Affiliate payouts

Pay affiliates' commissions through Stripe Connect or PayPal Payouts — setting it up, what affiliates do, and running a payout.

Affiliate payouts send your affiliates the commissions they earned, straight from your own payment account: through Stripe Connect (a transfer from your Stripe balance) or PayPal Payouts (a payment from your PayPal balance). You can offer one or both, and each affiliate picks how they want to be paid.

The commissions themselves come from your affiliate programs. This page is about getting that money to the affiliates.

How it works

1. You save your Stripe or PayPal keys where your payments are set up (Payment Processing in Genesis, Payment gateways in the CRM), the same account that takes your payments. Affiliate payouts are set up from them automatically.
2. You choose which providers to offer your affiliates, and which one is the default.
3. Each affiliate sets up their payout account in your community: a Stripe account, or a PayPal email.
4. When you're ready to pay, you run a payout in the CRM. Every affiliate with matured commissions is paid through the provider they chose.

Payouts never go out on their own: money only leaves your account when you run a payout.

Setting up affiliate payouts

You can do this in either place, since both show the same settings:

• Genesis: Settings → Affiliate Payouts (in the Sales & Leads group).
• CRM: Settings → Payments → Affiliate payouts.

There is a row for Stripe Connect and one for PayPal Payouts. Click Connect on a row (or Details once it is set up) to see a checklist of what is done and what is still missing. Check again re-runs the check after you change something in Stripe or PayPal.

Stripe Connect

1. Connect Stripe to this project. Add your Stripe keys in Payment Processing → Stripe (in the CRM: Settings → Payments → Payment gateways), the same account that takes your payments. See Stripe.

2. Turn on Connect in Stripe. In the Stripe Dashboard go to Connect → Get started and answer Stripe's setup like this:

   Stripe asks	Answer
   Funds flow	Buyers will purchase from you
   Account creation	Embedded onboarding components
   Account management	Express Dashboard
   Refunds & chargebacks	Acknowledge — buyers pay you, so they are yours

3. Come back and click Check again. When it says Stripe Connect is ready, Connect is on and the payout webhooks are registered in your Stripe account.

Payouts are transfers from your available Stripe balance, so keep enough there (Stripe Dashboard → Balances).

PayPal Payouts

1. Get your live API keys. In PayPal Developer, switch Sandbox to Live (top left), open Apps & Credentials, and pick your app or click Create App. Live keys need a PayPal Business account. Sandbox keys don't work for payouts.
2. Connect PayPal to this project. Paste the app's Client ID and Secret in Payment Processing → PayPal (in the CRM: Settings → Payments → Payment gateways). See PayPal.
3. Turn on Payouts for this app. In PayPal Developer, on the same live app:
   1. Open Apps & Credentials and click the app's name.
   2. Scroll down to Features → Payment capabilities.
   3. Check Payouts.
   4. Click Save Changes.
4. Click Check again. When it says PayPal Payouts is ready, your keys are accepted and Payouts is enabled on the app.

Payouts are sent from your PayPal balance, in the Payout currency you pick on the PayPal row (Details), so keep enough there.

Choosing what to offer

On each row:

Button	What it does
Offer	Lets affiliates choose this provider. Available once the provider is set up.
Make default	Affiliates who haven't chosen are paid through this one.
Stop offering	Affiliates can no longer choose it. You can't stop offering the only provider left.

The row's description tells you where it stands: Offered · default, Offered to affiliates or Not offered, plus what to finish when the setup isn't complete.

You may also see one of these notes:

• "This project has no affiliate program yet" — nothing is paid out until you create a program in the CRM under Affiliate → Programs.
• "Your role can't see affiliate payouts" — your role needs the Affiliate program module. Ask the project owner (see Roles).

What your affiliates do

Each affiliate sets up their own payout account in your community's Affiliate Center, on the Payouts tab: they connect a Stripe account or enter a PayPal email, and choose between them if you offer both. Affiliates who never choose are paid through your default. See Getting paid for what they see there.

Running a payout

1. In the CRM, open Affiliate → Payouts and click Run Payouts.
2. The dialog lists the matured commissions due for payout right now, per affiliate. Tick the affiliates you want to pay (or select all).
3. Click Run Payouts. The button shows the total you're about to send.

The results show who was paid:

• Paid — a Stripe transfer. It reaches the affiliate's Stripe account at once.
• Processing (PayPal) — PayPal accepted the payment and confirms it shortly. The status updates on its own.
• Failed — with the reason. The commission stays for the next run.
• Skipped — the provider that affiliate uses isn't set up, or they have no ready payout account. Their commissions stay for the next run.

The Affiliate Payouts list keeps every payout, with filters and grouping, so you can see what was paid, when and how.

Things worth knowing

• A commission becomes payable 30 days after the sale, as long as the sale wasn't refunded or charged back. Until then it is earned but not yet due.
• Payouts only go out when you run them. Nothing is paid on a schedule.
• Each affiliate is paid in the currency their provider pays in. Commissions in other currencies wait for a payout in that currency.
• A chargeback on a commission that was already paid becomes a debt. It's taken out of that affiliate's next payout in the same currency, and until newer commissions cover it their balance shows negative.