You can delete and/or disqualify referred purchases when an order is canceled, refunded, or deemed ineligible.
Managing referred purchases
Important: You must first set a purchase review period (see the steps for Shopify or other platforms) during which referred purchases can be reviewed for disqualification or deletion.
Referred purchases undergo a review period during which you can disqualify or delete purchases. When the period ends, referred purchases that weren't deleted or disqualified are immediately marked as valid. If the purchase meets your Reward conditions, the referring advocate or affiliate's reward is processed. Success fees follow separate billing rules and can apply even when a purchase doesn't qualify for an advocate reward; see How are cash rewards or success fees calculated on referred purchases?
Which action to take depends on why the purchase shouldn't count:
| Delete a referred purchase | Disqualify a referred purchase | Ban an advocate |
When should I do this? | When a referred purchase has been canceled or returned | When you believe a referral made by an advocate is fraud. You want to disqualify this referral but still let the advocate participate in your referral program | When you believe an advocate to be engaging in many fraudulent activities. |
What happens when I do this? | Only this referred purchase will be canceled | All referred purchases between the referred friend and advocate pair will also be disqualified | The advocate can no longer participate in your referral program. Learn more for Shopify or other platforms |
Refunds and cancellations ReferralCandy picks up automatically
On Shopify and BigCommerce, on Squarespace stores connected through Integrations → Squarespace, and on WooCommerce stores on the WooCommerce OAuth connection (where you approve ReferralCandy inside WooCommerce), ReferralCandy automatically detects when a referred order is:
Canceled and refunded before being fulfilled
Fully refunded but not canceled before being fulfilled
Partially refunded but not canceled before being fulfilled
Fully refunded after being fulfilled
Partially refunded after being fulfilled
On Shopify and BigCommerce, on Squarespace stores connected through Integrations → Squarespace, and on WooCommerce stores on the WooCommerce OAuth connection, ReferralCandy detects the scenarios above and modifies the order amount accordingly, keeping the order intact, but only while the purchase is still in its review period. A fully refunded purchase stays in your list with its amount set to $0, so set the minimum purchase amount in your Reward conditions to at least $1 to stop it earning a reward.
Refunds and cancellations you handle yourself
On Magento, on Squarespace stores set up with a tracking code, on WooCommerce stores still on the legacy connection (where you pasted ReferralCandy API keys into the plugin), and on stores connected through the email, JavaScript or API integration, ReferralCandy doesn't pick up refunds or cancellations automatically. When a referred order on one of these stores is refunded, canceled or returned, delete the referred purchase yourself before its review period ends, using the steps below. With the API integration, you can also report a return through the API (see the [Other Platforms] API integration guide).
Delete or disqualify a referred purchase
To delete or disqualify a referred purchase:
Go to the Purchases & Referrals page. On Shopify, open it from the ReferralCandy app in your Shopify admin (Purchases & Referrals). On other platforms, open it from your ReferralCandy dashboard (Purchases & Referrals).
Find the referred purchase from the list or use the search bar.
Click the purchase's ID to open its details: the Shopify ID column on Shopify, or the Purchase ID column on other platforms.
If the purchase is under a review period, you can:
Click Delete purchase to delete the purchase made by the referred friend.
Click Disqualify referral to disqualify the referral made by the advocate. You should only disqualify if:
You suspect the referral is fraudulent. How to handle fraud?
The referral is invalid (e.g., accidentally made by a call center)
Note: Disqualifying applies to every referred purchase between that friend and advocate, not just the one you're viewing — none of them will earn the advocate a reward. On Shopify, those purchases also stay linked to that advocate, and they can't be re-assigned to anyone else afterwards.
Linked a purchase to the wrong contact or campaign? Don't disqualify it. Let us know the order number and our support team can help you correct it.
On Shopify, disqualifying doesn't unlink the purchase. It stops the advocate earning a reward, but the purchase stays under Referred purchases, still linked to the same contact and campaign, and it keeps counting down its review period. It doesn't move back to Non-referred purchases, and Select referrer doesn't come back, so you can't re-link it to someone else afterwards. On other platforms, don't count on disqualifying to free the purchase up either; tell us instead. Our support team can clear the referral so you can link it again (steps for Shopify or other platforms).
Once the referred purchase is disqualified or deleted, the advocate or affiliate will receive the ineligible reward email if they were originally eligible for that referred purchase.
On Shopify, for what each status badge on the Purchases & Referrals page means (Pending, Suspicious, Rewardable / Not Rewardable, Success fee charged), see [Shopify] Marking a purchase as referred + Approving Referrals.
Deleting and disqualifying referrals FAQ
Can I disqualify a referral or delete a purchase after the review period is over?
Can I disqualify a referral or delete a purchase after the review period is over?
No. You can't disqualify a referral or delete a purchase after the review period is over. ReferralCandy engineers can still disqualify or delete a purchase through the backend system, but doing so won't recall the rewards that were already issued.
If you want to pursue purchase disqualification or deletion after the review period, let us know and include the following information:
The reason why you need to void or remove the referred purchase.
Email address of the referred friend who made the purchase.
Date and time of the referred purchase.
Email address of the advocate to whom the referred purchase was credited.
Amount of the referred purchase.
You can find this information on your Purchases & Referrals page.
What happens when the purchase review is over?
What happens when the purchase review is over?
Referred purchases can only be deleted or disqualified during the purchase review period. After the referred purchase review period has ended, you won't be able to make these actions.
If you still wish to delete the purchase or disqualify the referral, let us know so that ReferralCandy engineers can help you do this in the backend system
Note that we can't recall any rewards that have already been issued
What if a customer returns an item after the review period?
What if a customer returns an item after the review period?
If a customer returns an item after the purchase's review period has ended, the referred purchase isn't canceled. Refunds and cancellations only count while a purchase is still in its review period, so set your purchase review period within the range of your store's return policy.
If for example you set a review period of 7 days, but an item is returned 14 days later, our system will not cancel that purchase as it has already lapsed the set 7-day review period.