Who is this article for?
This article will be useful to you if are a company on PartnerStack looking to reclaim incorrectly paid commissions.
Clawbacks overview
In the rare case that a partner receives an incorrect commission on PartnerStack, program managers have a few options to balance the books.
If your invoice has been generated but has not yet been charged, commissions can be removed from the invoice during the invoice review period (1st - 7th). For more information on reviewing and editing your invoice see Partner commission invoices.
When a commission invoice is paid, PartnerStack moves the commissions into the partners' withdrawal balance. At this point, these commissions are owned by the partner regardless of whether the partner has withdrawn the commissions or not. PartnerStack will not remove funds from a partner’s available withdrawal balance.
There are two ways to balance the books after a partner has been paid out an incorrect balance:
- External reimbursement
- Clawbacks
External reimbursement
If the partner is communicative with your company and is willing to return the funds, the company and the partner can arrange for a reimbursement payment outside of PartnerStack.
This can come in many forms (eTransfer, Paypal, wire, cheque, etc) outside of PartnerStack. No action will be taken within PartnerStack to settle this reimbursement: all commission, invoice, and payout balances will remain the same.
Clawbacks
A clawback will create a negative commission for your partner.
Once the partner has earned new commissions totaling the value of the clawback, you will see a negative commission line on your next partner invoice. The clawed-back commissions are paid back by a reduced amount on your partner invoice.
The partner's view of clawbacks
When a clawback has been issued, your partner will see a manual, negative commission in their "Commissions" tab. If you provide a reason for the clawback to our support team, this information will be visible to the partner in the commission description.
Your partner may see a negative total commissions balance if the clawback total is higher than their available commissions. For example, a partner who has earned $20 in a month, and then receives a $100 clawback will now have a commission balance of –$80.
The partner will not be able to withdraw any commissions for your program until their commission balance becomes positive again.
Clawbacks and invoices
Clawbacks are paid back by a reduced amount on your next invoice once the partner has earned new commissions totaling the value of the clawback. For example, a clawback of -$200 will not appear on an invoice until the partner has earned $200 or more in new, valid commissions to match the total of the clawback.
Clawbacks will only appear on invoices that are larger or equal to the clawback amount. For example, an invoice for $50 in commissions will not have a clawback of -$100, which would make the invoice negative.
Clawbacks will sit in a holding state until an invoice is large enough to hold the clawback without creating a negative invoice amount.
Requesting a clawback
If a partner has been incorrectly issued a commission and you would like to initiate a clawback, please contact PartnerStack support at support@partnerstack.com.
When requesting a clawback please include the partner key or email of the partner the clawback should be created for, along with the clawback amount and reason you would like displayed to the partner.