This page is for account owners and admins who want to pay affiliates through Stripe instead of PayPal or Wise exports. Once Stripe payouts are on, each payout is a Stripe transfer from your Stripe balance to the affiliate’s own Stripe account. Stripe then pays the affiliate’s bank on its usual schedule.
Prerequisites
Stripe payouts need your own Stripe Connect platform with an approved platform profile. You register for Stripe Connect and get the profile approved in the Stripe Dashboard. Stripe won’t create affiliate accounts or accept transfers until the profile is approved. Until then, you can pay affiliates with PayPal, Wise, or a payout export.
Stripe moves the money. AffiliateBase never holds your funds.
How it works
- Your Stripe account becomes a Stripe Connect platform. You set this up once in the Stripe Dashboard.
- Each affiliate connects a Stripe account once from the affiliate portal. Stripe collects and checks their identity and bank details. AffiliateBase never sees them.
- When you pay a payout, AffiliateBase sends one Stripe transfer from your available Stripe balance to the affiliate’s Stripe account.
- Affiliates that Stripe can’t pay (for example, in an unsupported country) choose PayPal or Wise instead. You pay them with an export or by recording the payment.
Before you begin
- Owner or admin access in AffiliateBase. Settings -> Stripe Payouts is in the settings menu.
- Stripe connected to AffiliateBase in Settings -> General -> Stripe Connection. See Connect Stripe.
- Access to the Stripe Dashboard for that same Stripe account, with permission to set up Connect and create API keys.
- Available funds in your Stripe balance, in your display currency, to cover the payouts you plan to send.
Costs and your responsibilities
Stripe bills these fees to your Stripe account. AffiliateBase adds no markup.
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Each active affiliate account | About $2 a month for each affiliate account that receives a payout that month |
| Each payout | About 0.25% + 25¢ per payout |
Rates are Stripe’s, not AffiliateBase’s. Check current rates on Stripe’s Connect pricing page.
When you pay through Stripe:
- You file 1099 forms for US affiliates. Stripe’s 1099 tools work with these affiliate accounts.
- You’re responsible for any negative balance on affiliate accounts you’re liable for.
Which affiliates Stripe can pay
The countries depend on the country of your Stripe account:
- Stripe can always pay affiliates whose bank account is in the same country as your Stripe account.
- If your Stripe account is in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, or the European Economic Area (EEA), Stripe can also pay affiliates in any of those countries.
Once your key is saved, Settings -> Stripe Payouts -> Affiliate countries lists the exact countries for your account.
Affiliates elsewhere choose PayPal or Wise in the affiliate portal. You pay them with the PayPal or Wise export or by recording the payment yourself.
Set up Stripe payouts
Open Settings -> Stripe Payouts. The Setup steps list shows six steps in order, and each one has a status: Done, Needs attention, To do, or Waiting. A step updates when AffiliateBase sees the change in Stripe.
- Add your restricted key
- Register for Stripe Connect
- Complete your platform profile and branding
- Balance and country checks
- Turn on Stripe payouts
- First affiliate connects
A step shows Waiting until the step it depends on is done.
Step 1: Add your restricted key
In the Stripe Dashboard, open API keys and create a restricted key just for AffiliateBase, with these permissions:
- Connect Accounts: write
- Account Links: write
- Transfers: write
- Balance: read
Write access includes read access.
Create the key in the same Stripe account that is connected to AffiliateBase. Use a live key (rk_live_...) for a live connection, or a test key (rk_test_...) for a test connection.
Back in Settings -> Stripe Payouts -> Restricted key:
- Paste the key into Restricted key.
- Choose Verify and save key.
AffiliateBase checks the key with Stripe, including that it belongs to the Stripe account connected to AffiliateBase. Once saved, the key’s Status shows Verified and its Mode shows Live or Test. Saving the key also runs the Connect, country, and balance checks for you, so steps 2 and 4 fill in on their own.
AffiliateBase stores the key encrypted and never shows it again. It deletes the key if you disconnect Stripe or change your payout method. To swap keys, paste a new one in Replace key. To remove it, choose Delete key. Stripe payouts stop until you add a new one.
If the key isn’t accepted:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| ”This key is missing a permission.” | Edit the key in Stripe so it has all four permissions above, or create a new one just for AffiliateBase. |
| ”Stripe didn’t accept this key.” | Copy the whole restricted key from the Stripe Dashboard and paste it again. |
| ”This key belongs to a different Stripe account.” | Create the key in the Stripe account connected to AffiliateBase. |
| ”Connect your Stripe account to AffiliateBase first, then add the key.” | Connect Stripe in Settings -> General, then add the key. |
| ”This is a test-mode key.” or “This is a live-mode key…” | Use a key whose mode matches your Stripe connection. |
| ”A payout is still being confirmed with the current key.” | Wait until no Stripe payouts are processing, then replace the key. |
Step 2: Register for Stripe Connect
Choose Open Stripe Connect and register for Connect in the Stripe Dashboard. This step is Done once your key can list connected accounts.
