Referral Codes

Overview

Referral codes are the canonical partner identifiers used across the PVERSE Affiliate Program. A code can appear inside referral links, campaign-specific distribution paths, or user-entered referral input flows, depending on the active product surface.

The purpose of a referral code is to create structured attribution context. It is not a reward object by itself. Commission only exists when downstream activity becomes eligible, attributed under valid rules, and ultimately settled under current program policy.

Scope

This page defines the rules that govern referral-code behavior inside the affiliate system.

• Code ownership, uniqueness, and partner binding.
• Format, normalization, and active-state rules.
• URL usage and campaign-specific context.
• Restriction, invalidation, and operational boundary rules.

Core Model

A referral code is a partner-owned identifier. It creates a candidate attribution context when used in a valid system surface, but the final effect of that context depends on the active attribution and commission rules.

• Ownership-bound: each active code is assigned to a specific partner record.
• Uniqueness-bound: a normalized code must not map to multiple partner identities at the same time.
• State-bound: codes may exist in active, inactive, suspended, expired, or revoked states.
• Context-bound: a code may be general-purpose or linked to a specific campaign or program surface.

Operational Behavior

A partner may receive one or more referral codes depending on current program configuration. When a code is used in a valid referral URL or accepted input path, the system may create a referral click, attribution candidate, or equivalent discovery record. That record remains provisional until a downstream action is evaluated by attribution and qualification rules.

Codes should be normalized before matching so the same logical code cannot be interpreted as multiple distinct identifiers because of casing or superficial formatting differences. If a code becomes inactive, suspended, expired, or revoked, it may stop creating valid attribution context from that point forward, even if older historical records tied to that code remain preserved for auditability.

Constraints

• A referral code alone does not create a reward, commission, or withdrawable balance.
• Code ownership does not override attribution rules, settlement dependency, or anti-abuse policy.
• Program policy may restrict vanity patterns, reserved words, impersonation-like strings, or campaign misuse.
• This page does not define the exact attribution priority or commission rate logic; those live on their dedicated pages.

Integrity Considerations

Referral codes are one of the most visible parts of an affiliate system, so ambiguity here creates system-wide confusion. The code model therefore needs clean ownership, stable normalization, and explicit state semantics so codes remain auditable over time.

• Ownership clarity: one normalized active code should map to one partner identity.
• Normalization clarity: superficial variations should not create duplicate logical codes.
• State clarity: active and inactive codes must have clearly different operational meaning without rewriting historical records.

Future Expansion

As the affiliate system matures, referral codes may gain richer campaign segmentation, multiple-code management, vanity-code review logic, or code-level analytics. Any expansion should preserve the same core discipline: partner ownership remains explicit, normalization remains stable, and code usage remains subordinate to attribution, settlement, and anti-abuse boundaries.

Summary

• Referral codes are canonical partner identifiers, not reward objects.
• Each normalized active code maps to a specific partner under current program rules.
• Code usage creates attribution context, but not guaranteed commission.
• Inactive, suspended, expired, or revoked codes may stop producing new valid attribution while historical records remain auditable.