> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.refairn.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Configure Referral, Recurring, and Support Commissions
> Set up referral, recurring, and support commissions separately, understand the payout ledger, manage hold periods, and confirm agent payments.
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.
**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.
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.
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.
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.
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](/businesses/program-setup).