How to Set Up Autopay and Pay Your Affiliates

Autopay pays your affiliates from a card or a bank account that you connect. Simple Affiliate sends the full commission to each affiliate through Stripe. You pay the Autopay fees on top of the commission.

How Autopay Works

You can pay your affiliates in two ways:

• Monthly schedule: After each month ends, Autopay creates one payment for the affiliates who reached your payout threshold.
• Pay now: You pay one affiliate, or many affiliates, at any time.

Autopay does not pay an affiliate when the balance reaches the threshold. The threshold only decides who is in the monthly payment.

Each affiliate connects a bank account in the affiliate dashboard. Autopay cannot pay an affiliate who has not connected one.

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Before You Start

Availability: Autopay is on all plans (Starter, Basic, Pro and Premium). You can set it up when all of these are true:

• Your store currency is one of the 135 currencies that Autopay supports. If the Autopay row is not in Settings > Payout, Autopay is not available for your store. Contact support.
• Your Shopify store is on a paid Shopify plan and is at least 3 days old. If not, Simple Affiliate shows "Autopay setup requires a paid Shopify plan and a store that is at least 3 days old".
• On the Starter, Basic and Pro plans, PayPal and store credit are off. These plans use one payout method at a time. The Premium plan can use more than one.

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How to Connect a Payment Method

Your store currency decides which payment methods you can connect.

1. Open the payout settings: Go to Settings > Payout.
2. Turn on Autopay: In Payout methods, turn on the Autopay switch. On the Starter, Basic and Pro plans, turn off PayPal and store credit first.
3. Add the payment method: If the panel is closed, click Configure. Then click Add payment method. A store in GBP sees Connect debit and Connect card in its place.

   

4. Enter the details:
   • Card: Enter the card number, expiration date, security code and postal code. Click Save card. Your bank can ask you to confirm the card (3-D Secure). Allow pop-ups and finish that step.

     

   • US bank account (USD): In the Stripe form, select the US bank account. Enter the details that Stripe asks for, and click Save bank account.
   • SEPA Direct Debit (EUR): In the Stripe form, select SEPA Direct Debit. Enter the details that Stripe asks for, with your IBAN, and click Save bank account.
   • Canadian Pre-authorized Debit: Select Pre-authorized Debit, enter your name and email address, and click Select account. In the full name field, enter the name of the account owner. The name of a person who is authorized on the account also works.

     

   • Bacs Direct Debit (GBP): Click Connect debit. The setup has two steps. First click Create Stripe account and finish the Stripe business check. When that account is active, click Connect bank account and approve the Direct Debit. To use a card, click Connect card or Use card instead.
5. Approve the account in Stripe (US bank account and Pre-authorized Debit): Click Agree in the Stripe dialog. Then choose one of these ways to verify the account:

   

   • Instant check: Select your bank and sign in to your online banking.

     

   • Test deposits: Click the manually verify link and enter your routing number and account number.
   For SEPA Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Debit, there is no bank sign-in. The status can stay Pending while the bank processes the Direct Debit.

The status next to Autopay shows Pending while Stripe checks the payment method, Active when it is ready, and Error when it failed. A card is Active when the card check succeeds.

⚠️ Warning: Saving a payment method does not charge it. Autopay charges your payment method only when a payment is sent.

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How to Check a Bank Account With Test Deposits

Stripe sends one or two small test deposits to your bank account. They arrive in 1 to 2 business days. The status stays Pending until you check them.

1. Go to Settings > Payout. You can also click Verify now in the banner.
2. Open Configure in the Autopay row.
3. Enter the two amounts in Amount 1 and Amount 2. If your bank sent a code that starts with SM (for example SMXXXX), enter it in Microdeposit code.

   

4. Click Verify.

   

⚠️ Warning: You must finish this check within 10 days. After 10 days, or after too many wrong entries, click Restart setup and enter your bank details again.

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How to Set the Monthly Schedule

1. Go to Settings > Payout. The Monthly schedule switch in the Autopay row is off until the status is Active.
2. Turn on Monthly schedule.
3. In Payout threshold, enter the smallest balance that Autopay can pay. Use your store currency. Enter 0 for no threshold.
4. Turn Require confirmation to send monthly autopay on or off. This switch is on by default.
5. Click Save.

   

Autopay makes the monthly payment in the first daily check after a month ends (in your store time zone). The payment includes all commissions up to the end of that month. Turn on the schedule before the month ends. Then the next check includes that month.

