Configure Referral, Recurring, and Support Commissions

Commissions are the mechanism by which Refairn translates agent activity into verified, trackable earnings. Because Refairn separates referral, recurring, and support commissions into independent ledger lines, you can reward agents precisely for what they actually did — and adjust or remove one type of commission without disrupting the others. This page explains how to configure each commission type, how the payout ledger works, and how to process payments during the current manual-confirmation phase.

The current version of Refairn uses manual payout confirmation. You record each payment yourself and mark commissions as paid in the ledger. Automated disbursement via Paystack and Stripe is in development and will be announced before release. Plan your payment workflow accordingly until automation is available.

The three commission types

Every Refairn program supports three independent commission types. Each has its own trigger, duration logic, and ledger entry.

Referral commission
Recurring commission
Support commission

Trigger: A referred contact makes their first payment as a customer.Referral commission rewards the act of acquisition. It is a one-time event tied to the moment a lead converts. You can pay it as a percentage of the first payment or as a flat fixed amount.

Format	Example	Outcome
Percentage	20% referral commission	Customer pays $99 → agent earns$ 19.80
Fixed amount	$50 flat referral commission	Customer pays any amount → agent earns $50

Referral commission is the most common type to offer even in programs where support mode is disabled. It is the foundational incentive for bringing new customers to your product.

Trigger: A previously referred customer makes a renewal payment.Recurring commission rewards retention. It is paid on each billing cycle for a defined duration, giving agents a long-term incentive to refer customers who stay subscribed rather than churn early.

Duration option	What it means
One-time only	No recurring commission; referral event only.
3 months	Commission paid on the customer’s next 3 renewal payments.
6 months	Commission paid on the next 6 renewal payments.
12 months	Commission paid on the next 12 renewal payments.
24 months	Commission paid on the next 24 renewal payments.
While customer is active	Commission continues every cycle as long as the customer remains subscribed.
While agent is assigned	Commission continues only while the agent holds their role in the program. If the agent is terminated or the customer is reassigned, commission stops.
Lifetime	Commission continues indefinitely regardless of agent status changes.

Example: A 10% recurring commission for 12 months on a

99/month customer pays the agent

9.90 per month for up to 12 months — a maximum of $118.80 per customer — as long as the customer keeps renewing.

Trigger: The agent is actively assigned as the support agent for a customer in a billing period.Support commission compensates agents for the ongoing work of handling customer queries and support tickets. It is paid separately from referral and recurring earnings and only accrues while the agent has active support access and is assigned to the customer.

Format	Example	Outcome
Percentage of customer MRR	15% support commission	Customer pays $99/month → agent earns$ 14.85/month
Flat monthly amount	$15 per customer per month	Agent earns $15 regardless of the customer’s plan

Support commission stops immediately if:

The agent’s support access is removed or suspended
The customer is reassigned to a different agent or moved to internal support
The customer’s subscription is cancelled

Removing support access never cancels earned referral or recurring commissions. Those commissions are tied to different events and are tracked independently.

Commission hold period

Every commission earned by an agent enters a hold period before it becomes payable. The default hold period is 14 days. During the hold period, a commission has the status Approved — it has been validated and recognised, but it is not yet released for payment. Once the hold period expires without a reversal event, the commission status moves to Earned, indicating it has been formally attributed to the agent. It then advances to Payable once the agent’s balance meets the payout threshold. Why the hold period exists: It protects you from paying out commissions on revenue that is subsequently reversed due to a refund or chargeback. If a customer refunds within the hold window, the associated commission is reversed before any money leaves your account. You can adjust the hold period under Program Settings → Commission hold period. Shorter windows reduce the lag between earning and payment — which agents prefer — but offer less protection against late refunds.

Handling refunds and chargebacks

When a customer refunds or files a chargeback, Refairn handles commission reversal based on the rules you set in your program. If the refund occurs within the hold period: The commission status changes from Approved to Reversed. No payment is made. The agent is notified that the associated commission has been reversed. If the refund occurs after the hold period: The commission may already have a status of Payable or Paid. In this case, your program’s refund rules determine whether a clawback is applied. You can configure whether post-hold reversals are automatic, require manual review, or are not applied at all. For recurring commissions: Only the commission tied to the refunded payment cycle is reversed. Commissions from prior cycles that have already been paid are not affected.

Commission status flow

Each commission entry moves through a defined sequence of statuses. The flow below shows the normal path and the branch points where a commission can be interrupted.

