Before you start
- Role. Any active team member can approve and reject submissions today. There is no role gate on review.
- Where to review. Open the program, then its Submissions tab. That is the review surface: it shows the screenshot, the amount, and the approve, reject, and bulk controls.
- Where to look across programs. Submissions in the sidebar lists every submission in your workspace with a status filter and a program filter. Use it to find things; review them from the program's tab.
- The badge. The sidebar badge counts submissions in Pending across all your programs.
Approval is irreversible
Approving a submission calculates the payout, records the money owed, and notifies the advocate. The dashboard has no undo. A second review attempt on the same submission is refused.
Check the impressions figure against the screenshot before you approve. That is the only moment the number is easy to correct.
If you approve something in error, contact support@kindlinghq.com before the next payout run, on the 1st or the 15th at 09:00 UTC.
What a submission shows you
On the program's Submissions tab, each card shows:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Advocate | Name and email |
| Post screenshot | Their evidence for the impressions figure |
| View original post | The live post. Open it |
| Platform | Where it was posted. The advocate can only submit on platforms the program allows |
| Reported impressions | Up to 10,000,000. What the payment is based on |
| Calculated payout | The amount, with the program's CPM rate and post cap beside it |
| Est. total charge | On pending cards: the payout plus the 15% platform fee, which is what you are billed |
| Submitted | When they reported it, and when it was reviewed once it has been |
Likes, comments, and shares are optional at submission and are not used for payment.
The amount on a pending card is an estimate. It is recorded when the advocate submits. Approval recalculates from the reported impressions against the program's CPM rate and post cap at that moment, so the approved amount can differ from the estimate. The approve dialog shows the figure the advocate will receive before you confirm.
Approve a submission
Approving pays impressions ÷ 1,000 × your program's CPM rate, capped at the post cap. The payout record is created immediately with status Pending and is disbursed on the next payout run. See How advocate payouts work for the schedule and the four things that must be in place before money moves.
The advocate gets an email and an in-app notification with the amount. If they have not connected a Stripe account yet, the email tells them to.
Pay one advocate now
An approved submission whose payment is still pending shows a Process payment button on the program's Submissions tab, under the Approved → Payment pending sub-tab. It charges your payment method for that one payout and transfers the advocate's share right away, without waiting for the run. It requires the advocate's Stripe Connect account to be active and a payment method on file for your workspace. Details are on the payouts page.
Reject a submission
Rejection requires a written reason. The system will not accept one without it, and the advocate sees what you wrote in their email and in-app notification.
A rejected post cannot be resubmitted. Each post URL can be submitted once, whatever its status. If you want a corrected version, the advocate has to publish a new post and submit its new URL. The program's minimum days between posts is measured from their last submission of any status, so a rejection also starts that clock.
Reject against your published guidelines, not against taste. If a post breaks a rule you never wrote, fix the guidelines rather than the advocate.
Good reasons are specific and fixable: the screenshot does not support the impressions claimed, the required disclosure is missing, the post is off topic for the program.
Working the queue
The program's Submissions tab has four views: Pending, Approved, Rejected, and Archived. Approved splits into Payment pending and Payment sent. A search box filters by advocate.
Bulk review. In Pending, tick the boxes, or Select all, then Approve selected or Reject selected. A bulk reject takes one reason for every selected submission. The same finality applies to every item in a bulk approval, so use it when you have already looked.
Bulk actions do not notify advocates. Only single approvals and rejections send the email and in-app notification. If you bulk approve, the advocate finds out from their earnings page or when the payout arrives.
Archive. Once a payout is completed you can archive the submission to move it to the Archived tab. Nothing else changes.
The all-programs Submissions screen. Filter by status (Pending, Approved, Rejected, All) and by program. Counters show pending, approved, rejected, and total. Use it to see the whole workspace at once, then open the program to review.
Review quickly. A slow queue is the most common reason an advocate posts once and never again.
What to check
Does the screenshot support the number? This is the whole verification model. Advocates report their own impressions; your review is the check.
Is the post live? Open the URL. Kindling does not check whether a post stays up; that is yours to enforce.
Does it meet your guidelines? Disclosure, platform, subject matter.
Is it their own voice? A post that reads like your marketing copy defeats the point of the program. That is a coaching conversation, not usually a rejection.
Troubleshooting
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| I approved the wrong post | Contact support@kindlinghq.com before the next payout run on the 1st or the 15th |
| The amount changed after I approved | Expected. Pending cards show an estimate recorded at submission; approval recalculates against the CPM rate and post cap |
| An advocate says they cannot submit | Check the program's minimum days between posts. They are told how many days remain. A rejected submission counts toward that clock |
| An advocate says their post "has already been submitted" | Each post URL can be submitted once. If the earlier submission was rejected, they need to publish a new post |
| The reported impressions look implausible | Compare against the screenshot. Reject with that as the reason. A corrected submission needs a new post |
| I bulk approved and the advocate did not hear anything | Bulk approvals do not send notifications. Single approvals do |
| The badge shows pending items I cannot find | On the all-programs screen, set the status filter to Pending and the program filter to All programs |
FAQ
Can I edit the impressions before approving?
No. Reject with the reason. The advocate submits a new post with the right figure.
Can an advocate fix and resubmit a rejected post?
Not the same URL. They publish a new post and submit that.
Does approving pay immediately?
It creates the payment. Money moves on the next run, the 1st or the 15th at 09:00 UTC, or right away if you click Process payment.
Do likes and comments affect payment?
No. Payment is impressions only.
Can a viewer approve submissions?
Yes, today. Review is not role-gated.
Questions about a specific submission: support@kindlinghq.com.