• Confirmation on: Autopay creates a draft payment and sends you an email. Open Payments, remove any affiliate that you do not want to pay, and click Send payout. Autopay charges your payment method only after you click.
• Confirmation off: Autopay charges your payment method and sends the payments by itself. You get an email when it is done.
• Below the threshold: An affiliate under the threshold is not in the payment. The balance stays for the next month.

Why an Affiliate Is Not in the Monthly Payment

• The affiliate has not connected a bank account, or the Stripe setup is not finished.
• The affiliate is not active (for example suspended or pending).
• The affiliate has a payment that is not finished.
• The affiliate created the Stripe account after the month ended.
• The balance is in an earlier store currency. Autopay pays only the balance in your current store currency.
• The payout method of the affiliate is not Autopay. See How Your Affiliates Connect a Bank Account.

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How to Pay Affiliates Now

1. Open Affiliates and click the affiliate.
2. In the Amount owed card, click Pay now.
3. Click Continue.
4. Review the payment. Click Send payout.

To pay many affiliates, select them in Affiliates and click Create payment, or click Pay all owed. The same window opens. Then do steps 3 and 4.

A card payment finishes in a few minutes to a few hours. After you send a payment, the money usually arrives in the bank accounts of your affiliates in 6-10 business days.

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How Your Affiliates Connect a Bank Account

Autopay pays an affiliate only when the payout method of the affiliate is Autopay. You set the method for the whole program (Default in Settings > Payout), for a group (Group payout method), or for one affiliate (Set payment method in Affiliates). Affiliates do not choose the method.

1. Invite affiliates: In Settings > Payout, click Invite affiliates to connect. The counters show how many affiliates connected and how many you have not invited. You can also select affiliates in Affiliates and click Send payment connection email. To change the email, go to Settings > Emails and open Connect payment details: Autopay.
2. The affiliate connects: In the affiliate dashboard, the affiliate chooses a Country and clicks Connect bank. Stripe opens its own page. The affiliate enters personal and bank details and accepts the terms. The affiliate can choose from 101 countries. Until the bank is connected, the dashboard shows "Your payouts are paused!".
3. The affiliate changes the bank: The affiliate clicks Manage bank in the affiliate dashboard and edits the bank account in Stripe.
4. The affiliate disconnects the bank: The affiliate clicks Disconnect bank. This is not possible while a payout is in progress.

Give your affiliates these guides: How to connect a bank account and How to Change Your Bank Account for Payouts.

If Stripe needs more information, the affiliate gets the email "Stripe needs more information to pay you". If a payout to the bank fails, the affiliate gets "Your last affiliate payout failed". Both emails come from noreply@simple-affiliate.com.

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Autopay Fees

You pay the Autopay fees on top of the commission. The affiliate always receives the full commission. The rate depends on your plan and on the payment method. From November 1, 2026, Autopay also adds a low volume fee for small payouts. See Auto-pay Overview & Processing Fees for the rates, the low volume fee and examples.

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How to Change or Turn Off the Payment Method

1. Go to Settings > Payout and open Configure in the Autopay row.
2. Click Change payment method.
3. Add the new card or bank account in the same way as in How to Connect a Payment Method.

To turn off Autopay, turn off the Autopay switch and click Disable autopay. Autopay then stops 1099 tax tracking. Affiliates who connected a bank account move to your new default payout method. Disable autopay also removes the saved card or bank account and turns off Monthly schedule. To use Autopay again, add a payment method and turn on the schedule again.

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Common Errors

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Important Rules to Remember

• Charge time: Autopay charges your payment method when a payment is sent. This is when you click Send payout, or when the monthly payment runs with confirmation off.
• Threshold: The payout threshold applies to the monthly payment only. Pay now ignores it.
• ⚠️ Warning: On the Starter, Basic and Pro plans, Autopay counts as on after you save a payment method, and while a bank check is Pending. Turn Autopay off before you turn on PayPal or store credit. If you move from Premium to a lower plan, turn off the extra methods.
• Currency: If you change the store currency, Autopay does not pay the balances in the earlier currency. See the store currency FAQ.
• Tax forms: For eligible U.S. affiliates paid with Autopay, Simple Affiliate can facilitate IRS Forms 1099-K and 1099-NEC. See Does Simple Affiliate file 1099 tax forms?

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What Happens Next?

Invite your affiliates to connect a bank account. After the month ends, check Payments for the monthly payment. If you use confirmation, send the payment from there.

Related articles

• Auto-pay Overview & Processing Fees
• How to connect a bank account
• How to Change Your Bank Account for Payouts
• FAQ: What are the differences between your plans?
• How to Connect PayPal Payouts