Attribution window vs refund window: two clocks

The short version

An affiliate program runs on two separate clocks, and confusing them is the most common mistake in reading a commission report. The attribution window decides how long after a click a purchase still counts for the athlete. The refund window decides how long after that purchase a refund can reverse the commission. One clock opens the credit; the other can take part of it back. They start at different moments, can be set to different lengths, and never reference each other.

Both are set per program by the brand. Get them straight and every line in your report makes sense.

The attribution window: how long a click stays good

The attribution window is the period after someone clicks an athlete's tracking link during which their purchase still credits that athlete. Click on Monday, buy on Wednesday — if Wednesday falls inside the window, the sale counts. Buy after the window closes, and the sale is treated as organic and costs the brand nothing in commission.

This matters because people rarely buy the second they click. They read, compare, and come back. The window is what lets the athlete keep credit for a sale they genuinely drove, even when the purchase lands a few days later.

A few things to hold onto:

• Starts at the click. The clock begins when the shopper clicks the tracking link, not when they buy.
• Set per program, measured in days. Each brand picks its own length when it launches a program. A considered purchase might use a longer window than an impulse buy.
• First-party and server-side. Credit holds through your first-party attribution — a ?ref= value written into your Shopify cart attribute and matched on our server. There is no discount code for the customer to enter, nothing for them to remember, and no third-party cookie that an ad blocker or Safari can clear out from under you.

For the full setup and how to choose a length, see attribution windows for brands.

The refund window: how long a sale can be reversed

The refund window is a different clock entirely. It is the period during which a refund can reverse a commission that was already credited. The sale happened, the athlete earned the commission — then the customer returns the order. If that return lands inside the refund window, the commission is reversed.

Think of it this way. The attribution window decides whether a sale earns commission at all. The refund window decides whether an already-earned commission can be pulled back. The first is about a click leading to a sale; the second is about a sale not sticking.

Key points:

• Starts at the purchase or refund event. This clock is tied to the order, not the click. It governs the period a return can still claw back the commission.
• Set per program, separate from attribution. The brand sets it when launching the program. It is its own number, with its own length, distinct from the attribution window.
• Maps to your real return policy. A brand with a 30-day return policy needs the refund window to cover that, so a return inside the policy period correctly reverses the commission.

See how refunds are handled for the precise behavior in your account.

How a reversal is pro-rated on a partial refund

A refund does not have to be all-or-nothing, and neither is the reversal. When an order is partially refunded, the commission is reversed proportionally — pro-rated to the share of the order that came back.

The math is simple: reverse the same percentage of the commission as the percentage of the order value that was refunded.

So if a customer returns one of two items and gets half their money back, the athlete keeps half the commission. The athlete is never asked to repay money out of pocket; a reversal nets against the athlete's balance, and the commission only ever pays out after the brand's invoice clears in the first place. See reversal for the one-line definition.

Why the two clocks must not be confused

The two windows are independent on purpose, and they answer different questions:

• Attribution window: "How long after the click does a purchase still count?" It opens the credit.
• Refund window: "How long after the purchase can a return take that credit back?" It can close part of the credit.

They are set separately and can hold different lengths. A program might use a 14-day attribution window and a 30-day refund window, because how long a click stays warm has nothing to do with how long a brand accepts returns. Reading one as the other leads to two predictable errors: assuming a late purchase will not count when it is still inside the attribution window, or assuming a credited commission is final when it is still inside the refund window.

The clean way to hold it: the attribution window is the front door — it decides what gets in. The refund window is the return desk — it decides what comes back out.

Where brands set each window

Both windows live in the same place: your program settings. When you launch or edit a program, you set them as two distinct fields.

• Commission first. You set the commission per program — a flat dollar amount or a flat percentage. There is no platform-wide rate.
• Attribution window. Choose how many days after a click a purchase still counts for the athlete.
• Refund window. Choose how many days a return can reverse a commission, mapped to your return policy.

Each is its own field with its own number. Set them once per program; change them later if your policy changes. For the brand-side walkthroughs, see attribution windows and refund handling.

How this fits the money

Once a sale is credited inside the attribution window, the athlete earns the commission you set, in full. The 20% platform fee is added on top, billed to you, never deducted from the athlete. The fee is charged only when an athlete drives a real attributed sale.

$40commission you set $40athlete keeps, in full

We invoice you monthly via Stripe Billing, net-30, on the 1st of the following month: the commission your athletes earned plus the 20% platform fee. Athletes are paid from the cleared commission once your invoice clears. If a refund lands inside the refund window before that, the reversal nets out first, so you are only ever billed for commission on sales that stuck.

FAQ

What's the difference between an attribution window and a refund window?

The attribution window is how long after a click a purchase still counts for the athlete. It starts at the click and decides whether a sale earns commission at all. The refund window is the separate period during which a refund can reverse a commission that was already earned. It is tied to the order, not the click, and decides whether earned commission can be pulled back. They are set independently per program and can be different lengths.

If a customer refunds, do I lose the whole commission?

Only if the whole order is refunded. The reversal is pro-rated to the share of the order value that came back. A full return reverses the full commission; a 50% refund reverses 50% of the commission and the athlete keeps the other half. A refund only reverses a commission if it lands inside the program's refund window. Because athletes are paid from cleared commission after the brand's invoice clears, a reversal nets against the balance rather than asking the athlete to repay money out of pocket.

Who sets the attribution and refund windows?

The brand does, per program, when launching or editing a program. Each window is its own field, set in days, and the two are independent — you can run a shorter attribution window and a longer refund window, or any other combination that fits your sales cycle and return policy. There is no platform-wide setting; every program carries its own two numbers.