The hold period (also called the pending period) is the number of days a commission stays Pending before it becomes Approved and eligible for payout. It exists so that refunds and chargebacks during that window automatically reduce or void the commission before money goes out.
Where to set it
The hold period is set per incentive, not at program level.
- Open Groups & Rewards.
- Open the group whose incentive you want to configure.
- Open the Incentives tab → click the incentive.
- Set Hold period in days.
You can have different hold periods on different incentives — for example, longer hold on one-time products with a generous refund policy, shorter hold on monthly subscriptions.
Choosing a value
A common formula is trial length + refund window. For instance, a 7-day free trial plus a 30-day refund policy → 37 days. This guarantees the customer is past the refund window before the affiliate's commission is approved.
Refunds during the hold period
If the customer refunds while the commission is pending, the commission is automatically adjusted to $0 (or pro-rated for partial refunds). The rate locked at commission generation does not re-evaluate when the refund happens.
