Orders vs. Commissions

order level vs order item level commission records understanding the differences understanding the relationship between orders and commissions is an important part of any partner integration process it allows our partner to track earnings and determine the amount of commission that should be paid to users there are two main types of commission reporting order level and order item level order level commission reporting some merchants provide order level commission reporting, where entire orders are grouped together as a single record in these cases, returns are updated as amounts to the existing commission id the commission id remains the same between the initial and updated records, but the modified date and amounts change here is an example of an order level commission report for an original purchase { "commissionid" 31870476, "applicationid" 104, "merchantid" 5479397, "deviceid" 15319832, "saleamount" { "amount" "60 99", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" "1 2500", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 02 02t17 26 55z", "lockingdate" "2023 05 01t05 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 02 02t18 53 58 106991z", "modifieddate" "2023 02 02t18 53 58 106991z", "merchantorderid" "6327180345", "merchantsku" "" } and here is an example of an order level commission report for a partial return { "commissionid" 31870476, "applicationid" 104, "merchantid" 5479397, "deviceid" 15319832, "saleamount" { "amount" "44 96", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" "0 2925", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 02 02t17 26 55z", "lockingdate" "2023 05 01t05 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 02 02t18 53 58 106991z", "modifieddate" "2023 03 25t10 44 56 526455z", "merchantorderid" "6327180345", "merchantsku" "" } note that in this case the commissionid and the merchantorderid (aka the order id) stays the same and only the saleamount and amount (aka the commission amount) and modifieddate change to reflect the updated order most merchants, on the other hand, provide order item level commission reporting in this method, every item in an order is posted as a separate commission record items and returns are recorded separately, each with their order item amounts and a separate commission id this method is often referred to as "ledger style " here is an example of an order item level commission report for an original purchase { "commissionid" 32736944, "applicationid" 156, "merchantid" 5479868, "deviceid" 18156054, "saleamount" { "amount" "67 99", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" "1 632", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 03 04t21 04 00z", "lockingdate" "0001 01 01t00 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 03 06t15 24 36 611096z", "modifieddate" "2023 03 07t02 57 58 5251z", "merchantorderid" "m2673245040", "merchantsku" "15406898" }, { "commissionid" 32736945, "applicationid" 156, "merchantid" 5479868, "deviceid" 18156054, "saleamount" { "amount" "109", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" "2 616", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 03 04t21 04 00z", "lockingdate" "0001 01 01t00 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 03 06t15 24 37 236906z", "modifieddate" "2023 03 07t02 58 07 931103z", "merchantorderid" "m2673245040", "merchantsku" "15453724" } and here is an example of an order item level commission report for a partial return { "commissionid" 33556694, "applicationid" 156, "merchantid" 5479868, "deviceid" 18156054, "saleamount" { "amount" " 109", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" " 2 616", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 03 04t21 04 00z", "lockingdate" "0001 01 01t00 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 04 01t23 40 45 361252z", "modifieddate" "2023 04 01t23 40 45 361252z", "merchantorderid" "m2673245040", "merchantsku" "15453724" } order level initial reporting with order item level returns some merchants will describe the initial purchase as a single record but subsequent returns as separate records see below how the initial positive amount (purchase) lists all the skus in a single record but each of two partial returns are reported as separate records { "commissionid" 32753768, "applicationid" 104, "merchantid" 5507506, "deviceid" 15815011, "saleamount" { "amount" "163 6", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" "3 1902", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 03 06t23 24 12z", "lockingdate" "2023 05 05t00 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 03 07t01 17 09 578311z", "modifieddate" "2023 03 07t01 17 09 578311z", "merchantorderid" "4042006870", "merchantsku" "99104147967,99104150039,99106898030,99106898040,99106898090,99107014510" } and here is an example of an order item level commission report for a partial return { "commissionid" 32910383, "applicationid" 104, "merchantid" 5507506, "deviceid" 15815011, "saleamount" { "amount" " 31 6", "currency" "usd" }, "amounts" \[ { "amount" " 0 6162", "currency" "usd", "splitpart" "application" } ], "status" "pending", "eventdate" "2023 03 06t23 24 12z", "lockingdate" "2023 05 05t00 00 00z", "createddate" "2023 03 14t12 19 50 66962z", "modifieddate" "2023 03 14t12 19 50 66962z", "merchantorderid" "4042006870", "merchantsku" "99104150039" } conclusion wildfire systems is trying hard to make merchant data more normalized and though we have tried to standardize around order item level reporting, some merchants don't provide enough detail to allow us to do that we are actively considering ways to make the data more normalized, including standardizing around order level reporting in the meantime, it's appropriate to design your systems in such a way that they can work with the aforementioned use cases and reach out to us if you have any questions