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Bulk PayPal and Wise Payouts

Export payable commissions, pay affiliates in PayPal or Wise, and reconcile payout status in AffiliateBase

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Bulk PayPal and Wise Payouts

Use this guide when you want to pay many affiliates at once through PayPal or Wise while keeping payout status and audit history in AffiliateBase.

AffiliateBase does not auto-send PayPal or Wise transfers. AffiliateBase prepares the payable payout records and provider-specific export file; your team completes the money movement in PayPal or Wise, then marks the confirmed payouts paid in AffiliateBase.

There are three parts to the workflow:

  1. Create and download a payout export in AffiliateBase.
  2. Pay the batch in PayPal or Wise.
  3. Reconcile the confirmed payment back in AffiliateBase.

Before You Start

Confirm the AffiliateBase setup:

  1. Your account payout method is set to PayPal or Wise.
  2. Affiliates have the matching PayPal or Wise details saved in the affiliate portal.
  3. Commissions have matured to due after your configured payout window.
  4. You know the payout cadence and currency you want to use.

Confirm the provider setup:

  1. Your finance owner can access the PayPal or Wise account that will send funds.
  2. PayPal Business has Payouts access enabled.
  3. PayPal has enough balance in the payout currency to cover the payout total and fees.
  4. Wise Business is verified.
  5. The Wise team member processing the batch can create and pay for batch payments.

Create the Export in AffiliateBase

  1. Open Payouts in AffiliateBase and review payable commissions.
  2. Select Export.
  3. Select the payouts to include.
  4. Choose the matching PayPal or Wise export format.
  5. Select Create export.
  6. In Recent Payout Exports, open the actions menu for the new export.
  7. Select Download export.

Do not select Mark paid yet. The export should stay unpaid in AffiliateBase until PayPal or Wise confirms the money was sent.

Payouts page with the Export button highlighted

New payout export modal with payout selection, export format, and Create export highlighted

PayPal Bulk Payouts

Use the PayPal export when the payout run should be paid through PayPal.

AffiliateBase creates a PayPal Payouts Web CSV file. PayPal expects one recipient per row and no header row.

The file includes:

  1. Recipient identifier: the affiliate’s PayPal email.
  2. Payment amount.
  3. Currency.
  4. Customer ID: the AffiliateBase affiliate ID.
  5. Note to recipient.
  6. Recipient wallet: PAYPAL.

Pay Affiliates in PayPal

  1. Log in to your PayPal Business account.
  2. Go to Business Tools -> Make Payments -> Payouts.
  3. Start a Payouts Web or mass payment upload.
  4. Choose the PayPal CSV file you downloaded from AffiliateBase.
  5. Let PayPal validate the file.
  6. Review the recipient count, amounts, currency, and fees.
  7. Submit the payout.
  8. Open the PayPal payout activity or transaction details.
  9. Confirm the payout is processed before marking it paid in AffiliateBase.

PayPal accepts up to 5,000 payments per uploaded file. If you are paying multiple currencies, use a separate AffiliateBase export or provider file for each currency.

Do not mark rejected, denied, duplicate, or unconfirmed PayPal rows as paid in AffiliateBase. Fix the affiliate PayPal email or payment issue, then retry or handle the payout separately.

Wise Batch Payouts

Use the Wise export when the payout run should be paid through Wise.

AffiliateBase creates a Wise batch payment CSV file for email-based Wise recipients.

The file includes:

  1. Affiliate name.
  2. Recipient email.
  3. Payment reference: the AffiliateBase payout ID.
  4. Receiver type.
  5. Amount.
  6. Source currency.
  7. Target currency.
  8. Email recipient type.

Pay Affiliates in Wise

  1. Log in to Wise Business on the web.
  2. Go to Payments -> Batch.
  3. Choose the email-based batch payment flow.
  4. Upload the Wise CSV file you downloaded from AffiliateBase.
  5. Let Wise validate the file.
  6. Review each transfer, the total amount, currencies, and fees.
  7. Pay for the batch from your Wise balance or the funding method Wise offers.
  8. Track the transfers in Wise until the successful payments are confirmed.
  9. Return to AffiliateBase and mark the matching export paid.

Wise supports up to 1,000 transfers in a batch file. If Wise rejects a row, leave that AffiliateBase payout unpaid until the recipient details or payment issue is resolved.

Reconcile in AffiliateBase

After PayPal or Wise confirms that every row in the AffiliateBase export was paid:

  1. Return to Payouts in AffiliateBase.
  2. Find the export in Recent Payout Exports.
  3. Open the actions menu.
  4. Select Mark paid.
  5. Keep the PayPal payout ID, Wise batch ID, or provider confirmation in your finance records.

Marking an export paid updates the included payouts and commissions to paid. It may also notify affiliates that the payout has been marked paid.

Recent Payout Exports actions menu with Download export and Mark paid highlighted

If Only Some Rows Were Paid

Do not mark the original export paid if PayPal or Wise only paid part of the file. The Mark paid action applies to the whole export.

Use this recovery workflow instead:

  1. Save the provider confirmation showing which rows succeeded and which rows failed.
  2. In AffiliateBase, delete the original export to unlink the payouts from that export.
  3. Create a new export that includes only the payouts that were successfully paid.
  4. Mark that successful export paid.
  5. Leave failed payouts unpaid until the recipient issue is fixed and they can be retried.

Do not re-upload the original full file after a partial success. That can duplicate payments for affiliates who were already paid.

Test-Mode Launch Checklist

Before launch, you can validate the operational flow without AffiliateBase moving money:

  1. Create a test affiliate and test referral.
  2. Confirm the Stripe test conversion creates a commission.
  3. Let the commission mature to due according to your configured payout window.
  4. Create a payout run.
  5. Generate the PayPal or Wise export.
  6. In PayPal or Wise, confirm whether your provider account supports a sandbox, preview, or validation-only review for the file.
  7. Confirm your finance team understands where provider confirmation happens.
  8. Mark only confirmed test payouts paid in AffiliateBase.

AffiliateBase test mode can validate tracking, commissions, payout creation, export generation, and reconciliation. Real money movement still happens in PayPal or Wise.

Troubleshooting

No Payable Payouts Appear

Check:

  1. Commissions are due, not still pending.
  2. Affiliates are active.
  3. The selected payout method matches the details affiliates entered.

Export Is Missing Recipients

Check:

  1. PayPal exports require PayPal emails.
  2. Wise exports require Wise details.
  3. The affiliate saved details before you created the export.

Provider Rejects a Row

Leave that payout unpaid in AffiliateBase until the provider issue is fixed. Update the affiliate payout details, re-export if needed, and only mark paid after PayPal or Wise confirms payment.

Some Rows Succeed and Others Fail

Do not mark the original export paid. Split the successful rows into a new export, mark that export paid, and leave failed rows open for remediation or a later payout run.

PayPal Warns About a Duplicate File

PayPal may warn you if the same file was uploaded recently. Stop and confirm whether the earlier payout already sent funds before submitting again.

Wise Asks for More Recipient Details

Wise may require additional recipient information depending on the destination country, currency, or transfer method. Add the missing details in Wise or collect them from the affiliate before paying the batch.

Official Provider References