How commissions get paid

Five steps, left to right. Today tells you what needs doing. The work itself happens in Inbox, then ends in Payouts.

The five steps

1. Trip booked — Today tab

Your agent books a trip. JourneyFuse starts tracking the commission automatically.

You do: nothing. It shows up in Today, waiting.

2. Record payment — Inbox tab

The supplier sends you money — a check, an ACH, a statement with 12 commissions on it. You log the deposit in your Inbox.

👉 Inbox → Record payment (amount, date, reference number)

3. Match to trips — Inbox tab

Link that payment to the specific trips it covers. If they paid you $2,400 for three bookings, you match each to the right commission.

👉 Click the payment → Match → pick the commissions

4. Accept — Inbox tab

Check what they paid vs. what you expected, then accept. The payout clock starts for your agent.

👉 Review variance → Accept

5. Pay your agent — Payouts tab

Once your hold period is up, the commission shows in Payouts, grouped by agent. Run payroll.

👉 Select → payment method → Mark paid (optionally email a statement PDF)

Your tabs, in order

Tab	What it's for	How often you'll use it
Today	Your action list — everything that needs attention	Every morning
Inbox	Record payments, match, accept, review agent submissions	Whenever money or work arrives
Payouts	Pay your agents what they've earned	Payday (weekly / bi-weekly)
Ledger	Full history, searchable — for audits, disputes, reports	When you need to look something up
Suppliers	Scorecards — who's slow, who's fast, who has variance	Weekly glance
Settings	Defaults — split %, hold period, supplier terms	Rarely (setup only)

What lives in the Inbox

Your Inbox has five buckets, ordered by priority. Inbox opens on the highest-priority non-empty bucket automatically:

1. Unmatched payments — money arrived, hasn't been linked to trips yet (most common — you'll be here daily)
2. Pending submissions — agents have submitted commissions for your approval
3. Variance flags — supplier paid more or less than expected
4. Stale expecteds — claims you filed that are taking too long to pay
5. Needs filing — commissions that need a claim filed with the supplier (often empty — most suppliers auto-pay)

Every morning: open Inbox, work through the buckets, close them out.

Quick-review pending submissions

When an agent submits a commission for your approval, it shows up in the Pending submissions bucket. You don't have to leave the Inbox to act on it:

• Approve — one click on the row. Most submissions are fine; this is the fast path.
• Review — expands the row inline with the at-a-glance data (gross, agent amount, split %, reservation, advisor notes) plus a text box for your note back to the advisor. From there you can Approve with note or Send back — needs attention.

No page navigation needed. Ten pending submissions → ten clicks → all cleared.

One more thing: filing claims

Some suppliers don't pay automatically — airlines and certain hotels need you to file a claim first. Those show up in Today's "Needs filing" list and in the Inbox's "Needs filing" bucket. Click, pick a method (portal, email, form, manual), file it. Most suppliers won't need this.

What if something goes sideways

• Disputed — the supplier says your amount is wrong. Held out of payouts until resolved.
• Written off — you've decided you'll never collect. Terminal — closes the line.
• Recalled — you matched a supplier payment, then realized it was wrong. You can un-match, but only before any agent has been paid from it.

Built-in safety

JourneyFuse won't let you:

• Double-pay an agent — even if you click "Mark paid" twice fast.
• Pay early — hold period is enforced automatically.
• Mix agents in one batch — each payout is one agent at a time.
• Let an agent handle money — recording, filing, paying all require owner or admin.

Related

• Commissions Workflows by Role
• Commission Reconciliation
• Commissions Agency Dashboard