Caps and schedules
This article explains buyer and supplier volume and budget caps, plus buyer schedules. Use it to control how much can be bought or submitted, and when buyers are online.
Caps and schedules are common reasons a "working" campaign sells nothing after hours or after a strong morning.
What are caps and schedules?
| Control | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer schedule | Buyer configuration | Days and times the buyer accepts leads |
| Buyer volume caps | Buyer configuration | Max leads for a period (day, week, month, lifetime when shown) |
| Buyer budget caps | Buyer configuration | Max spend for a period |
| Supplier volume or budget caps | Supplier configuration | Limits intake or supply-side spend |
| Traffic source caps | Traffic source configuration | Limits one affiliate channel |
When a buyer is outside schedule or at cap, distribution skips them. When a supplier or traffic source is capped, new intake from that party can stop.
Prerequisites
- Buyers and suppliers already attached to the campaign
- Known business hours and volume commitments
- Timezone clarity for every schedule you set
Set buyer schedules and caps
- Go to Campaigns and open the campaign.
- Open the Buyers tab and click the buyer.
- On Configuration, find Delivery Schedule.
- Set the days and times the buyer should be online, including timezone if prompted.
- Find the caps section and set volume and budget limits you intend to enforce.
- Click Save.
- Open the buyer Overview tab when available and confirm live usage reads as expected.
- Send a test lead inside the schedule window to confirm eligibility.
Set supplier or traffic source caps
- Open the campaign Suppliers tab and edit the supplier, or open Traffic Sources for an affiliate channel.
- Set daily, weekly, or monthly volume or budget caps the form provides.
- Click Save.
- Tell the affected partner what happens when they hit the limit.
What happens when capped or offline
| State | Typical result |
|---|---|
| Buyer outside schedule | Buyer skipped for that lead |
| Buyer at volume or budget cap | Buyer skipped until the period resets or the cap is raised |
| All buyers skipped | Lead does not sell |
| Supplier or traffic source at cap | New submissions from that party can be blocked |
Use the lead timeline to confirm skips. Use buyer Overview for live cap usage when you need used versus remaining.
Tips and gotchas
- Launching at schedule boundaries creates false outages. Prefer mid-window tests.
- Lifetime caps do not reset overnight. Set them deliberately.
- Weighted and waterfall behavior both change when some buyers are capped. The remaining eligible set is what competes.
- Raising a cap does not rewrite older leads. It only affects new eligibility.
- Document timezone assumptions for anyone watching overnight volume.
Expected result
Buyers are online when you expect them, caps match commercial limits, and a test lead during an open window can still sell. Partners understand what "capped" means before launch day.
Frequently asked questions
Why did a buyer stop buying at noon? Check daily volume and budget caps on the buyer Overview tab, then confirm schedule windows.
Do caps apply before or after filters? Eligibility checks such as schedule and caps remove buyers before they can win. Exact order can include other rules, but from an operator view, capped or offline buyers do not purchase.
Can I temporarily pause a buyer without deleting caps? Yes. Set the buyer inactive, or tighten the schedule. Inactivity is often cleaner for a short pause.
Do supplier caps stop buyer delivery? They stop or limit intake from that supplier. Buyers only see leads that still get in.
How do caps interact with go-live? Oversight here belongs on the Go-live checklist. A cap that felt safe in testing can still truncate the first live day.
Where should I look first when every lead unsold after hours? Buyer schedules, then caps, then whether any buyer remains active. The lead timeline usually names the skip reason faster than Analytics.
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