Why was my AI offer conversion rejected?
- 📅 Updated October 23, 2026
- ⏱️ 8 min read
- 📚 Answer 5 of 5
By Masha Gebber, Help center editor
Short answer
A conversion is rejected when it does not qualify: the sale was refunded or fraudulent, the traffic broke the program rules, or another affiliate held the most recent click. Rejected sales are not paid and do not count toward your tier.
- Refunds and chargebacks are the most common, and most innocent, reasons for rejection.
- Bot-like patterns, incentives and prohibited sources lead to rejections and can risk the account.
- A few rejections are normal; a rising rate from one source is a warning.
- Find the pattern by source and sub-ID before you change anything.
Seeing a rejected conversion is frustrating, especially when you know you sent a real visitor and watched the sale appear in your report. Most rejections have simple, innocent causes, and a few point to problems worth fixing quickly. Below, we explain every common reason, show you how to find the pattern in your reports and what to change.
- Pending means a sale is still in review. It may still be approved.
- Rejected means review is complete and the sale doesn't qualify. It isn't paid and doesn't count toward VIP or PRO.
If a sale is still pending, nothing is decided yet, so read why a conversion is stuck pending instead.
| Reason | What happened | Usually your fault? |
|---|---|---|
| Refund | The buyer asked for their money back | No |
| Chargeback | The buyer disputed the payment with their bank | Rarely |
| Failed or reversed payment | The payment didn't complete or was reversed | No |
| Suspected fraud or bots | Traffic patterns didn't look like real people | Sometimes, through bad sources |
| Prohibited traffic | The source broke program rules | Yes |
| Incentivized purchase | Buyers were rewarded for subscribing | Yes |
| Self-referral | The purchase came from the affiliate's own account | Yes |
Refunds
Some buyers change their minds. A refund reverses the payment, so the commission is reversed too. A small number of refunds is normal for any subscription product, and a refund on its own says nothing bad about you or your traffic.
How to reduce them: describe the app honestly, match it to the right audience and avoid hype that sets expectations the product can't meet.
Chargebacks
A chargeback happens when a buyer disputes a payment with their bank instead of asking for a refund. Sometimes it is a genuine dispute; sometimes it signals stolen card use.
How to reduce them: avoid traffic sources known for fraud, and never use language that could make buyers feel misled about what they bought.
Failed or reversed payments
A payment can look successful at first and later fail or be reversed by the payment processor or the buyer's bank. These sales are rejected through no fault of yours.
Fraud and bot patterns
Traffic that doesn't behave like real people, such as huge click volumes with instant exits, repeated purchases from the same device or impossible geographic patterns, is reviewed closely and often rejected.
How to reduce them: buy traffic only from reputable networks, blacklist zones that send suspicious clicks and watch rejection rates on new sources.
Prohibited traffic
Sales from sources that break the terms are rejected. That includes spam, traffic involving minors, misleading ads, brand bidding without approval and placements on sites you aren't allowed to use.
Incentivized purchases
Offering rewards, cash, giveaways or "free content" in exchange for subscribing produces low-quality buyers and isn't allowed. Those sales are rejected.
Self-referrals
Buying through your own link isn't paid. If you need to test tracking with a purchase, arrange it with support first.
If another affiliate's click came after yours, the sale is credited to them, not rejected for you. It simply never becomes your conversion. See how attribution works.
One rejection tells you little. A pattern tells you a lot, and your reports already contain everything you need to find it.
- Open the conversion report for the last 30 to 60 days.
- Filter by status to show rejected conversions.
- Add columns for Source ID, sub-IDs, country and device.
