How do I pay affiliates without doing it by hand?

What runs on its own

Two of the three steps do. The last one does not.

systeme.io describes the process as hybrid rather than fully automatic. Clicking Pay invoices is what authorises Wise or PayPal to execute the batch transfer.

The two connections

Both are set up under your profile picture, then Settings, then Affiliate program.

Wise needs a multi-currency account, sometimes called a borderless account. The button reads Connect your Wise account and sends you to Wise to sign in. After that, the Wise account has to hold enough funds to cover the payouts before any transfer is triggered.

PayPal takes a Client ID and Secret. Its button, Connect your PayPal account, sits at the top right of the same page and opens an Add PayPal credentials popup with a field for each.

The two values come from PayPal's developer site: open the applications area, switch to Live rather than sandbox, then click Create App. The pair is shown on the screen that follows. After they are pasted in, PayPal support has to be asked to activate the Payouts feature, which systeme.io describes as answering a few questions.

The PayPal threshold

Automated batch payouts through PayPal need a minimum of 25 affiliate invoices with PayPal set as the payout method.

Below 25, the bulk payment cannot be processed automatically through the PayPal integration. A small programme pays through PayPal by hand.

Why an invoice never appears

Only invoices that have reached Processing show up in the Pay invoices list. Anything still on Pending is not there yet.

An invoice stuck on Pending after the 10th usually points at one of three things: the affiliate's bank details are invalid, there is a currency conflict, or the Wise or PayPal connection is misconfigured.

An invoice can also fail to exist. Affiliates have to complete their profile information and choose a payment method before systeme.io will generate one for them.

Paying by hand

The invoices live under Sales, then Affiliate invoices. Each row carries the invoice number, the affiliate's email address, the amount, their chosen payment method, a status of Payment sent or Unpaid, and the date.

The number counts per affiliate rather than across the programme. An affiliate's first invoice is 1, their second is 2, so a low number on a recent row means a new affiliate rather than a backlog.

The three dots at the end of a row download the invoice or mark it as paid.

Clicking the payment method opens the details needed to send the money.

• PayPal: the email address on the affiliate's PayPal account.
• Wire transfer, individual: account holder name, BIC or SWIFT, and IBAN.
• Wire transfer, company: the same, plus the company name and VAT number.

The rule that catches people out

SWIFT codes have to be exactly 11 characters long. Some are issued with only 8.

An 8-character code needs XXX added to the end before it will save, so ABCDUS33 is entered as ABCDUS33XXX. This applies both to bank details you enter and to the ones your affiliates enter for themselves.

What your affiliates have to do

They click their own profile picture, then Settings, then Affiliate commissions payment settings, then Choose payment method. PayPal takes the email address on their PayPal account. Wire transfer starts with Add bank details.

That form asks for the account holder's full name, a type of recipient details (ACH, wire or SWIFT), whether the recipient is a person or a business, then the IBAN, the BIC or SWIFT code, and the country, city, recipient address and post code.

Two limits sit on their side. Wire transfer needs a separate payment method configured for each currency they have earned in, while one PayPal setup covers every currency. And wire transfer cannot be selected at all until they have made at least one affiliate sale.

Where systeme.io contradicts itself on this

Article 221 says systeme.io generates the invoices and processes the commission payments on the 10th. Articles 161 and 1527 both say payouts are not fully automatic, and that the final transfer is triggered by hand.

This answer follows the two payout articles, because they set the timeline out step by step while the automatic claim is a single line. Worth knowing before you promise an affiliate a payment date.