PayPal payouts

Partners are paid from your PayPal Business balance to their PayPal email. We work out who's owed what. Your account sends it, and we take no fee.

You'll paste two things into the connection panel:

• Client ID
• Secret

Both come from a Live app with Payouts on. Have one? Skip to step 3. If not, allow 15 minutes plus a few days for PayPal.

1. A PayPal Business account

Partners are paid from this account.

1. Start one at paypal.com/bizsignup, or sign in and upgrade a personal account.
2. Use your company's money email. Partners see it on their payments.
3. Confirm your email, then your identity. Payouts won't switch on without both.
4. Link a bank under Wallet, Link a bank account, to top up your balance.

2. Ask PayPal to switch on Payouts

PayPal decides for each business, and turns some down on the spot. New accounts with little sales history need a person there to approve them.

1. Check four things in PayPal first: a Business account, confirmed identity, a confirmed bank, and your business website on the account and loading.
2. Signed in, request access at paypal.com/payoutsweb/landing.
3. Pick paying commissions to affiliates as the use. PayPal lists it as normal.
4. Give real numbers: partners a month and the typical amount. A handful is fine.
5. PayPal answers at once, or emails within a few business days.

Outside the US, PayPal won't switch Payouts on by itself. In the UK and the EU the form often says no at once, and new accounts hear no more often. The end of this guide says what to do.

Don't inflate your numbers. PayPal can freeze the account later if they don't match.

3. A Live app, and its Client ID and Secret

Make a Live app with Payouts ticked.

1. Sign in at developer.paypal.com with the same Business account.
2. Open Apps & Credentials. Switch the top toggle from Sandbox to Live.
3. Choose Create App, name it AffiliateRail payouts, then tick Payouts under Features.
4. Copy the Client ID. Choose Show next to Secret and copy that too.

Sandbox credentials can't move real money, and cause most failed connections. If the secret leaks, make a new one and save it here.

4. In AffiliateRail

Save both values, then send yourself a one-cent test.

1. Paste both into the panel, with This is a sandbox app off. Choose Save and verify.
2. A green tick with your app's name means Payouts is on.
3. Test with a PayPal email you control, not the sending account.
4. Choose Send 0.01 in your currency. The result shows here within seconds.
5. Then turn on automatic payouts, or send batches by hand from Payouts.

While PayPal decides, Save and verify says Payouts isn't on.

A partner email with no PayPal account shows unclaimed. PayPal holds the money 30 days, then returns it.

Optional: if PayPal says no

That's PayPal's call about your PayPal account. Nothing you owe partners is lost.

1. Pay now with Wise Business, from Connect a payout method.
2. Or use Pay by file: Export CSV, Generic CSV. Pay, then mark each payout paid.
3. Ask partners on PayPal to add a bank account. Their portal marks PayPal as paid by hand for now.
4. Ask PayPal for a person to review it, in writing. Signed in, open Message Centre and choose New Message. There's no email address for this.
5. In the UK, PayPal's business team is on 020 7949 3275. In the EU, use Contact sales on your country's PayPal Payouts page.
6. Tell them what you pay, with your real numbers. There's a message to copy below. Ask for a case reference.
7. There's a second place to apply: at developer.paypal.com, open My Account and choose Enable next to Payouts.
8. Reapply once you have more partners or a longer trading history.
9. When PayPal says yes, choose Verify again here. Partners' emails stay saved.

Expect a reply in about a week. PayPal may ask for proof of address or a bank statement first.

We run a partner program for our software. We pay commission to [how many] partners once a month, about [amount] each, after a [days]-day refund window. Every partner applied and accepted our terms. Please ask a person to review our Payouts application.

The PayPal Payouts file needs the same approval, so use Generic CSV until then.

Optional: keep the balance funded

Payouts come only from your PayPal balance, never a linked bank or card.

1. Before each payout date, cover the batch total plus PayPal's fees.
2. Short? PayPal refuses with INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS. Nothing is half-sent, and you get one email.
3. The partner is told nothing's lost and nothing is theirs to do.
4. Top up, open the payout on Failed, and choose Send again. It gets a fresh reference.

Optional: rehearse in PayPal's sandbox

Watch a payout land with pretend money first.

1. In the dashboard, open Testing Tools, Sandbox Accounts (older: Sandbox, Accounts).
2. Fund the default business account: ..., View/Edit Account. Or Create Custom Account.
3. Save the Default Application's sandbox values here, with This is a sandbox app on.
4. Test with the sandbox personal email. RECEIVER_UNCONFIRMED? Confirm that email first.
5. Save Live credentials before your first real batch. They replace the sandbox ones.