will no longer receive payment for that specific transaction.

Understanding the Difference: Rejected vs Declined

It's important to understand when to use each status:

Reject a Referral when:

• You want to block ALL future commissions from a customer
• The referral relationship itself is invalid
• You're dealing with fraud or serious policy violations

Decline a Commission when:

• You need to reject ONE specific transaction
• There was a chargeback or refund
• The referral is legitimate but this specific sale isn't eligible
• You want to keep the relationship active for future purchases

What Happens After Rejection

When You Reject a Referral:

• Status changes to REJECTED permanently
• Future purchases from that customer won't generate commissions
• Existing pending commissions remain unless manually declined
• The referral appears as rejected in reporting and analytics
• The affiliate can still promote your program to other customers

When You Decline a Commission:

• That specific commission is removed from pending payouts
• Other commissions from the same referral remain unaffected
• The customer can still make future purchases that generate commissions
• The declined amount is excluded from all payout calculations

Managing Past Commissions After Rejection

Important: Rejecting a referral does NOT automatically decline existing commissions that were generated before the rejection. You must handle those separately.

To clean up existing commissions after rejecting a referral:

1. Open the rejected referral's transaction history
2. Review each pending or approved commission
3. Decline any commissions that should not be paid
4. Leave legitimate commissions if they were earned before the violation

This gives you granular control to handle each situation fairly while protecting your program.

Best Practices for Managing Rejections

Act Quickly: Review new referrals within the first 24-48 hours to catch fraudulent activity before commissions are approved or paid out.

Document Everything: Keep internal notes about why referrals or commissions were rejected. This helps if affiliates question the decision or you need to review patterns later.

Communicate Clearly: If you reject a legitimate affiliate's commission due to policy violations, communicate the specific issue so they can correct their approach.

Set Clear Terms: Make your program rules explicit in your affiliate terms and conditions. Clear expectations prevent most rejection scenarios.

Monitor Patterns: Use the referrals dashboard filters to identify suspicious patterns like multiple referrals from similar email addresses or IP addresses.

Review Regularly: Schedule weekly reviews of new referrals and commissions to catch issues early and maintain program quality.

Bulk Actions for Multiple Rejections

If you need to reject multiple referrals or commissions at once:

1. Use the referrals dashboard filters to identify problematic entries
2. Note the specific referrals or transactions you need to reject
3. Process each rejection individually to ensure accuracy
4. Consider reaching out to support for assistance with large-scale cleanup operations

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Need help managing complex rejection scenarios? Contact support for personalized guidance on protecting your affiliate program from fraud and abuse.