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Payout Schedules

Define a reliable payout cadence using payout runs and reconciliation

Table of Contents

Payout Schedules

AffiliateBase supports operator-driven payout scheduling through payout runs. Most teams use a recurring internal cadence (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).

How Timing Works

Timeline:

  1. Sale/conversion creates commission.
  2. Commission moves from pending to due after hold period.
  3. You create and execute payout runs on your cadence.
  4. Payouts reconcile to paid.

Building a Cadence

Common cadences:

  • Weekly: faster affiliate payouts, higher ops frequency
  • Bi-weekly: balanced operations
  • Monthly: lowest ops overhead

Choose based on:

  • Cash-flow preference
  • Affiliate expectations
  • Internal finance bandwidth

For each payout cycle:

  1. Open Payouts.
  2. Create a new payout run.
  3. Review eligible affiliates and totals.
  4. Execute the run.
  5. Reconcile provider attempts/exports.
  6. Confirm payouts are in paid state.

Hold Period and Due Date

The hold period is controlled per campaign (days before referrals expire) and determines when commissions become due.

Practical guidance:

  • Keep hold period aligned to refund/dispute risk.
  • Set clear affiliate expectations on when commissions become payable.

Schedule Policy Template

Use this template in your program terms:

  • Payout cadence: Monthly on the 5th
  • Hold period: 30 days
  • Reconciliation SLA: within 2 business days of payout run
  • Exception handling: manual review for fraud/refund flags

Troubleshooting

No payouts available on run day

Check:

  1. Commissions are due (not still pending).
  2. Affiliates have required payout details.
  3. Affiliates are active.

Runs created but not fully settled

Check:

  1. Stripe recipient onboarding status (Stripe method).
  2. Export execution completion (PayPal/manual methods).
  3. Remediation hints in payout run reconciliation.

Best Practices

  1. Keep cadence predictable and publish it to affiliates.
  2. Assign a run owner for each cycle.
  3. Store payout references for every completed run.
  4. Reconcile exceptions immediately rather than batching unresolved failures.

Next steps