Partner Payments
View partner commission payments, validate supporting documents, mark payments as paid, and send payments to internal review. Notifications are sent to Slack when payments are approved or paid.
Overview
The Partner Payments module manages the full commission payment lifecycle for partners. Two platforms are involved:
- Internal Admin — where administrators review documents, approve or reject payments, and execute disbursements.
- Partner Platform — where partners view their generated payment orders and upload the required documents.
Commission Generation Flow
Commissions are generated automatically on the first day of each month at midnight (Monterrey, Mexico time — CST/CDT). The process calculates all commissions for the month that just ended. For example, on February 1st the system calculates January's commissions.
Partner Eligibility
For a partner to generate commissions in a given period, two conditions must be met:
- The partner must be active in the Partner CRM — meaning they appear in the green column, which encompasses a range of eligible statuses.
- At least one of the partner's referrals must have made a shipment during that month's period.
What Gets Generated
When the process runs, payment orders are created and become visible:
- In the internal admin, showing all partners' orders.
- In the partner platform, filtered to show only the partner's own orders.
Full Payment Lifecycle
1. Document Upload (Partner Platform)
Once a payment order is generated, the partner must upload the documents required for their country. Document requirements are configured per country in the system database.
After uploading, a Slack notification is sent to the partners channel to alert administrators that a partner has submitted documents for review.
2. Document Validation (Internal Admin)
Administrators review each uploaded document and can either approve or reject it.
- If a document is rejected: The payment status changes to Documents Rejected, and the partner receives an email notification informing them that one or more documents were rejected, along with the reason provided by the administrator.
- The partner can then view the rejection reason and re-upload the corrected document.
- Upon re-uploading, administrators are notified again via Slack.
3. Approved for Payment
Once all documents are approved, the payment order moves to the Approved for Payment status. A Slack notification is sent to inform the team that this payment is ready to be processed.
At this point, administrators with the appropriate permission can:
- Reject the payment — requires specifying a reason. The order moves to Under Internal Review status, and the document validation options are re-enabled (approve/reject per document). This typically happens when an error in the documents is identified that was not caught in the initial review. From here, the document validation flow repeats.
- Execute the payment — the commission is paid to the partner via eCartPay in the partner's local currency. The partner receives a notification confirming their commission has been paid.
Note: The ability to reject or execute a payment is controlled by user permissions. Not all admin users will have access to these actions.
Commission Calculation
Base Calculation
Commissions are calculated based on the cost of each shipping guide generated by the partner's referrals during the month.
The commission percentage depends on the plan associated with each guide:
| Plan | Commission % |
|---|---|
| Basic | 3% |
| Pro | 3% |
| Enterprise | 2% |
| Corporate | 1.5% |
| Special | 1% |
| Custom | 1% |
These base percentages were defined at development time but are configurable, and all changes are stored with a full history of modifications.
A referral may generate guides under different plans in the same period. The partner's final commission is the sum of all individual guide commissions across every plan.
Multi-Currency Handling
Commissions are always paid in the partner's local currency.
- Same country: If the referral's guides belong to the same country as the partner, the commission is calculated directly from the guide cost in local currency.
- Different country: If a referral belongs to a different country with a different currency, the calculation follows three steps:
- Convert the guide cost to USD.
- Apply the commission percentage to get the commission amount in USD.
- Convert that USD amount to the partner's local currency.
Accelerators
Accelerators are bonus commission percentages that partners can earn on top of their base commission when they meet certain performance targets in a period.
Eligibility Conditions
To qualify for an accelerator, a partner must meet both of the following:
- A minimum number of active clients in the period (a client is considered active if they generated at least one shipment during the month).
- A minimum number of new referrals in the period.
