What sits between a click and a cost
A click on a tracking link does not turn directly into a bill. Before an order can generate commission, it passes through several layers meant to reduce, not eliminate, the risk of bad traffic: serve-time bot filtering on the redirect itself, velocity checks that flag unusual click bursts, IP-based signals, and anomaly checks that compare a click or order against normal patterns.
Every one of those layers reduces risk; none of them is described as catching every case. Screening lowers the odds of paying for bad traffic, it does not eliminate them.
Review before money moves
There is no automatic path from a click straight to a paid commission. Every order moves through review states first, and a brand's return window applies on top of that, so cost is never incurred the instant a click happens.
That structure is deliberate: it gives both the automated checks and, where needed, a manual look, time to happen before commission becomes final. See Order States and Returns for the full ladder every order moves through.
What you see on a conversion
Every commission you are charged for is backed by an order trace: how the click or code entered, what attribution evidence it carried, and how the commission was calculated from your campaign rules. Nothing arrives as a bare number with no path behind it.
That trace is also what support works from if you flag an order as suspicious, so a dispute is never a guessing game about what actually happened.
What screening cannot promise
No fraud system, on ThreeStove or anywhere else, catches every case. Screening reduces the volume of bad traffic that reaches a paid order; it does not guarantee that none slips through. That is precisely why review, the return window, and an audited exception process exist alongside it, as a second and third layer rather than a single point of failure.
Treat screening as risk reduction layered on top of review, not as a substitute for it.
What you can do yourself
A few things are in your hands as a brand: reviewing applications with real attention rather than approving on volume alone, setting clear content rules so creators know what compliant promotion looks like, and reporting anything that looks off through support with the order reference attached.
The automated layers and your own judgment work together; neither replaces the other. See Reviewing Applicants for how to judge an application, and Attribution Windows Explained for how evidence gets attached to an order in the first place.
Do I pay for bot clicks?
Cost follows confirmed, reviewed orders, not raw clicks. A click alone never generates a charge; it is the order behind it, once reviewed, that determines what you are billed.
What happens when an order looks suspicious?
It carries a review status rather than moving straight to approved, and it can be excluded from commission under the campaign's published rules if it does not hold up. Flag it to support with the order reference if you want it looked at directly.
Order States and Returns
The order status ladder explained: why commission stays in review, the return window, exclusions, chargebacks, and why review protects both sides.
Attribution Windows Explained
How long a tracked link counts, what evidence an order needs, and how the attribution window differs from the return window.
Reviewing Applicants
What a creator application shows you, bulk decisions, and what approval unlocks.