How to Reject a Self-Referral or Invalid Affiliate Sale

Self-referrals occur when affiliates sign up as customers and make purchases through their own referral links, which violates most program terms. Affonso gives you complete control to identify, block, and manage these situations to protect your program integrity.

How to Handle Self-Referrals

Step 1: Reject the Referral

Rejecting the referral prevents all future purchases from that customer from being tracked as valid referrals.

1. Navigate to your Referrals dashboard
2. Find the suspicious referral in the list
3. Click the "⋯" dropdown on the right
4. Select "Change Status"
5. Choose "Reject" from the status options
6. Confirm the change

Step 2: Decline the Commission

After rejecting the referral, you need to decline the associated sale to prevent commission payout.

1. Click on the rejected referral to open the details drawer
2. Scroll down to the Sales table section
3. Locate the sale linked to the referral
4. Click the "⋯" dropdown next to the sale
5. Select "Change Status"
6. Choose "Declined"

This removes the commission from your pending payouts and ensures the affiliate won't receive payment for the fraudulent sale.

Step 3: Remove the Affiliate (Optional)

If the affiliate hasn't generated any legitimate referrals and you want to terminate the partnership completely:

1. Go to your Affiliates dashboard
2. Find the affiliate in the list
3. Click the "⋯" dropdown
4. Choose "Reject Partnership"
5. Confirm the action

This permanently ends the partnership and prevents any future tracking or rewards through their referral link.

What Happens When You Reject a Self-Referral

When you reject a referral, the status changes to REJECTED in your dashboard. All future purchases from that customer will be automatically blocked from generating commissions. The declined commission is removed from pending payouts and won't be included in any future payment calculations.

If you remove the affiliate entirely, their referral link becomes inactive and any visitor using it will not be tracked or attributed to your program.

Best Practices for Preventing Self-Referrals

Monitor new referrals regularly, especially from newly joined affiliates, to catch suspicious activity early. Look for matching email addresses, IP addresses, or similar customer information between the affiliate and referred customer. Set clear program terms that explicitly prohibit self-referrals and communicate these rules during affiliate onboarding.

Consider implementing a manual approval process for high-value sales or new affiliates until they establish a track record of legitimate referrals. Use the referral dashboard filters to quickly identify patterns that might indicate abuse.

Need help managing fraudulent referrals? Contact support for guidance on protecting your affiliate program from abuse.