> AffiliateOS Help Center. Index of every article for AI tools: https://www.affiliateos.ai/help/llms.txt

# Payout math: from offer payout to your user's reward

Payouts, billing and funding · For publishers · Updated 30 October 2026
Web version: https://www.affiliateos.ai/help/payouts/payout-math-user-reward

Your payout is what we pay you for a step. Your user's reward is a second figure we send with it: what to credit your user, in US dollars. You pay your users yourself, in your own currency, so the reward is a number we send, never a payment we make to them.

## The two numbers

| | Your [payout](https://www.affiliateos.ai/glossary#payout) | Your user's [reward](https://www.affiliateos.ai/glossary#player-reward) |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | What we pay you for the step | What to credit your user for the step |
| In the Offer API | `effectivePayoutUsd` on each step | `userRewardUsd` on each step |
| On Offer API and link postbacks | `payout` | `user_payout` |
| On Hosted Offerwall postbacks | `revenue` | `payout` and `user_payout` |

Read `revenue` first whenever it's present, and never add `revenue` and `payout` together.

## Where your user's reward comes from

1. **The step has a set reward.** We send that amount.
2. **The step has no set reward.** We send a share of your payout, rounded down to whole cents: our default share, or your own if you set one under **API user reward** on **My Profile**.
3. **The step is an install with no set reward.** We send $0, and the install's payout stays with you.

On the Hosted Offerwall, the wall's own **Your users' share** decides steps 2 and 3 instead, so an install with no set reward gets that share too: see [What your users are paid on the wall](https://www.affiliateos.ai/help/offerwall/what-users-are-paid). If your account is paid per step, there's no share to set: the reward we send equals your payout.

## A worked example

> Figure: Example: Tidewater Games pays for a Harbor Blocks install, AffiliateOS records the tap from Pebble Rewards, matches the install, sends Pebble Rewards a signed postback with payout 4.20, and Pebble Rewards credits the player 1,500 pebbles.

Example: Pebble Rewards converts at 1,000 pebbles per $1 and has set its **API user reward** to 50%.

| Step | `payout` | `user_payout` | Why | Pebbles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harbor Blocks, install | $4.20 | $1.50 | Tidewater Games set an install reward | 1,500 |
| Harbor Blocks, level 10 | $0.00 | $1.50 | An install-paid game: the step pays you $0 and carries its set reward | 1,500 |
| A sign-up offer paid per event | $2.00 | $1.00 | No set reward, so 50% of $2.00 | 1,000 |

> **We pay you the payout, never the reward.** On a game paid per install, later steps pay you $0 and still carry a reward in `user_payout`. If you credit those rewards, the install's payout is what covers them. `user_payout` tells you what to credit. It never changes what we pay you.

## Convert to your currency

Multiply `user_payout` by your rate. At 1,000 pebbles per $1, `user_payout=1.50` is 1,500 pebbles. Every money field we send is in US dollars, whatever your users see.

## Change your share

On **My Profile**, under **API user reward**, type a whole number from 1 to 100 in **User reward (% of your payout)** and choose **Save**. **Use default** switches back to ours. The account owner, an admin or a manager can change it; other seats see it read-only.

The new share shows in `userRewardUsd` on your offer lists and in `user_payout` on later postbacks. Your payout doesn't change, install steps stay at $0 and your Hosted Offerwall keeps its own setting.

## Edge cases

- **Reversals.** A reversal repeats the `user_payout` its credit was sent with, so you take back what you credited, not today's figure.
- **A share change after the fact.** Credits already sent keep their figure.
- **Rounding.** A share is rounded down to the cent: 50% of $2.15 is $1.07.