You pay an affiliate 30% for referring a customer. Three weeks later that customer refunds. Now the affiliate is holding a commission on a sale that no longer exists, and you have to decide what happens to that money. If you only thought about this after it happened, you have already lost the clean version of the fix. I build affiliate software on Stripe, and the clawback case is the one teams skip until it bites. Here is how to design for it before it does. Earned is not the same as payable The