# Approval and refunds

> The approval period, how to reject a sale, and when a refund is corrected automatically.

A new sale starts as **Pending**. During the approval period you can reject it with a reason; once the period is over, it is approved automatically. Only an approved sale deducts commission and fee from your balance.

## The approval period

You set the period under **Program**, and it can be 30, 45, 60 or 90 days. Set it to match your return policy – then commission is never paid out on an item that gets sent back. A longer period means affiliates wait longer for their money.

- The period is locked on the sale when it's recorded. If you change it later, the new period only applies to new sales.
- **Results → Sales** shows how many days are left until the automatic approval.
- Once the period is over, the sale can no longer be rejected.

## Reject or approve a sale

Open the sale under **Results → Sales**:

- **Reject** requires a reason. The affiliate is told about the rejection and the reason. A rejected sale costs you nothing.
- **Approve** can be used early if the sale is in order. An approval can't be undone – the commission is paid out to the affiliate.

Test sales from your test link need neither approving nor rejecting. They cost nothing and aren't counted.

## Sales that are not approved automatically

Some sales are marked **Needs review** and are not approved automatically when the period ends. The affiliate can't see the flag. You approve the sale if it's genuine, or reject it with a reason. This happens when:

- the click came less than an hour after the affiliate's account was created, or
- it's the affiliate's first sale and the account is less than 14 days old.

If it says **Affilyflow is reviewing**, we go through the sale against the program's rules and decide it ourselves. You don't need to do anything, and you only pay if it's approved.

If an affiliate buys through their own link with the same email address, the sale is recorded as rejected straight away and costs you nothing. This is caught when the sale comes from the WooCommerce plugin or Stripe.

## Refunds that are corrected automatically

| Integration | Full refund or cancellation | Partial refund |
|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce plugin | The sale is rejected. The same goes for a cancelled or failed order. | From version 1.10.0, commission and fee are reduced in proportion. |
| Stripe | The sale is rejected – also on a dispute (`charge.dispute.created`). | Commission and fee are reduced in proportion. |

An automatic rejection also applies to a sale that has already been approved, and the affiliate is notified. If the sale has already been invoiced, it is credited on a credit note.

For a partial refund from WooCommerce:

- If you refund specific items, the commission is reduced by exactly those items, excluding VAT.
- A refund of shipping only doesn't change the commission.
- Once the refunds together cover the whole order, the sale is rejected.

If the program pays a **fixed amount per sale**, a partial refund doesn't change the commission – only a full refund rejects the sale. Leads are not affected by refunds.

## Refunds you have to reject yourself

The Shopify app and every platform that tracks with the script – custom-built stores, Smartweb, HostedShop, DanDomain, Shoporama, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopware and Webflow – don't report refunds to us. Neither does the [conversion API](https://www.affilyflow.com/en/docs/reference/conversion-api). You have to reject a refunded purchase yourself under **Results → Sales** within the approval period – it doesn't happen on its own.

> [!TIP]
> If you use one of these platforms, set the approval period to at least the length of your return policy. Once the period is over, the sale can no longer be rejected.

Source: https://www.affilyflow.com/en/docs/store/approval-and-refunds