Triggered (customer event occurs)
  ↓
Pending — awaiting internal validation
  ↓
Approved — validated, now in hold period
  ↓                         ↘
Earned                     Reversed (refund/chargeback within hold period)
  ↓                         ↘
Payable                    Cancelled (manual cancellation, e.g. fraud)
  ↓
Paid
  ↓
(complete)

Additional statuses:
  Held — manually paused by the business owner pending investigation
  Disputed — agent has raised a disagreement with the commission calculation

Status	Meaning
Pending	Commission has been triggered by a customer event but not yet validated by the system.
Approved	Commission is validated and confirmed. Currently within the hold period — not yet released for payment.
Earned	Hold period has expired without reversal. The commission is formally recognised as attributable to the agent and is now pending threshold check.
Payable	The agent’s payable balance meets or exceeds the payout threshold. Commission is ready for disbursement.
Paid	Payment has been confirmed — either manually by you or (in future) automatically disbursed.
Held	Manually paused by the business owner for investigation or dispute review.
Cancelled	Commission has been cancelled — typically because of confirmed fraud or a policy violation.
Reversed	Commission was cancelled because the underlying customer payment was refunded or charged back.
Disputed	The agent has submitted a dispute about this commission entry. Requires your review and response.

The payout ledger

Navigate to Payouts → Ledger to see a complete, time-ordered record of every commission event across your program. The ledger shows:

Agent name and the specific customer and event that triggered the commission
Commission type (referral, recurring, or support)
Gross amount before any deductions
Status at the time of viewing
Hold period expiry date for commissions in Approved status
Payment date for commissions in Paid status
Reversal reason for any Reversed or Cancelled entries

You can filter the ledger by agent, commission type, status, and date range. Export any filtered view as a CSV for your own records or for your accountant.

Setting a payout threshold

The payout threshold is the minimum payable balance an agent must accumulate before a payment is triggered. Set it under Program Settings → Payout threshold. For example, if your threshold is

20 and an agent has

17 in payable commissions, no payment is triggered yet. Once their payable balance reaches $20 or more, they become eligible for the next payout cycle. A threshold prevents micro-payments and reduces administrative overhead on both sides.

Processing manual payouts

Until automated disbursement is available, you confirm all commission payments manually.

Review payable commissions

Go to Payouts → Payable to see all commission entries that have cleared the hold period and meet the payout threshold. Review each entry and the total owed per agent.

Make the payment outside Refairn

Process the payment through your existing payment method — bank transfer, mobile money, or any agreed channel. Refairn does not initiate or route the payment in the current version.

Confirm the payment in Refairn

Return to Payouts → Payable, select the commissions you have paid, and click Mark as paid. Enter the payment reference or any notes for your records. The commission status updates to Paid and the agent sees the confirmation in their earnings dashboard.

Handle any discrepancies

If an agent raises a dispute about a commission amount, it appears under Payouts → Disputed. Review the underlying event, the commission calculation, and any relevant audit log entries. You can resolve the dispute by confirming, adjusting, or cancelling the commission entry.

Commission behaviour when support is removed

Removing an agent’s support access is a targeted action that affects only support commissions. It does not touch referral or recurring commissions, which are tracked on different ledger lines and tied to different triggering events.

Commission type	Effect of support removal
Referral commission	Unaffected. The acquisition already happened. Commission continues to accrue and pay per the original schedule.
Recurring commission	Unaffected. Tied to the customer’s renewal events, not the agent’s support status. Commission continues per the duration rules.
Support commission	Stops immediately. No further support commission accrues from the date of support removal. Any payable support commissions already past the hold period remain in the ledger and should be paid out.

Commission behaviour on subscription cancellation

When a customer cancels their subscription:

Referral commission for that customer is already paid (or in the hold period). Cancellation does not reverse a referral commission unless the customer cancels within the refund window you have defined.
Recurring commission stops accruing. The final commission entry is for the last paid billing cycle before cancellation.
Support commission stops accruing from the cancellation date.

Any commission entries that are in Approved status and within the hold period at the time of cancellation are reviewed against your refund rules to determine whether they are reversed or allowed to proceed to Payable.

For a full walkthrough of how to set up commission types when creating your program, see Program Setup.

​The three commission types

​Commission hold period

​Handling refunds and chargebacks

​Commission status flow

​The payout ledger

​Setting a payout threshold

​Processing manual payouts

​Commission behaviour when support is removed

​Commission behaviour on subscription cancellation

The three commission types

Commission hold period

Handling refunds and chargebacks

Commission status flow

The payout ledger

Setting a payout threshold

Processing manual payouts

Commission behaviour when support is removed

Commission behaviour on subscription cancellation