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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 exports and payment references.
  6. Confirm payouts are in paid state.

Referral Window and Commission Due Date

Campaign timing has two separate settings:

  • days_before_referrals_expire: how long a referral can receive credit after a click.
  • days_until_commissions_are_due: how long after a sale before the commission becomes payable.

Practical guidance:

  • Keep the commission due delay aligned to refund/dispute risk.
  • Keep the referral window aligned to the normal customer decision cycle.
  • 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. Export execution completion in PayPal or Wise.
  2. Missing PayPal or Wise recipient details.
  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