A playbook for surviving chargeback season

A playbook for surviving chargeback season

Everyone says chargebacks are the vendor's problem. Not when your commission gets clawed for every one. Defend yourself:

— Track your referred chargeback rate separately from refunds. Card disputes hit your balance harder and later.
— Pre-sell honestly: misleading angles spike chargebacks 60-90 days out, long after you spent the budget.
— Keep a reserve. Assume 8-15% of this month's commission gets reversed and don't spend it.
— Read whether chargebacks trigger account-standing penalties, not just clawbacks.
— Watch for delayed dispute waves on annual plans — they hit at the renewal mark.

Affiliates who treat every approved commission as spendable get wrecked when the chargeback wave lands two months later.

Verdict: your real balance is this month's commission minus next quarter's reversals.