How to manually review affiliate referrals before payout
Open AffiliateWP » Referrals, filter for pending referrals, check the linked order and affiliate details, then accept valid referrals or reject suspicious ones. If your integration automatically changes referrals to Unpaid, you need a way to keep new referrals pending before this review can happen.
- 01Confirm the referral workflow
- 02Open the pending referrals
- 03Check each referral carefully
- 04Accept valid referrals
- 05Reject or leave unclear referrals
- 06Keep every new referral pending
What you need
- AffiliateWP installed and connected to your store or form plugin
- Administrator access to WordPress
- Access to the related order, payment, or signup records
- A written approval checklist for your affiliate programme
Confirm the referral workflow
In AffiliateWP, a referral can be Pending, Unpaid, Rejected, or Paid. Pending referrals have not been confirmed, while Unpaid referrals have been approved and are waiting for payout. Connected integrations may change a referral from Pending to Unpaid when an order or signup reaches its qualifying status.
Before reviewing a batch, check whether your store marks orders as Processing or Completed automatically. If it does, referrals may become Unpaid before you have inspected them, which is the point where the normal manual route breaks down.
Open the pending referrals
Go to AffiliateWP » Referrals in the WordPress dashboard. Filter the list by Pending, then work through the referrals one at a time rather than approving a whole batch without checking the underlying orders.
Pending referrals are intended for administrator review and are not shown to affiliates or included in their earnings until they are accepted.
Check each referral carefully
Open the referral and compare its affiliate, date, amount, commission, referral ID, and linked order or signup with the original record. Confirm that the order is genuine, paid or otherwise qualifies under your programme rules, and has not been cancelled or refunded.
Also look for duplicate orders, self-referrals, unusual IP or purchase patterns, and fraud warnings. AffiliateWP's fraud tools can flag referrals and show a reason on the referral edit screen, but a flag is a reason to investigate, not automatic proof that the referral is invalid.
Accept valid referrals
For a valid referral, use the row's Accept action if it is available. On some screens, open the referral, change its status to Unpaid, and click Update Referral. This makes the commission eligible for a later payout without marking it as already paid.
Keep a short note in your own review log if the referral needed investigation. That gives you an audit trail when an affiliate asks why a commission was delayed.
Reject or leave unclear referrals
For a duplicate, refunded, cancelled, fraudulent, or otherwise ineligible referral, set the status to Rejected. Do not delete it just to clear the list; retaining the record makes later investigation and reconciliation easier. Rejected referrals are not paid or included in affiliate earnings.
If you cannot decide, leave the referral Pending while you obtain the missing order, payment, or customer information. Approving first and trying to reverse a payout later is harder, especially once the referral has been included in a payout.
Keep every new referral pending
If referrals are being moved to Unpaid automatically, the core review screen alone will not reliably enforce approval before payout. Use a control that forces new AffiliateWP referrals to remain Pending, then review them from AffiliateWP » Referrals.
The fast route is AffiliateWP Force Pending Referrals. After activation, new referrals remain Pending for administrator review, so you can accept valid referrals or reject suspicious ones before they count towards earnings or enter a payout.
Let AffiliateWP Force Pending Referrals do it
Keeps referrals pending for fraud and quality checks before payout; choose it when automatic approval is too risky.
Sources
- affiliatewp.com /docs/referral-statuses/?utm_source=openai
- affiliatewp.com /docs/anti-fraud/?utm_source=openai
- affiliatewp.com /docs/force-pending-referrals-installation-and-usage/?utm_so…
Questions
- Can I review referrals manually without an extra plugin?
- Yes, if your referrals remain Pending until you review them. AffiliateWP lets you manage referral records from AffiliateWP » Referrals and change a referral to Unpaid or Rejected. The limitation is that a connected store or form integration may automatically move qualifying referrals to Unpaid, so core AffiliateWP does not always enforce a manual approval gate for every new referral.
- What is the difference between Pending and Unpaid?
- Pending means the referral has not been confirmed or approved and is normally hidden from the affiliate. Unpaid means the referral has been accepted and is waiting to be included in a payout. This distinction matters because changing a referral to Unpaid is approval, not payment.
- What should I check before approving a referral?
- Check the linked order or signup, payment and order status, refund or cancellation history, affiliate identity, commission amount, and referral date. Look for duplicate purchases, self-referrals, unusual activity, and fraud alerts. Apply the same checklist to every affiliate so approval decisions are consistent and defensible.
- What happens when I reject a referral?
- A rejected referral is not paid and does not count towards the affiliate's earnings. Keep it in the referral records rather than deleting it, particularly when the reason involves suspected fraud, a refund, a duplicate order, or a policy breach. The retained record helps with later support questions and payout reconciliation.
- Do I need a plugin to keep all referrals pending?
- You need an additional control if your existing integration automatically changes new referrals to Unpaid before you can review them. AffiliateWP Force Pending Referrals is designed for this case: it keeps new referrals Pending so an administrator can review and accept or reject each one before payout.