Accelerator Tiers
There are currently three accelerator tiers:
| Tier | Extra Commission |
|---|---|
| 1 | +0.5% |
| 2 | +1.0% |
| 3 | +1.5% |
Payment Statuses
Payments move through the following statuses during the lifecycle:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Generated | Payment order created by the monthly process. |
| Payment Requested | Partner has uploaded documents and is awaiting review. |
| Documents Rejected | One or more documents were rejected; partner must re-upload. |
| Approved for Payment | All documents validated; ready for disbursement. |
| Under Internal Review | Payment was rejected by an admin; documents are under re-evaluation. |
| Payment Rejected | Payment was rejected at the disbursement stage. |
| Paid | Commission paid via eCartPay. |
| Manually Paid | Commission was paid outside the system and marked manually. |
What You Can Do
- View the list of partner payments with filters (partner, date range, payment status, reference).
- Open payment details and see the breakdown (e.g. shipments and amounts).
- View and validate documents attached to a payment (approve or reject with a reason).
- Mark a payment as paid when the commission was paid outside the system (with date).
- Send a payment to internal review with comments.
- Rely on Slack notifications when payments are approved for payment or marked as paid.
Getting There
Go to Partner Payments in the main navigation (or the equivalent menu path in your environment). You will see the partner payments list. Open a row to see payment details, documents, and actions.
Common Tasks
Viewing and filtering partner payments
- Open Partner Payments from the menu.
- Use the filters (partner, date range, payment status, reference, etc.) to narrow the list.
- Sort and paginate as needed.
- Click a row or an action to open the payment details.
Validating documents for a payment
- Open the payment from the list.
- Open the Validate Documents action so the document list and preview are visible.
- For each document you can:
- Preview the document in the viewer.
- Approve — confirm the document is correct (no reason required).
- Reject — you must enter a rejection reason; the system records it, updates the payment status, and notifies the partner by email.
- When all required documents are approved, the payment moves to Approved for Payment and a Slack notification is sent.
Marking a payment as paid
- Open the payment from the list or the detail view.
- Choose Mark as paid.
- Enter the date (and time, if required) when the commission was actually paid.
- Confirm. The payment is updated and a Slack "commissions paid" notification is sent.
Sending a payment to internal review
- Open the payment from the list or the detail view.
- Choose Send to internal review.
- Enter the required comments (reason or notes for the review).
- Confirm. The payment status is updated to Under Internal Review and document validation options are re-enabled.
Frequently Asked Questions
When exactly are commissions generated?
On the first day of each month at midnight, Monterrey, Mexico time (CST/CDT). They cover all eligible activity from the previous month.
What makes a partner eligible for commissions?
The partner must be active in the Partner CRM (green column) and at least one of their referrals must have generated shipments during that month.
How are commission percentages determined?
The percentage is based on the plan of each guide generated by the partner's referrals. Rates range from 1% to 3% depending on the plan. These rates are configurable and changes are tracked with a full history.
What happens if a partner's referrals are in a different country?
The guide cost is first converted to USD, then the commission is calculated in USD, and finally converted to the partner's local currency for payment.
What are accelerators and how do I qualify?
Accelerators are bonus percentages (+0.5%, +1%, or +1.5%) awarded when a partner meets minimum thresholds for both active clients and new referrals in the period.
Do I need to validate all documents before a payment can be processed?
Yes. All documents must be approved before the payment can be executed or marked as paid.
When is Slack notified?
Slack is notified in three situations:
- When a partner uploads their documents for the first time.
- When a partner re-uploads a rejected document.
- When a payment is approved for payment (all documents accepted).
The partner also receives an email when a document is rejected, and a payment notification when the commission is paid.
Who can approve or reject payments at the disbursement stage?
Only admin users with the specific payment permission can execute or reject a payment at the Approved for Payment stage.
Can I reject a document after approving it?
Behavior depends on the application state. Typically once a document is acted on, the action is recorded. If a payment is rejected and moved to internal review, document validation becomes available again. Contact your administrator if you need to change a decision outside of that flow.
Related
- Technical documentation: Partner Payments module — overview, API, and UI for developers.