The time period (typically 30-60 days) during which a brand can review and approve or reverse affiliate transactions before they are automatically approved and paid to publishers. Used to account for order cancellations, product returns, and fraud review. The approval window begins when the transaction is recorded by the affiliate network. Transactions that remain in pending status past the approval window are automatically approved on most networks. Best practice: review and process transaction approvals within 30 days to maintain publisher trust; unexplained delays in commission approval are a common source of publisher dissatisfaction. The brand's approval window is separate from the attribution window (cookie period) — the approval window governs payment timing, while the attribution window governs how long after a click a commission can be earned.
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