Affiliate Payouts

Overview

Efficiently managing affiliate payouts is critical for maintaining a successful affiliate program. Affiliates are more likely to actively promote your products when they know they will be paid accurately and on time.

Refgrow offers multiple options for processing payouts to your affiliates, from manual payments to fully automated processing. Affiliates can request payouts directly from the widget or portal, and you choose whether to approve each request manually or let Refgrow send the money automatically via PayPal/Wise.

How the Payout Flow Works

The full payout cycle happens in three steps:

1. Affiliate adds a payment method. In the embedded widget or affiliate portal, they open Settings → Payment Method and enter their PayPal email, Wise email, bank details, or other payout details.
2. Affiliate clicks "Request Payout". Once their eligible earnings reach your minimum payout amount (and the hold period has passed), a green 💸 Request Payout button appears next to their unpaid balance. The button shows the exact eligible amount.
3. The request is processed according to your selected mode — manual approval or fully automatic (see below). The affiliate's balance, conversions, and payment history are updated automatically once the payout is sent.

Manual vs Automatic Payouts

Refgrow supports two payout modes. You can switch between them any time from Dashboard → Payouts using the toggle at the top of the page. Manual is the default — nothing leaves your account without your approval.

Enabling Automatic Payouts

1. Configure PayPal or Wise in Settings → Payouts (see below)
2. Go to Dashboard → Payouts
3. Click the Automatic payouts toggle at the top of the page. The toggle is disabled (manual mode) by default
4. Confirm your provider is configured. If no provider is found, Refgrow will fall back to manual review and show a warning

Payout Settings

Setting Payout Frequency

Determine how often you will process affiliate payments:

1. Go to your program settings
2. Navigate to the "Payouts" tab
3. Select your preferred payout frequency:
   • Weekly: Process payments every week
   • Bi-weekly: Process payments every two weeks
   • Monthly: Process payments once per month (most common)
   • Quarterly: Process payments every three months
4. Save your settings

The frequency you choose will be communicated to your affiliates in their dashboard.

Minimum Payout Amount

Set a minimum threshold that affiliates must reach before receiving a payout:

1. In the "Payouts" tab of your program settings
2. Enter your minimum payout amount (e.g., $50, $100)
3. Save your settings

Affiliates will only be eligible for payment when their unpaid earnings meet or exceed this threshold. This helps reduce the administrative costs of processing many small payments.

Hold Period Settings

Configure a hold period to protect against refunds and chargebacks before processing payouts:

1. In the "Payouts" tab of your program settings
2. Enter your desired hold period in days (0-365)
3. Save your settings

How Hold Periods Work:

• 0 days: Earnings are immediately eligible for payout after conversion
• 30+ days: Earnings must wait the specified number of days from the conversion date before becoming eligible
• Protection: Helps protect against refunds, chargebacks, and subscription cancellations
• Transparency: Affiliates can see both their total earnings and payout-eligible earnings separately

Hold Period Display

When a hold period is configured:

• Affiliates see separate "Total Earnings" and "Available for Payout" amounts
• Earnings still in the hold period are clearly marked with release dates
• Payout requests only process eligible earnings
• Admin dashboard shows held vs. eligible earnings for all affiliates

Payment Methods

Adding Payment Methods

Configure the payment methods you offer to affiliates:

1. Go to your program settings
2. Navigate to the "Payouts" tab
3. In the "Available Payment Methods" section, add methods like:
   • PayPal
   • Wise (formerly TransferWise)
   • Bank Transfer
   • Payoneer
   • Crypto
4. Save your settings

Affiliates will be able to choose their preferred payment method from your list of options.

Payment Integration Setup

For automated bulk payouts, set up payment integrations:

PayPal Integration

1. In the "Payouts" tab, find the "Payment Integration Settings" section
2. Enter your PayPal Client ID and Client Secret
3. Save your settings

Wise Integration

1. Get your Wise API Token from the Wise Developer Portal
2. In the "Payouts" tab, find the "Payment Integration Settings" section
3. Enter your Wise API Token in the provided field
4. Click the "Test Connection" button to verify your token and automatically detect your Profile ID
5. Save your settings once the connection test is successful

Processing Payouts

Accessing the Payments Page

To manage payouts to your affiliates:

1. Log in to your Refgrow dashboard
2. Select the program you want to manage
3. Navigate to the "Payouts" tab

Here you will see a list of all your affiliates with their payment details and earnings.

Manual Payouts

In manual mode (the default), affiliates trigger payouts via the Request Payout button, and you approve each one from the dashboard. You can also start payouts yourself without waiting for a request — both paths end up on the same Payouts page:

1. On the Payouts page, find the affiliate you want to pay
2. Review their unpaid earnings and payment details
3. Pick a method at the top of the page:
   • PayPal or Wise — Refgrow sends the payment through the integration automatically
   • Manual (Mark as Paid) — you send the money yourself (bank transfer, crypto, etc.) and mark it paid inside Refgrow so the affiliate balance is updated
4. Click Pay next to the affiliate, or select multiple rows and use Pay Selected / Pay All Eligible
5. Confirm the amount and method in the modal
6. The system records the payment, updates the affiliate's payment history, sends them an email notification, and clears the unpaid balance

Bulk Automated Payouts

For processing multiple payouts at once:

1. On the Payouts page, select the affiliates you want to pay by checking the boxes next to their names
2. Choose the payment method (PayPal or Wise) from the dropdown menu
3. Click the "Process Bulk Payout" button
4. Review the summary showing total affiliates and amount
5. Confirm the action

Refgrow will automatically process the payments through the selected integration and update the payment status for each affiliate.

