Understanding partnership statuses
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A partnership status tells you where the relationship between an advertiser and a publisher stands on a given program. It drives everything else: whether a tracking link can be generated, whether clicks are counted, and whether commissions are earned.
A partnership always connects two accounts. This page therefore covers the statuses from both sides, advertiser and publisher, and states for each one who triggers it and what it allows.
Where to check your partnership statuses
The column is called Status in both interfaces, but it does not sit in the same place.
Advertiser side
Open Manage my programs in the sidebar, click your program name, then My affiliates. A purple badge shows how many requests are waiting.
Publisher side
Open Manage my profiles in the sidebar, click your publisher profile name, then Partnerships.
The six statuses in detail
| STATUS | WHO TRIGGERS IT | WHAT IT CHANGES |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | The publisher applied to a program whose Affiliate validation setting is Manual. The advertiser has not answered yet. | No tracking link, no click counted, no commission. Reporting and the advertiser contact details stay out of reach. |
| Approved | The advertiser clicked Approve. Or it happened automatically, either because the program uses automatic validation, or because the advertiser added the affiliate to the program directly. | The partnership is live. The publisher can generate tracking links, use the program media, open See my rates, and view reporting and advertiser contact details. Clicks, conversions and commissions are all recorded. |
| Cancelled by advertiser | The advertiser clicked Cancel. This status also applies automatically when an advertiser deletes a program or their account. | The partnership stops: no new tracking link, no click counted, no new commission. The publisher cannot apply again; only the advertiser can bring it back. |
| Blocked | The advertiser clicked Block, usually after a breach of the program rules. Affilae also applies this status when a publisher account is blacklisted. | Same effects as a cancellation, with a red chip that marks the severity. The publisher cannot apply again; only the advertiser can lift the block. |
| Cancelled by publisher | The publisher ended the partnership themselves, with the Cancel action in their own table. | The partnership stops. The advertiser can no longer change this status: the status menu disappears from that row. Only the publisher can come back, with Request reactivation. |
| Disabled | Nobody: it is automatic. The advertiser programs are no longer active, for example because the subscription was not renewed. Affilae then pauses all their partnerships. | The partnership is suspended, not deleted. Once the advertiser sorts the situation out, every partnership returns to the status it had before the pause. |
What about the “Interested” status?
You may spot a seventh status, Interested, in the filter dropdown. It belongs to brand search from the mobile app and does not correspond to a real partnership request. You will almost never see it on your rows.
Changing a partnership status
What the advertiser can do
In My affiliates, click the pencil icon next to the status chip. Three actions are offered, depending on the current status:
- Approve: the partnership becomes Approved. A dialog first asks which group the affiliate belongs to.
- Cancel: the partnership becomes Cancelled by advertiser.
- Block: the partnership becomes Blocked.
For a cancellation or a block, the Modify partnership status dialog lets you explain your decision in 250 characters. That message stays optional, and the publisher sees it by hovering over their status chip.
To handle several affiliates at once, tick their rows then use Change status. This mode offers only three targets, Approved, Cancelled by advertiser and Blocked, and the reason becomes mandatory for a block. Affiliates with custom commission rules cannot be selected, so handle those row by row. The Cancel all partnerships button ends every partnership on the program.
What the publisher can do
In Partnerships, the pencil icon offers one action at a time:
- On a Pending or Approved partnership: Cancel, to leave the program. A dialog invites you to give a Reason for the advertiser.
- On a Cancelled by publisher partnership: Request reactivation. The partnership immediately returns to Pending and the advertiser receives a fresh request.
On the Cancelled by advertiser, Blocked and Disabled statuses, no action is available: the decision is not yours. Use the internal messaging to talk to the advertiser.
Best practices
- Advertisers: process Pending requests quickly. As long as the status is not Approved, the publisher can promote nothing, so waiting gains you nothing.
- Prefer Cancel over Block when a profile simply does not fit your brand. Keep blocking for genuine breaches.
- Publishers: before leaving a program, check your pending commissions. Stopping ends new clicks, even though your history stays payable.
- Publishers: if a request drags on, write to the advertiser from Messaging instead of sending another request.
Use cases
- A Shopify store filtering its partners. The program uses manual validation. The advertiser receives three requests, approves two into the “Cashback” group, and cancels the third with the reason “Topic too far from our world”.
- A newsletter publisher cleaning up. She has not mentioned a brand for a year. From Partnerships, she moves the partnership to Cancelled by publisher. Six months later she plans a new campaign and clicks Request reactivation.
- An advertiser whose subscription expires. Their programs are paused and every partnership switches to Disabled. Their affiliates see the grey chip, stop promoting, and get their Approved status back as soon as the situation is sorted out.
Related articles
- How to create a tracking link?
- Understanding conversion statuses
- Using the programs marketplace
- Quickly add an affiliate to your program
Frequently asked questions
Voir plus de questions reponses
Check the Status filter above the table. By default, only Pending and Approved partnerships are shown. The Blocked, Cancelled by advertiser, Cancelled by publisher and Disabled statuses stay hidden until you tick them.
No. Commissions already recorded stay in your reporting, follow their usual validation cycle and remain payable. Only new clicks are no longer counted.
Yes, it can happen. A sale coming from a click made before the partnership stopped can still be attributed to you for as long as the program cookie lives. A click made after the stop, however, is no longer recorded.
No. After a Cancelled by advertiser or a Blocked status, you can no longer send a request to that program. Only the advertiser can bring the partnership back by clicking Approve. Contact them through the internal messaging to explain your situation.
Because the decision came from the publisher. On those rows the status menu does not appear on the advertiser side, and the checkbox cannot be selected for a bulk action. It is up to the publisher to click Request reactivation.
That publisher account is flagged by Affilae and cannot be approved, not even by you. Write to support@affilae.com if you believe the flag is a mistake.
This status is applied automatically when an advertiser programs are no longer active, typically when their subscription expires. Nothing is lost: as soon as the situation is sorted out, every partnership returns to the status it had before the pause.
Because the program uses an Automatic Affiliate validation setting. Your request is accepted as soon as it is sent and you can generate your links straight away.