Step 4 — Recipient: who gets paid
"Who receives the commission?"
Four options.
Deal owner
"Whoever is assigned on the opportunity."
The ordinary case. It follows Pipedrive, so a deal reassigned in Pipedrive pays the new owner on the next calculation.
Watch for: if the owner cannot be resolved to a participant, the deal pays nobody — it shows as Unmatched in Deal Review, which is a silent zero, not an error. → Check and exclude deals
Manager override
"Pay the owner's direct manager."
"Pays the owner's manager, resolved from the reporting line on the Teams & Roles page."
This is how you pay managers on their team's production without naming anyone. Reorganise the team and the rule follows.
An override adds, it does not subtract. A deal paying 6% to the rep and 1% to the manager costs you 7%. If you meant to divide one pot, use Custom split.
When an override pays the wrong person, the team structure is usually the bug, not the rule. Check Organization → Roles first.
Custom owner
"Pay someone named on the deal via a Pipedrive user field."
For deals where the person who should be paid is not the owner — a solutions engineer, a partner manager, an overlay rep — recorded in a Pipedrive user field.
You will be asked "Which Pipedrive field names the recipient?" If the dropdown is empty you need to mark a participant field first, on the Fields page.
Custom split
"Divide between multiple recipients."
For genuinely co-sold deals. Add rows, each with a recipient type and a share:
Deal owner 70 %
Custom owner 30 % ← plus the Pipedrive field naming them
Lokom validates as you type and shows Total: 100% — looks good.
The rules it enforces:
| Error | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Add at least two recipients for a split | A split of one is not a split |
| Shares must sum to 100 | No implicit remainder |
| Each recipient can appear only once | No stacking a person twice in one split |
| Pick a participant field for each custom-owner row | A custom-owner row needs its field |
Choosing between them
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Pay the person who closed it | Deal owner |
| Pay their manager as well | A second rule with Manager override |
| Pay someone else named on the deal | Custom owner |
| Divide one payout between people | Custom split |
The distinction that costs money: Manager override is an extra cost; Custom split divides an existing one.
Common mistakes
- Using an override where you meant a split. Your commission cost doubles quietly.
- Custom owner on a field reps do not fill in. No recipient, no payout.
- Stacked overrides. A manager and a director both taking 1% is 2% on every deal in the company. Stress-test a plan with layered overrides before activating. → Stress-test a plan