Payouts

Payouts from your own account: eligibility, batching, PayPal and Wise, the manual methods, and tax forms.

Your own PayPal Business or Wise Business account pays your partners. We work out who's owed what, group it into a batch, and tell your account to send it with your own credentials.

The money goes from you to your partner. It never passes through us, and we charge nothing on it.
Because we never hold the money, your partners never verify their identity with us. That's what non-custodial means.
Your account pays your partners, so on paper you're the one paying them (the payer of record). Tax paperwork is yours. We collect the forms for you: see tax forms.
You'll need two-factor on to generate or send payouts, or to save a connection. Account security shows how.

From commission to payout

A commission is earned. Once approved, it waits out the holding period (14 days by default), your buffer for refunds.
After that it's due. When a month closes, everything due nets into one payout per partner per currency.
Refund clawbacks net against what's owed first. A partner whose net is zero or below carries the balance forward.
Your NET term sets the batch date. On NET-15, a month's commissions go into a batch on the 15th of the next month.
NET-30 and NET-60 work the same way, 30 or 60 days after the month ends.
The batch date isn't the arrival date. PayPal or Wise confirms arrival after you send.
A refund after a payout is generated, but before it's sent, takes that commission out. You send only what's still owed.
A refund after the payout is on its way becomes a clawback, netted against that partner's next payout.

You can retry a payout run safely. Nobody gets paid twice.

The page opens on the next scheduled run. That card shows one amount and its currency, who it covers, whether sending is ready, manual or blocked, and the next thing to do. Which amount depends on the state:

Failed and waiting for a fix: PayPal or Wise refused something. Next: Review failed payouts.
Generated, not sent yet: payouts sit in a batch and no money has moved. Next: Review batch, then send from the batch page.
Sent, waiting for the provider: processing.
Collecting for the next run: due commissions the next run picks up. Each partner still needs to clear the minimum and have a method you pay by.

The run date is the day a batch is made. Only PayPal, Wise or your own bank can confirm money reached a partner.

Below the card, each status links to its list. Why these totals differ explains the figures people compare:

Total	What it counts
Owed now (on Home)	Approved and due commissions not paid yet, including ones still in their holding period
Collecting	Due commissions, past their holding period, not in a payout yet
Due now	Payouts already generated into a batch. No money has moved
Processing	Sent to PayPal or Wise, waiting for their final answer
Paid	Settled as the provider reported it, or marked paid by you

Pay by file is always on the page, connected or not. The PayPal file needs PayPal's Payouts approval. PayPal said no? Use the generic file and pay each partner from your own account. On a phone, each payout is a card with the partner, amount, status and a View payout link.

Payout readiness keeps the connected account, sending mode and any blocker together:

Automatic payouts off: the run makes a batch that waits for your review.
No verified account: connect one, or export a file and pay from your own account.

Eligibility

A partner who can't be paid is never silently dropped. Their payout row is marked Not eligible, with the reason, and both of you can see it:

Reason	What it means
Partner is not active	Their balance is held until they are reinstated
No payout method on file	They need to add one in their portal
Their method is not one this program pays by	The row names the accepted methods
Tax form not submitted	Your program requires one before any payout
Balance below the minimum	It rolls into the next payout

Most of these are the partner's to fix. Remind partner nudges them in one click.
The Not eligible tab says who acts (you, the partner, or no one) and the next step.
Fixing a blocker doesn't pay anyone on the spot. The next run still has to pick the payout up.

The payout methods

PayPal and Wise pay automatically. Connect either from Payouts, Connect Wise or PayPal:

Wise (recommended): partners give bank details. You pay from your Wise Business balance, in their currency. The Wise guide gets you the token Wise needs, and covers the approval rules for UK and EEA businesses.
PayPal: partners give a PayPal email. You pay from your PayPal Business balance. PayPal has to switch on Payouts for you first. The PayPal guide asks for it, and covers the sandbox rehearsal.

