Playbook: Reconcile a broker payout against your own tracker monthly

Playbook: Reconcile a broker payout against your own tracker monthly

What it is: A line-by-line process to catch missing FTDs and silent clawbacks before you accept a broker's monthly statement.

Best for: Affiliates whose income depends on the broker's count matching reality — which it often doesn't.

The reconciliation:
— Export your tracker's FTD list with txn_id and timestamp for the period.
— Export the broker's approved-FTD report for the same window.
— Join on txn_id. Three buckets matter: in-yours-not-theirs (missing FTDs), in-theirs-not-yours (postback gaps), and approved-then-reversed (clawbacks).
— For clawbacks, demand the reason code. 'Fraud' with no detail is a negotiation point, not a fact to accept.
— Track a running 'shave rate' = reversed ÷ approved over months. A creeping shave rate is the earliest sign a program is turning on you.
— Flag any FTD older than the clawback window that still got reversed — that's out of terms.

Pros:
— Recovers missing FTDs you'd otherwise eat silently
— A tracked shave rate gives you leverage and an exit signal

Cons:
— Time-consuming without txn_id-level data on both sides
— Brokers can stall on reason codes; reconciliation needs persistence

Who should skip this: Affiliates under $1k/month per broker, where the hours outweigh recoverable amounts.

Verdict: Join on txn_id monthly.