- Group or sort to see where rejections cluster.
| Pattern | Likely cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Rejections spread thinly across sources | Normal refunds | Keep doing what you are doing |
| Most rejections from one paid source | Low-quality or bot traffic | Pause the source, blacklist bad zones |
| Rejections from one country or device | Fraud pattern in that segment | Exclude it from targeting |
| Rejections after a new promotion | Misleading or incentivized messaging | Review and rewrite the promotion |
| Rejections right after launch of a new placement | Poor fit causing quick refunds | Improve how you describe the app |
Example: an affiliate launches a new pop campaign alongside an established review site. After two weeks, the conversion report shows:
| Source | Approved | Rejected |
|---|---|---|
| Review site | 14 | 1 |
| Pop campaign | 6 | 9 |
The review site's single rejection is a refund, which is normal. The pop campaign's rejections cluster in a handful of zones with very high click volumes and instant exits. The affiliate blacklists those zones, keeps the campaign running at a small budget and checks again a week later: rejections drop to normal levels. Acting on the pattern early saved both the campaign and the account's standing.
There is no single number, because it depends on traffic type. What matters is your own trend:
- Stable and low across sources: healthy.
- Rising month over month: investigate.
- Concentrated in one source: fix or remove that source.
Heads up: a pattern of rejected sales from suspicious or prohibited traffic can lead to account review, demotion or suspension. See the account suspension policy. Acting early protects your account and your tier.
- Every source sends real adult visitors from compliant platforms.
- No incentives, rewards or giveaways tied to subscribing.
- Promotions describe each app honestly, including limits.
- Paid campaigns use reputable networks with zone-level blacklists.
- New sources start small and are checked for rejections before scaling.
- You never buy through your own links.
Pausing feels like losing money, but a source with heavy rejections usually costs more than it earns: wasted spend, lost approval time and risk to your account. Pause and investigate when:
- More than a small share of a source's sales are rejected two weeks in a row.
- Rejections appear right after a change in targeting, creatives or placements.
- You see patterns that look automated, such as identical sessions or impossible click volumes.
- You can't explain where a source's traffic actually comes from.
Restart only after you have found and fixed the cause, and start again with a small budget.
- Rejected sales are removed from your earnings and never reach your balance.
- They don't count toward the 20 approved conversions for VIP or the 100 for PRO.
- On RevShare, a rejected first payment means no ongoing revenue from that subscriber.
| Traffic type | Common rejection reasons | What helps most |
|---|---|---|
| SEO and review sites | Occasional refunds | Honest reviews that set expectations |
| Communities and creators | Occasional refunds | Clear descriptions and disclosure |
| Paid tube and native | Refunds, some fraud on weak zones | Zone blacklists, reputable networks |
| Pop and push | Bot patterns and fraud | Small tests, strict monitoring, quick pauses |
| Incentive or reward traffic | Rule breaks | Not allowed, avoid entirely |
Refunds often come from buyers who expected something different. A few habits keep expectations accurate:
- Say clearly whether you are describing Sugarlab AI, an image and video generator, or SpiceStars AI, an AI companion.
- Avoid words like "free" unless the offer is genuinely free.
- Don't promise outcomes the app can't guarantee.
- Mention that plans are subscriptions, so buyers aren't surprised by renewals.
If you believe a sale was rejected in error, for example a confirmed real buyer with no refund, contact support with the details. The team can review the record. Appeals work best with specifics: conversion date, sub-IDs, source and why you believe it is valid.
Why was a sale approved and then rejected? A refund or chargeback after approval reverses the sale. Chargebacks in particular can arrive weeks later.
Will rejections lower my tier? A tier only drops after a long pattern of rejected sales, suspicious traffic or rule breaks, and you are warned first.
Can I see the exact reason for each rejection? The conversion report shows the status. If you need more detail about a pattern, support can help explain it.
Do refunds on RevShare renewals count as rejections? A refunded renewal payment is reversed like any other payment, so your share of it is removed.
Is it my fault if a buyer asks for a refund? Usually not. Refunds happen with every subscription product. Only a high or rising refund rate suggests a fit or messaging problem.
Contact support if rejections suddenly rise without any change on your side, if you believe specific sales were rejected in error, or if you want help understanding a pattern. Include dates, conversion details, sources and screenshots.
Every affiliate sees some rejections. The ones who grow steadily treat rejections as data: a refund tells you something about expectations, a cluster tells you something about a source, and a clean month tells you your traffic is healthy. Read the pattern, act on it calmly and keep sending visitors who genuinely want what the apps offer.