The process an advertiser or network uses to confirm a tracked sale is genuine and commissionable, checking it against cancellations, returns, fraud signals, and program term breaches before releasing payment. Commission is typically held as pending until validation completes, which can take 30 to 90 days.
A tracked 200 dollar order sits as pending commission for 45 days while the retailer's validation process confirms the customer did not return the item or use a banned promo code before the sale.
Retailers typically wait through their standard returns window before validating, since a refunded or cancelled order should not earn commission. Fraud and program-term checks also take time to run, so most networks hold commission as pending for 30 to 90 days depending on the advertiser's return policy.
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