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What happens to an affiliate's commission when a sale is refunded?

The commission is automatically reversed and marked refunded, and any payout still queued for it is cancelled. A partial refund reduces the commission in proportion to the amount refunded, where your processor reports that amount.

2 min read
Updated Sep 5, 2026

LinkJolt keeps commissions in sync with refunds, so you are not paying out on money you gave back.

On a full refund

When the refund reaches LinkJolt through your payment processor's webhook, the matching commission is reversed and marked as refunded. If a payout for it was still queued and had not been sent, that queued payout is cancelled automatically. A commission marked refunded cannot be approved or paid afterwards.

On a partial refund

Where your processor reports how much was refunded, the commission is reduced in proportion to that amount, so the affiliate keeps commission only on what the customer actually kept. A payout still queued for that sale is reduced to match, and the remainder stays payable.

Not every processor reports a refunded amount. GoPay is one: its payment update does not say how much came back, so the commission and its status are left exactly as they are. Check that sale on the Commissions page and decide whether to approve or reject it before it is paid.

If a commission was already paid out before the refund happened, it cannot be clawed back automatically. Reconcile that directly with the affiliate, or offset it against their next payout.

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