Who this article is for
Agency admins working with partners whose PRMs do not support data exports, APIs, or reliable reporting access.
This includes:
Homegrown partner portals
White-labeled dashboards
Legacy PRMs
“Partner pages” built inside CRMs, CMSs, or internal tools
Any PRM where reporting is view-only
The core problem
Some partner portals are designed for visibility, not data ownership.
That means:
You can see referrals, commissions, or payouts
But you cannot export them
And there is no API to integrate with
Partner Partner is built to unify partner data, but in these cases, the limiting factor is the partner’s tooling—not Partner Partner.
The goal becomes simple:
Get structured, repeatable data from partners using the least fragile method possible.
Your two realistic options
There are only two viable approaches when exports and APIs don’t exist:
Manual data collection from the partner manager (recommended)
Browser-based data scraping (last resort)
We’ll walk through both.
Option 1 (Recommended): Partner Manager–Supplied Data
Why this is the best option
Every serious partner program has a partner manager with access to:
Internal reporting
CRM views
Finance or revshare summaries
Admin-level dashboards you can’t see
They already pull this data internally. You’re simply asking them to share it in a structured format.
This approach is:
More accurate
Easier to audit
Less brittle over time
Better for long-term partner trust
What to ask for (minimum viable dataset)
You do not need everything.
Ask for a recurring report with:
Field | Required |
Partner (your agency) name | ✅ |
Referral ID or deal ID | ✅ |
Referred account / merchant | ✅ |
Status (open, closed, paid) | ✅ |
Commission amount | ✅ |
Currency | ✅ |
Event date (close or payout) | ✅ |
Optional but helpful:
Partner tier
Commission rate
Payout batch or period
Notes or adjustments
Formats to accept:
CSV (preferred)
Google Sheet
Excel
How often should this be shared?
Set expectations early.
Recommended cadence:
Monthly for payouts and commissions
Bi-weekly if referrals are high-volume
Consistency matters more than frequency.
Sample request you can reuse
Hi {{Partner Manager Name}},
We’re standardizing how we track partner referrals and commissions across our partner ecosystem.
Since your partner portal doesn’t currently support exports or API access, could you share a monthly CSV or Google Sheet with our referral and commission data?
We’re happy to provide a simple template if helpful.
This helps us reconcile payouts, track performance, and reduce back-and-forth later.
Thanks!
How this fits into Partner Partner
Once received:
Upload the data into Partner Partner
Reconcile referrals, commissions, and payouts
Track partner performance over time
Maintain a clean audit trail
This becomes your system of record, even if the partner’s PRM is not.
Option 2 (Last Resort): Browser-Based Data Scraping
When this is acceptable
Only consider scraping if:
No exports exist
No API exists
The partner manager cannot or will not share data
The data is otherwise inaccessible
This is common with:
“Read-only” dashboards
Finance tabs locked behind permissions
Older PRMs with no reporting roadmap
How scraping typically works
Data is:
Viewed in the browser
Copied manually or via scraping tools
Normalized into a spreadsheet
Uploaded into Partner Partner
Common tools agencies can use:
Manual copy/paste (this is what you'd likely do)
Browser extensions
Headless browser scripts
Risks and tradeoffs
Be clear-eyed here:
Risk | Why it matters |
Fragile | UI changes can break workflows |
Error-prone | Formatting and totals may drift |
Time-consuming | Manual QA required |
Policy-sensitive | May violate partner TOS |
Scraping should never be your long-term strategy.
Best practices if you must scrape
If you go this route:
Capture screenshots for auditability
Keep raw data separate from normalized data
Document the source portal and date pulled
Validate totals against payout statements
Our recommendation
If you can get data from a human, do that.
If you can get data from an API, do that.
If you can only get data from a browser, proceed carefully.
Partner Partner exists to unify and reconcile partner data—but we can’t manufacture data that partners won’t share or expose.
The key is choosing the least brittle path and making it repeatable.