Step 3: Complete your platform profile and branding
In the Stripe Dashboard:
- Complete your Connect platform profile, including the loss-liability acknowledgement. Stripe won’t create affiliate accounts until it’s done.
- Set your onboarding branding (Set onboarding branding) so affiliates recognize your business when Stripe asks for their details.
AffiliateBase can’t see these two pages, so you confirm this step yourself. When both are finished, choose I’ve completed my platform profile and branding.
Step 4: Balance and country checks
AffiliateBase checks two things after you save the key:
| Check | What it confirms | If it needs attention |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe account country | AffiliateBase can read your Stripe account’s country. | Choose Re-check with Stripe, or contact support if this keeps happening. |
| Balance in your currency | Your Stripe balance holds funds in your display currency. | Add funds in that currency to your Stripe balance. |
After you change something in Stripe, such as registering for Connect or adding funds, choose Re-check with Stripe to run the checks again. If a check says “Stripe couldn’t be reached”, wait a minute and re-check.
Step 5: Turn on Stripe payouts
Turn on Stripe payouts appears only after steps 1 to 4 are Done. Choose it and confirm. Settings -> General -> Payout method then shows Stripe Connect.
From now on, new payout runs pay ready affiliates by Stripe transfer. Affiliates see a Stripe payouts section in their portal Settings and can connect their Stripe account. Point them to Get paid through Stripe, or use the Tell your affiliates card to notify them.
You can’t choose Stripe Connect from the Payout method list. Turn it on from Settings -> Stripe Payouts.
Step 6: First affiliate connects
This step is Done once an affiliate has connected a Stripe account. Until then it shows To do after you turn payouts on.
If an affiliate can’t connect
If Stripe still blocks an affiliate’s sign-up because Connect setup isn’t finished, step 3 shows Needs attention with Stripe’s reason. Account owners and admins also get an “An affiliate couldn’t connect Stripe” notification. Whether you also get an email depends on your notification settings.
- Fix your platform profile or onboarding branding in the Stripe Dashboard, using Stripe’s reason as a guide.
- Ask the affiliate to try connecting again.
The alert clears once an affiliate connects. It also clears when you confirm your platform profile again after fixing it in Stripe. If Stripe still refuses an affiliate, the alert comes back.
Tell your affiliates
Once Stripe payouts are on, Settings -> Stripe Payouts shows a Tell your affiliates card. It says how many affiliates haven’t connected Stripe yet and previews the message they’ll get.
- Review the preview.
- Choose Send to and the number of affiliates, then confirm.
Each affiliate gets an in-app notification with a Connect Stripe button. They also get an email, unless they turned off the Stripe payout setup email in their notification settings.
The card counts active affiliates who:
- have an email address,
- haven’t connected a Stripe account or chosen PayPal or Wise, and
- are in a country Stripe can pay.
Each affiliate is told once. After you’ve sent, the card shows how many affiliates you’ve notified so far and the date of your last send. When new affiliates join or become eligible, the button changes to Send to and the number of new affiliates, and it covers only them.
Automatic reminders
Affiliates who are owed money and still haven’t connected get an automatic reminder, so you don’t have to chase them.
- Reminders only go out while the affiliate is owed money. The first one comes at least a week after they were told (later if nothing was owed yet), then at most once a week, up to three reminders in all.
- The reminder names the amount waiting for them.
- Reminders stop once the affiliate connects Stripe or chooses PayPal or Wise.
Affiliates can turn off the email in their notification settings. See Get paid through Stripe.
Run Stripe payouts
-
Open Payouts and choose New Payouts.
-
Review each affiliate. The line under the amount shows how they’ll be paid:
- Stripe transfer: their Stripe account is ready.
- PayPal export (Stripe can’t pay them) or Wise export (Stripe can’t pay them): they chose a fallback. Pay them from Payouts -> Export.
- Hasn’t set up Stripe payouts: they haven’t connected Stripe yet.
- Stripe needs more information from them: they must finish details in Stripe.
- Stripe is reviewing their details: nothing to do yet.
- Stripe can’t pay them, and they have no PayPal or Wise email yet: they must add a PayPal or Wise email and choose it in the portal.
Affiliates in the last four states can’t be selected until that’s resolved.
-
Select affiliates, then choose Create payouts. Check Execute payouts immediately to send the Stripe transfers right away.
If you didn’t execute immediately, send the payouts later with Execute now on the payout run, or open a single payout and choose Pay with Stripe.
