How to pay affiliates in WooCommerce comes down to three steps in Affiliate and Referral Program for WooCommerce: approved commissions collect in each affiliate’s wallet, affiliates request a withdrawal, and you send the money from one screen — in bulk through PayPal, through the free Stripe add-on, or as a recorded bank transfer. This guide sets up each method. For the wallet itself and paying in store credit instead of cash, see Pay Affiliates with Store Credit and Wallets. Part of the plugin documentation.
How paying affiliates works
↑ Back to top- An affiliate requests a withdrawal from their dashboard’s Payout tab, choosing their payment method and details.
- The request appears on WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Payouts with the affiliate’s name, amount, status, request date and Payment Details.
- You select the requests and pay them — every selected PayPal request in one action, every selected Stripe request in one action, or bank transfers recorded one by one.
Payouts are always started by you. There is no payout schedule running in the background — money leaves your accounts only when you press the button, which keeps you in control of timing and cash flow.
Set up PayPal payouts
↑ Back to top- Go to: WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Advanced Features > Payments.
- Turn on Activate Paypal and choose Paypal Live or Paypal Sandbox.
- Enter the Client ID and Client Secret of a PayPal REST app with Payouts enabled (created in the PayPal Developer dashboard), then Save Changes.
- Affiliates set PayPal as their payment method and save their PayPal email in the dashboard’s Payout tab.
- On the Payouts screen, select the pending requests and press Approve selected PayPal payout — the PayPal Payouts API sends all selected payments as one batch and the rows are marked paid.
Set up Stripe payouts
↑ Back to topStripe payouts are provided through our free Stripe add-on, because the WooCommerce Marketplace does not allow bundling the required SDK in the main package. Install the Affiliate and Referral Stripe add-on, then:
- Go to: WooCommerce > Affiliate & Referral > Advanced Features > Payments.
- Turn on Activate Stripe and choose Stripe live or Stripe Sandbox.
- Enter your Publishable Key and Secret Key for the chosen mode, then Save Changes.
- On the Payouts screen, select the pending Stripe requests and press Approve selected Stripe payout.
Record a bank transfer
↑ Back to topFor affiliates paid by bank transfer, the affiliate saves their bank details as their payment method, and you make the transfer from your own bank as usual. On the Payouts screen, open the request’s Payment Details to see where to send the money, then mark the request paid — the plugin records the payout against the affiliate’s wallet. No bank connection is involved; this is honest record-keeping for money you move yourself.
Which method pays whom
↑ Back to topEach affiliate picks their own payment method in the dashboard, so one Payouts screen can hold PayPal, Stripe and bank requests side by side. The bulk buttons act only on requests matching their method — selecting everything and pressing Approve selected PayPal payout pays the PayPal requests among them.
FAQ
↑ Back to topCan I schedule automatic payouts?
↑ Back to topNo — by design, every payout run is triggered by you. What is automated is the sending: one press pays every selected PayPal request as a single batch.
Can I limit how much or how often affiliates withdraw?
↑ Back to topAmounts, yes — set Minimum amount of money an affiliate needs to withdraw and Maximum amount of money an affiliate can withdraw on the Commission screen; requests outside the limits are refused at request time. There is no frequency limit — an affiliate can submit another request whenever their remaining balance allows.
Can affiliates be paid in store credit instead?
↑ Back to topYes — affiliates can convert wallet balance into a store coupon themselves. See Pay Affiliates with Store Credit and Wallets.