A commission clawback is when a company reclaims commission you were already paid because the deal fell apart — a customer canceled, refunded, or didn't renew within the clawback window. Most comp plans have a clawback period (often 60–180 days from the signature) during which a refund reverses your payout, taken out of a future check. Clawbacks are common and mostly reasonable in subscription and long-term deals, but the terms vary wildly and are easy to miss.
In plain English
A clawback is the fine print that says "we paid you for a deal that didn't stick, so we're taking it back." It's the downside to the accelerator's upside. The deal gets signed, you get paid, and then the customer cancels — so the company pulls the money back. Whether that surprises you or not depends entirely on whether you read the clawback policy before you started.
Why it matters to you
This is the term that separates reps who understand their comp from reps who get shocked in month three. Before you accept a role, ask about the clawback period and what triggers it. A reasonable plan will state it plainly; a suspicious one will be vague. Along with the draw and the accelerator, the clawback completes the picture — the true cost of a "great commission plan" is only fair once you've read how it can come back.