# Commission Approval & Cash Flow

> Understand how attributed sales move into commissions, billing, and payout workflow.

This page traces the journey from an attributed sale through commission review, billing, and partner payout.

<PageMeta
  items={[
    { label: 'Who this is for', value: 'Advertisers, ops, and finance-aware teams' },
    { label: 'Time required', value: '5–10 minutes' },
    { label: 'Prerequisites', value: 'A working understanding of sale tracking and your program commission rules' },
    { label: 'Outcome', value: 'You understand how attributed sales move into billing, commission review, hold, and payout workflow' },
  ]}
/>

## Payment integration method

| Method | Checkout ownership | How it works |
|--------|--------------------|--------------|
| **Invoice billing** | Your checkout | You collect customer payment, Affitor attributes conversions and bills through its invoice workflow |

---

## Invoice billing

**Step by step:**

1. Customer purchases through your existing checkout.
2. You receive payment in your own payment stack.
3. Affitor attributes and validates the conversion.
4. Commission is created according to your program rules.
5. Advertiser billing is handled through Affitor's invoice workflow.
6. Commission moves through review / hold / payout operations.

![Invoice billing](/images/bill-flow.png)

---

## Validation Before Commission

Affitor validates each attributed sale before the commission workflow proceeds.

Checks include:
- Valid attribution
- No duplicate sale event
- In-window attribution
- Matching program/customer relationship

---

## Approval and Hold Workflow

![The Commissions page tracks every commission through its lifecycle](/docs/brand/commissions.png)

Every commission moves through the same lifecycle:

<Mermaid chart={`flowchart LR
  A[Sale tracked] --> B[Pending]
  B -->|hold period ends| C[Approved]
  B -->|refund or failed validation| X[Invalid]
  C --> D[Invoiced to you]
  D -->|you pay| E[Paid to partner]
`} />

Use review and hold settings to control when commissions become payable.

### Common uses
- Reduce refund risk
- Review suspicious activity
- Delay payout until a commission is cleared

---

## Public-safe cash flow summary

<Checklist
  items={[
    { text: 'Customer payment lands with the advertiser' },
    { text: 'Affitor records the attributed revenue event' },
    { text: 'Commission and platform obligations are calculated through the Affitor workflow' },
    { text: 'Advertiser billing happens through the invoice process' },
    { text: 'Partner payout continues after the commission clears the review and hold path' },
  ]}
/>

---

## Refund Handling

Refunds are reconciled based on the commission's current lifecycle stage.

---

<NextStep
  title="Understand payouts"
  description="After reviewing commission approval and cash flow, continue to the payout guide to see how cleared earnings move toward partner payment."
  href="/brand/quickstart/payouts"
  ctaLabel="Open payout guide"
/>