Your balance must cover the run
Before sending any transfer, AffiliateBase checks that your available Stripe balance covers the whole run. If it doesn’t, nothing is sent, and you see how much to add, for example “Your Stripe balance is short by USD 120.00.” Add funds to your Stripe balance, then run the payouts again.
Only your available Stripe balance counts. Funds that are still pending in Stripe don’t cover transfers.
What a sent payout looks like
A Stripe transfer is complete when Stripe accepts it, so the payout and its commissions are marked paid right away. The payout page shows a Stripe transfers list with each attempt, its time, its Stripe transfer ID, and a status:
- Sent: Stripe accepted the transfer.
- Being confirmed: AffiliateBase hasn’t heard back from Stripe yet.
- Didn’t go through: Stripe rejected the transfer.
- Reversed: the transfer was reversed in Stripe.
- Not found in Stripe: Stripe has no record of the transfer.
The money then sits in the affiliate’s Stripe account until Stripe pays it to their bank on its usual schedule.
When a transfer fails
If Stripe rejects a transfer, the payout goes back to due. Its page shows Last Stripe transfer didn’t go through with the reason and the time it was recorded. Fix the cause, then choose Retry Stripe transfer.
Common reasons:
- “Your Stripe balance doesn’t cover this payout.” Add funds to your Stripe balance, then retry.
- “Stripe payouts need a working restricted key.” Replace it in Settings -> Stripe Payouts, then retry.
- “Stripe refused this action for your key.” Check that Connect is active, your platform profile is approved, and the key has the permissions listed in setup, then retry.
- “Stripe rejected the transfer: …” Read Stripe’s reason, fix it in Stripe, then retry.
If the page says a Stripe transfer is still being confirmed, don’t retry. AffiliateBase checks with Stripe automatically and updates the payout. Before it sends anything again, it checks whether Stripe already received the transfer, so an affiliate is never paid twice.
If the payout page shows Add a working key to finish this payout, AffiliateBase can no longer check Stripe for a transfer it sent. Choose Open Stripe Payouts, add a working restricted key, and AffiliateBase confirms the payout automatically. The payout stays processing and won’t be sent twice.
When a transfer is reversed
AffiliateBase never reverses transfers itself. If one is reversed in Stripe, AffiliateBase picks it up automatically. This can take a few hours.
- Full reversal: the payout and its commissions go back to due. You can pay it again with Retry Stripe transfer or in a later run.
- Partial reversal: the payout stays paid, and you get a “Stripe transfer partly reversed” notification. AffiliateBase won’t send the difference. If the affiliate is still owed it, send it from your Stripe Dashboard. If you reversed it on purpose, nothing else is needed.
When Stripe can’t reach the affiliate’s bank
The transfer to the affiliate’s Stripe account still counts. The payout stays paid. Stripe emails the affiliate so they can update their bank details in Stripe, and then pays them out. You don’t need to send the payout again.
Record a payment made outside AffiliateBase
A Stripe payout page offers Record external payment only when every Stripe attempt for it was rejected by Stripe or fully reversed, or when it was never sent. While a Stripe transfer for the payout might still exist, the page explains that an earlier transfer still has to be checked in Stripe, and only Pay with Stripe or Retry Stripe transfer is available.
To record a payment, enter the Stripe payment reference and Actual payment date, confirm the payment was already made, then choose Record external payment.
Switch away from Stripe payouts
Change Payout method in Settings -> General to PayPal or Wise. AffiliateBase deletes your restricted key when you switch.
- You can’t switch while any Stripe transfer is still being confirmed. Try again once they finish.
- Payouts already created for Stripe can’t be exported to PayPal or Wise after you switch. Pay them outside AffiliateBase and use Record external payment.
Troubleshooting
Stripe Payouts isn’t in the settings menu
If Stripe Payouts is missing from the settings menu, Stripe payouts are turned off for your account. Contact AffiliateBase support. If the menu item is there but opening it sends you back, you need owner or admin access: ask an owner or admin to set it up.
Turn on Stripe payouts doesn’t appear
The button appears only after steps 1 to 4 are Done. Fix each step marked Needs attention or To do, confirm your platform profile and branding in step 3, then choose Re-check with Stripe.
An affiliate couldn’t connect Stripe
Step 3 shows Needs attention with Stripe’s reason. Finish your platform profile and onboarding branding in the Stripe Dashboard, then ask the affiliate to try again. See If an affiliate can’t connect.
An affiliate can’t be selected in New Payouts
Read the line under their amount and see Run Stripe payouts. Most often they haven’t connected Stripe yet or Stripe needs more details from them.
New Payouts says Stripe payouts are turned off
Stripe payouts are turned off for your account, and Create payouts is disabled for Stripe payouts. Transfers already sent are still confirmed. Contact AffiliateBase support.
Next steps
- Share Get paid through Stripe with your affiliates
- Compare affiliate payout methods
- Review payout runs and reconciliation