Auto-pay is a streamlined payment solution that allows you to automate affiliate commissions. By connecting your payment method (Credit Card or Bank Account) to Simple Affiliate, you can pay your partners effortlessly through a monthly automated workflow or via one-off manual triggers.
How to Enable and Configure Auto-pay
To get started, you must first link your payment source and decide how your affiliates will interact with the system.
1. Enable and Configure Auto-pay
Before you can pay affiliates, you must link your funding source and define how your affiliates will onboard into the payment system.
Link Your Funding Source
Navigate to Settings > Payout.
Select the "Enabled" option under Payment method and then click "add payment method."
Enter your banking or credit card details and then click "save card."
Verification Note: If connecting a bank account, micro-deposit verification is required and typically takes 1–2 business days to appear in your account.
Set New Affiliate Behavior
Decide when affiliates should be allowed to provide their banking details:
Let affiliates connect their bank right away: The most automated path. New affiliates see the bank connection option in their dashboard immediately upon joining.
Bank connection disabled initially: Use this if you want to vet affiliates first. You will need to manually enable the bank connection option on each affiliate's individual profile.
2. Choosing Your Auto-pay Schedule
Within the Payout schedule card, you can configure how the automated payments are generated and finalized.
Autopay Monthly Schedule
How it works: At the end of every month, an autopay payment is automatically created for all affiliates who have met your Payout Threshold.
Require confirmation: By checking the box "Require confirmation to send monthly autopay," the system will pause before charging your account. You will receive an email to review the payout list in the Payments section. This allows you to remove specific affiliates or verify referrals before the money is sent.
Payout Threshold: Enter a minimum amount (e.g., 10.00 CAD) in the threshold field. Payments will only be generated for affiliates whose earned commissions have reached this limit. If they haven't reached it, their balance simply rolls over to the next month.
Note on "Manual monthly schedule": This setting is used for manual payouts (like PayPal or Store Credit) and is not part of the Auto-pay system.
3. Ad-Hoc & Single Auto-payments
You don't have to wait for the monthly cycle to settle a balance. If an affiliate needs an immediate payout:
Go to the Affiliate's Profile.
In the "Amount Owed" card, click the "Pay now" button.
This initiates an autopay transaction for that single partner using your saved payment method. Click the "Continue" button to move to the next step.
Review the payment and click "Send payout" when ready.
It can take a few minutes up to a couple of hours for the payment to complete.
Important Rules to Remember
Invite Your Affiliates: Once your card is saved, click "Invite affiliates to connect" to send them the banking setup link. You can track your progress via the "Affiliates connected" counter.
Transaction Fees: Fees depend on your plan (Starter, Pro, or Premium) and whether you fund via bank account or credit card.
Data Accuracy: Ensure your payout threshold matches your store's primary currency to avoid reconciliation errors.
What Happens Next?
Once your schedule is set, you should click "Edit autopay invite email" to ensure the message your affiliates receive matches your brand's tone.