Reference · IB Commission Operations
Affiliate Attribution Windows and Conflicting Referrals
Resolve competing referrals with an explicit attribution window and policy. Compare first-touch, last-touch, expired and missing-evidence cases.
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Published by FxTrusts, a supplier of brokerage and prop firm technology. Prepared with AI-assisted research and drafting; reviewed against the cited public sources. Examples are illustrative. Product links describe our services.
What is an affiliate attribution window?
An affiliate attribution window is the period in which a qualifying referral interaction can receive credit for a later event under a program’s policy. The window determines timing eligibility; the attribution model decides which eligible interaction receives credit. Neither alone proves that a commission is payable.
Specify the event and the clock
Define whether the credited event is registration, approval, first qualifying deposit or another milestone. State the timestamp source, timezone, window length and whether the boundary is inclusive. A referral recorded when an event is imported can appear newer than the actual interaction. Store both times where needed. Google Analytics documents lookback windows for its own attribution reports; a broker’s compensation contract may use a different window and should not inherit an analytics setting accidentally.
Sources for this section
- Google Analytics: key-event lookback windowssupport.google.com
Choose among eligible interactions
First-touch and last-touch are examples of possible contractual rules: one selects the earliest eligible referral and the other the latest. They are not described here as currently available Google Analytics models. Define how direct visits, existing customers, account merges and reassigned partners affect eligibility. A last recorded event is not automatically a valid referral. Once the model is agreed, retain the candidates and the selected result so a support team can explain the choice.
Do not turn missing tracking into invented certainty
A missing identifier can result from consent choices, browser limits or an incomplete integration. Label the result unknown or unmatched when the evidence does not support an assignment. Do not manufacture a prior click from the fact that a customer later supplied a partner name. A manual attribution policy may allow documented corrections, but it should preserve the original result and reviewer. Data collection and consent requirements need their own applicable assessment; the compensation window is not a permission to track.
Keep attribution and acquisition qualification separate
Crediting partner A answers who may receive consideration, not whether a customer completed every acquisition condition. OANDA’s public partner explanation describes activity requirements as a separate part of its affiliate model. Your program should similarly preserve the distinction between attribution, qualification, approval and payment without assuming its exact rules match another provider. A change to an attribution policy should have an effective date and a documented approach to previously credited events.
Sources for this section
- OANDA Partners: types of partner programmeswww.oanda.com
Four referral histories under a fictional policy
Use a 30-day inclusive window measured as elapsed time before registration, with all timestamps in UTC. Assume the interactions shown are valid referrals and the account is otherwise eligible for attribution. The first and last eligible-touch policies below are separate alternatives, not two payments. A referral 31 days earlier is outside the window. Missing timestamps leave evidence unresolved rather than proving that whichever partner asks first owns the account.
| Referral history | First eligible touch | Last eligible touch |
|---|---|---|
| A 20 days earlier; B 2 days earlier | A | B |
| A 31 days earlier; B 2 days earlier | B | B |
| Only A exactly 30 days earlier | A | A |
| Partner identifier without a reliable timestamp | Unresolved | Unresolved |
Implementation checklist
- Record the credited event, clock and exact boundary rule.
- Filter valid interactions before selecting a winner.
- Keep unknown evidence separate from a confirmed no-credit result.
- Apply qualification and payout rules after attribution.
Sources
These documents support the reference. Check the original publication for current requirements and the limits of its scope.
- Google Analytics: key-event lookback windowssupport.google.com
- OANDA Partners: types of partner programmeswww.oanda.com
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