We encrypt your keys and never show them again. Disconnect any time. Payouts over it stop at once. Both offer a small test payout so you can watch one land before a real batch goes.

The manual methods

Payoneer, bank transfer and wire are manual. Export a batch from the Payouts page (a Payoneer upload file, or CSV in PayPal, Wise or generic format), pay it from your own account, and mark it paid. That works on every plan. It's also the fallback if you'd rather not connect PayPal or Wise. Payout methods explains why Payoneer is manual.

Crypto isn't one you can offer. It's listed as Manual only. Partners can't pick it.

Automatic payouts and sending

Automatic payouts (Grow and above) send each batch on its date, once PayPal or Wise is verified. Without them, you review and send each batch by hand.

Turning them on asks for your two-factor code, because from then on every batch goes without you.
On Launch, See plans opens Settings, Billing. Back to Payouts returns you to the same filter and page.
Generating a batch sends no money. The finished panel links to the new batch.
Before a send, the confirmation shows the amount and currency, recipients, funding account and who's excluded.
Provider fees come on top. They depend on your PayPal or Wise account.
A Payoneer, bank, wire or other file stays manual: upload it, pay from your own account, then choose Mark N payouts paid on the batch.

A sent payout stays Processing until the provider reports back. Don't send it again while it's processing. A Failed payout keeps its reason. Fix the cause, then use Send again. We check the batch again after your two-factor code, and it settles in the background.

When a payout fails

PayPal and Wise can fail a payout after accepting it. So a payout is never marked paid because the request was accepted.

The failed payout lands on the Failed tab with their reason.
You get one email. The partner is told nothing's lost and there's nothing for them to do.
Fix the cause. An underfunded balance is the usual one.
Send the batch again. It goes out under a fresh reference, so PayPal or Wise won't mistake it for the refused one.

When a payout needs a look

Sometimes PayPal or Wise gives us an answer we can't act on safely. Let's say PayPal says it already has this batch but won't say which one. Or a status check keeps finding nothing. Sending again could pay your partner twice, so we stop.

The payout shows Needs a look instead of Processing. Nothing goes out while it's held.
If PayPal said it already has the batch, you get an email with a link to the payout.
Open the payout and check the payment in your own PayPal or Wise account.
Press Clear it. It asks for your two-factor code, the same as a send.
The money left? Choose Mark as paid. It didn't? Choose Send again.

A payout that's been processing for more than 8 days

We stop checking with PayPal or Wise after about a week, and we email you. Open the payout and press Check with PayPal (or Wise). We ask the provider for its latest answer using your own connection. It asks for your two-factor code, the same as a send.

If it's paid or sent back, the payout updates straight away.
If the provider still can't say, the payout is held. Check the provider's own activity, then press Clear it. After that, mark it paid if the money left, or send it again if it didn't.
On PayPal, sending again within 30 days of the first send reuses the same reference, so PayPal refuses a copy.
After 29 days we won't send it again on PayPal or Wise, because the provider can no longer spot a copy. The payout is held with a note and you get an email of its own, not the one above. Check your PayPal or Wise activity first. If the money left, clear it and mark it paid. If it didn't, email support@affiliaterail.com.
If we can't reach the provider, nothing changes. Try again in a few minutes.

Tax forms

Tax form collection is on Grow and above. On Launch, the upgrade link opens Settings, Billing, and Back to Tax forms returns you to the same filter and tax year.

Switch on require tax forms, and partners fill in a W-9 (US persons) or W-8BEN / W-8BEN-E (everyone else) in their portal before they're paid.
We collect, encrypt and store the forms for you as the payer of record. Export them as CSV or PDF from Tax forms when you or your accountant file.
Each row has a Next step: whether payouts are held, who acts (usually the partner, in their portal) and what they do.
A form on file lets a later run pay them. It doesn't send money by itself.
We never file for you. The forms never travel over the API: it shows each partner's status only.

The US year end has its own export, and a trap worth reading about before you file: US year end and 1099 reporting.