How Wise Payouts Work

When using Wise for bulk payouts, the system works intelligently to send money to your affiliates:

• Wise Account Holders: If an affiliate has a Wise account with the email they used to register, money is sent directly to their Wise balance
• Bank Account Fallback: If an affiliate does not have a Wise account, the system will attempt to send money to their bank account based on their provided details
• Automatic Currency Conversion: The system automatically handles currency conversion if needed (e.g., USD to EUR)
• Smart Routing: Wise automatically determines the best way to deliver the payment based on the recipient's location and available options

Payment History

Refgrow maintains a complete history of all payments made to affiliates:

• Each affiliate's record shows their total paid earnings
• The date of their last payment is displayed
• You can view a detailed payment history for each affiliate

This payment history helps with record-keeping and can be useful for tax reporting purposes.

Affiliate Payment Information

How Affiliates Enter Payment Details

Affiliates can enter and update their payment information through the embedded widget or the hosted affiliate portal (whichever you offer in your program):

1. They open the widget or portal and sign in
2. Navigate to the "Settings" or "Payment" section
3. Select their preferred payment method from your available options
4. Enter the required details for that payment method:
   • PayPal: Their PayPal email address
   • Wise: Just their email address (if they have a Wise account) or their bank details
   • Bank Transfer: Bank account information (account number, routing number, etc.)
   • Other methods: Relevant account details as required
5. Save their settings

Requesting a Payout

After saving a payment method and earning enough to hit your minimum payout amount, affiliates see a 💸 Request Payoutbutton in both the widget and the portal. The button is visible on the Payouts / Payment Method view and shows the exact eligible amount, for example: 💸 Request Payout ($127.50).

• Eligible amount: equals unpaid earnings minus anything still inside the hold period. The button is disabled if eligible earnings are below your minimum
• Held earnings: shown separately with a small "on hold (Nd)" label so affiliates know when they will unlock
• No payment method: the button is replaced with a prompt to configure one in Settings
• After clicking: the affiliate sees an immediate confirmation. If you use manual mode, the request waits for your approval. If you use automatic mode, the payment is sent instantly and the success message includes the provider used

Best Practices

Self-Billing Invoices

Refgrow automatically generates self-billing invoices for affiliate payouts, helping you stay compliant with EU VAT regulations and simplify accounting for both you and your affiliates.

Setting Up Invoice Details

To configure invoices for your program:

1. Go to Settings → Invoices in your project dashboard
2. Enter your company details:
   • Company name — appears on all generated invoices
   • Company address — full postal address
   • Country — used for EU VAT calculations
   • VAT number — your EU VAT registration number (optional)
   • Additional info — any extra text to display on invoices (bank details, payment terms, etc.)
3. Save your settings

Requiring Affiliate Tax Data

You can optionally require affiliates to provide their tax information (VAT ID, tax number, or company details) before they can request payouts:

1. In the Invoices settings tab, enable "Require affiliate tax data"
2. Optionally add a custom description explaining what information you need
3. Affiliates will see a "Tax Information" section in their widget settings

EU VAT Validation

When an affiliate enters a VAT ID, Refgrow validates it in real-time against the EU VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) database. This ensures that only valid, active VAT numbers are accepted.

• Valid EU VAT IDs are marked with a green checkmark
• Invalid IDs show an error message
• Non-EU affiliates can still enter their local tax/company number without VIES validation

Invoice Download for Affiliates

Affiliates can download PDF invoices directly from their embedded widget dashboard:

• Each paid payout in the payment history shows a download icon
• Clicking the icon generates and downloads a PDF invoice
• The invoice includes your company details, the affiliate's information, payout amount, date, and VAT details
• Invoices are generated on the fly — no manual creation needed

Troubleshooting

Affiliate Missing Payment Details

If an affiliate is eligible for payment but has not provided payment details:

1. Contact them directly to request their payment information
2. Send them instructions on how to update their payment details
3. Consider setting up automatic reminders for affiliates with missing payment information

Bulk Payout Failures

If a bulk payout fails, check these common issues:

1. Verify your payment integration credentials are correct and up to date
2. Ensure you have sufficient funds in your integrated payment account
3. Check that affiliates' payment details are valid
4. Review any specific error messages provided by the payment processor

Wise Integration Issues

Common Wise integration problems and solutions:

Connection Test Fails

• Invalid Token: Verify your API token is correct and has not expired
• Wrong Environment: Make sure you are using the right token for your environment (sandbox vs production)
• Permission Issues: Ensure your API token has the required permissions for transfers

Profile ID Not Detected

• Try regenerating your API token in the Wise Developer Portal
• Ensure your Wise account is fully verified and active
• Contact Wise support if you continue having issues

Payout Transfers Fail

• Insufficient Balance: Ensure your Wise account has enough funds
• Recipient Issues: Verify the affiliate's email or bank details are correct
• Manual Approval Required: Some transfers may require manual approval in your Wise account
• Currency Not Supported: Check if the target currency is supported by Wise