How to Send Bonus Payments to Affiliates
A bonus payment is a one-time payment that you send to one or more affiliates on top of their commission, for example to thank a top affiliate or to reward a launch. You create it from the affiliate details page or from the affiliate list, and you pay it with one of the payout methods of your store.
How Bonus Payments Work
A bonus is separate from commission. It is not linked to referrals, so it does not change what you owe your affiliates. The Amount owed on the affiliate details page and the Unpaid earnings on the affiliate dashboard stay the same, and your next commission payout pays the full commission as usual.
- Create: You enter one amount for each affiliate, choose a payout method, and add an optional note.
- Pay: A manual bonus waits in Payments until you confirm it. A PayPal, store credit or Autopay bonus is a draft payout that you review and send.
- Notify: When the bonus is paid, the affiliate gets the "Bonus paid" email with the invoice attached, and the payment shows on their affiliate dashboard. For a manual bonus, the email goes out only when Manual payment confirmation is on in Settings > Email settings.
How to Send a Bonus to One Affiliate
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Open the affiliate: Go to Affiliates and click the affiliate's name.
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Open the bonus form: Click Create bonus payment.
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Enter the amount: Type the amount in Bonus amount for each affiliate. The amount is in your store currency.
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Choose the payout method: Select a method under Payment method. Each method shows how many affiliates it includes, and why it skips an affiliate (see Why an Affiliate Is Skipped).
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Add a note (optional): Type a short reason in Note (optional), for example "Top affiliate of October". The note shows on the invoice, and in PayPal for a PayPal bonus.
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Create the bonus: Click Create bonus.
How to Send a Bonus to Several Affiliates
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Select the affiliates: Go to Affiliates and select the affiliates in the list.
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Open the bonus form: Click More actions > Create bonus payment.
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Fill in the form: Enter the amount, choose the payout method and add an optional note, as for one affiliate. Each affiliate gets the same amount. Total under the amount shows what the bonus costs for all included affiliates.
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Create the bonus: Click Create bonus.
Why an Affiliate Is Skipped
The form lists the payout methods that are on for your store. Autopay shows only when your Autopay payment method is set up. Under each method, Included is the number of affiliates that the bonus pays, and Skipped gives the reasons for the others:
- Not active: The affiliate is not active. Only active affiliates can get a bonus.
- No PayPal email: The affiliate has no PayPal email address (PayPal only).
- No connected Autopay bank account: The affiliate has not connected a bank account (Autopay only).
- In an unfinished bonus payout: An earlier bonus payout of the affiliate is still in progress or failed. Finish or discard that payout first.
To pay a skipped affiliate, choose another method, or fix the reason and create the bonus again.
How to Pay the Bonus
Manual bonus
A manual bonus is an unconfirmed payment. Pay the affiliate outside Simple Affiliate, then confirm the payment:
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Open the bonus payments: Go to Payments and click the Bonus tab.
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Confirm the payment: Select the bonus and click Confirm payment.
If you created a manual bonus by mistake, delete it before you confirm it.
PayPal, store credit and Autopay bonus
Simple Affiliate opens a draft payout for the bonus. The draft does not send money until you send it.
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Review the draft: Check the affiliates and the amounts on the payout page.
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Send the payout: Click Send PayPal payout, Send store credit or Send payout (Autopay). To cancel the bonus, click Discard draft.
An Autopay bonus has the same processing fees as a commission payout. See Auto-pay Overview & Processing Fees.
What the Affiliate Sees
- Email: When the bonus is paid, the affiliate gets the "Bonus paid" email with the invoice attached. You can edit it in Settings > Email templates, in the Payments group. A manual bonus sends this email only when Manual payment confirmation is on in Settings > Email settings, the same setting as for a manual commission payment.
- Invoice: The invoice line is Bonus, followed by your note when you added one. You can change the word "Bonus" in Settings > Translations.
- Affiliate dashboard: The paid bonus shows in the Payments table with its invoice. Unpaid earnings and Total earnings do not change, because a bonus is not commission.
How Bonuses Show in Reports
- Included: Total paid on the Payouts report and Payout on the Overview report include bonus payments. The payout charts include them too.
- Not included: Amount owed, Expected next payout and the affiliate rows of the Payouts report show commission only.
- Payments list: Use the Bonus tab, or the Bonus payment method filter, to see only bonus payments.
Important Rules to Remember
- ⚠️ A bonus is extra money: It does not pay commission and does not lower what you owe. Pay commission as usual.
- One create for each form: If another bonus for one of the selected affiliates was created after you opened the form, Simple Affiliate creates nothing and shows a message. Open the form again to send a second bonus on purpose.
- Commission payouts continue: A bonus payout in progress does not stop a commission payout of the same affiliate, and your monthly payout schedule runs as usual.
- Note length: The note can have up to 1,000 characters.
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