Below are very detailed instructions on how clients can process validations and the different options available to them.
Transaction validation
Transaction validation is the process of checking the transactions reporting in your Commission Factory account with the transactions in your e-commerce system to void, amend or lock them in the dashboard. Because Commission Factory has no visibility over the validity of sales after it has tracked, we ask all advertisers to process their validations to ensure they only pay out commissions on valid sales.
- Please note: while you have the option to, you are not required to manually lock transactions. You are welcome to let all transactions wait out their validation period as pending to lock automatically once the validation period is over. To save yourself time we recommend only processing voids and amends where necessary. It is preferable that you allow some time for a transaction to be pending in case it needs to be amended as once it is locked it cannot be changed.
Validation Period
All accounts have an allocated validation period. For most this will be 30* days (* however other lengths of periods can be discussed with your account manager). The validation period has been set up to allow you time to validate the transactions and only pay out commission on true sales. This means that, unless voided, 30* days after its sale date a transaction will become locked and billed on the next invoice. To avoid incorrect transactions being locked and billed it is important that you process validations before the 30 days is up because once a transaction has been locked it cannot be reversed. We recommend processing your validations at least once a fortnight to ensure the 30* days is not surpassed. If you need to extend the validation period beyond 30 days, this is possible just let us know.
Performing validations
There are 3 main ways to perform validation and depending on how many transactions you have and your time resources will depend on which one you use.
- Method 1: Individual Select:In the Transaction Table there is a 3 dot menu on the right hand side of every sale. Here you will notice options to amend, lock or void that individual transaction. Therefore you can go through each transaction one-by-one and lock, amend or void the transaction.
- Method 2: Group Select:In the same Transaction Table, on the left hand side you will notice check boxes at the start of each transaction row, you therefore can go down the list selecting those you want to void, or lock. Once you select multiple transactions you will notice buttons appear at the bottom of the transaction table giving you the option to bulk void or lock the transactions you have selected.
- Please Note: You cannot bulk amend using method 2 as you need to enter in the new sales value for amended orders. If you use this method to lock transactions once you have locked a transaction, it will then be invoiced on your next invoice scheduled and can no longer be voided.
- Method 3: Bulk Validation: This method is best used when you have multiple transactions or when the process of using Method 1 & 2 becomes tiresome. Bulk Validation can be done fromTransactions > Bulk Uploads section on your dashboard and selecting the action you want to perform. This requires you to upload a csv file that will update a large number of transactions at one time. When voiding, you can process the order IDs from every channel in your system and our dashboard will only marry the order ID and action to those we have in our system.
- Please Note: You can also download the csv templates for your chosen action in this section of the dashboard.
Amending
Amending transactions should only be done to adjust for partial returns or if for some reason the sale value reported incorrectly. When amending you simply need to input the new amount after clicking on the "amend" button for each transaction or by using the Bulk Upload feature (Method 3). To bulk upload an amends we just need the order ID, the new sale amount and the reason for amend.
Automatic Validation
Since affiliates can't wait indefinitely for their commissions, after 30* days from sale date, pending transactions will automatically be approved and locked for payout. Therefore you should void out any commissions you don't want to pay before this happens because locked transactions cannot be changed.
Transaction Queries Validation
Transaction queries are lodged by loyalty affiliates that would like you to approve a transaction for inclusion in your transaction list, hence being “commissionable". This is normally due to an untracked or missed transaction. Often transaction queries will come from affiliates that conduct loyalty or cashback, where a member has inquired as to why they have not received the loyalty points or cash back. Because they have a click history and a receipt from the customer, the affiliate knows a conversion took place and is trying to seek payment of the commission.
Once an affiliate has lodged a transaction query they will appear in your dashboard under the Transactions -> Transaction Query area. By default, the status of these transactions will be pending. You then have 45 days from the Upload Date to manually validate the query within the Transaction Query section of the dashboard before it automatically approves. It is advised to check this section regularly to validate queries sooner rather than later.
Understanding Transaction Status
Beside each transaction is its current status in the payment cycle:
Pending - transactions that have been tracked and are open for validation. These transactions can still be voided or amended if needed within the validation period.
Locked - the transaction has passed its validation period and will appear on the next invoice. They cannot be changed.
Approved - these transactions have been paid by the merchant and will be paid out to the affiliate on their next payment run.
Paid – the affiliate has received the commission
Void - transactions that you have declined during the validation period.