"I finished the offer and got nothing": what's usually going on

If you run an offerwall in your app or on your site, you will get this message sooner or later: I did the offer and never got my coins. Sometimes it comes with a screenshot, sometimes with a one-star review.

Most of the time nothing is broken. The reward is on its way, or the user stopped one step short, or the advertiser hasn't confirmed it yet. Here is what is usually happening, and what you can do so fewer users need to ask.

Rewards aren't instant, and that's on purpose

When a user taps an offer and installs an app, nobody pays anyone yet. The advertiser first has to see the install (or the sign-up, or the purchase) in their own system and tell us it happened. Only then do we tell your app to credit the user.

For a simple install that often happens within minutes. For offers like reach level 10 or make a first deposit, the reward can't arrive until the user actually gets there, which might be days later. And some advertisers check every conversion by hand before confirming it.

This waiting step protects everyone. It's the reason you only get paid for real users, and the reason advertisers keep buying.

The four usual reasons

Make the wait visible

The single biggest fix is telling users what to expect before they start. A line under each offer does most of the work:

Rewards usually arrive within a few hours of finishing. Some offers take longer while the advertiser checks.

If your app has a rewards history, show offers the user has started as pending until the reward lands. A user who can see "pending" waits patiently. A user who sees nothing writes in.

Show every step

Many offers pay in stages: a little for installing, more for reaching a level, more again for a first purchase. If your offer screen only shows the total, users think they'll get it all for installing.

The offer list we send you includes each step and what it pays. Show them. Install: 400 coins. Reach level 10: 1,350 coins. is much clearer than Earn up to 1,750 coins.

Explain reversals before they happen

Now and then an advertiser takes a conversion back: the user refunded a purchase, or the advertiser found they already had an account. When that happens, we tell your app so the reward can be removed.

That surprises users who already saw the coins. A short, plain line in your help or FAQ page avoids most of the anger: Rewards can be removed if the advertiser cancels the offer, for example after a refund.

Check your dashboard before replying

When a ticket does come in, your Postbacks page shows every reward notification we sent your system and how it answered. If you see the user's ID there with a successful answer, the reward reached you, and the issue is on your side. If you see a failure, your developer has a clear starting point. If the user isn't there at all, the advertiser hasn't confirmed it yet, and the honest answer is to wait a little longer.

Your Earnings page shows the same conversions from the money side: pending, approved, or reversed.

A reply you can reuse

Thanks for letting us know. Rewards are sent once the advertiser confirms you completed the offer, which can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days depending on the offer. Some offers also pay in steps, so make sure you reached the step listed in the offer. If it still hasn't arrived after 48 hours, reply here and we'll look into it.

Small things, but they turn the most common offerwall complaint into something users mostly never need to send.

Want the technical side for your developer? Point them to our postback guide.