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When and how do affiliates actually get paid?

You approve a commission, then pay the affiliate from your own saved payment method, or by CSV export to pay by hand through PayPal or Wise. Card-funded payouts need Stripe payouts accepted on the Payouts page first, and auto-payout is available on Professional and Ultimate.

2 min read
Updated Sep 15, 2026

Affiliates are paid after you approve their commission. Nothing leaves anyone's account automatically without that approval.

Commission lifecycle
pending
Sale tracked
approved
You approve it
paid
Affiliate paid out

Your two payout methods

  • Automatic payouts (Stripe Connect) are funded by your own saved payment method. LinkJolt charges it for the payout amount plus a processing fee of 2.9% and a fixed 0.30 per payout, in the payout currency, passed through at cost. LinkJolt takes nothing. You do not connect a Stripe account for payouts. The affiliate connects theirs, because their account is what receives the money.
  • CSV export gives you a file to pay affiliates by hand through PayPal, Wise, or a bank transfer. Nothing is charged to your payment method.

Before your first card-funded payout, accept Stripe payouts on the Payouts page in the sidebar, under its Settings tab. That is where you agree that payouts are charged to your saved payment method. Once it is on, you can pay whenever you like from the "Ready to pay" tab using the Pay affiliates button, on any plan.

Auto-payout (Professional and Ultimate)

Auto-payout sits just below the consent card, on that same Payouts, Settings tab, as Enable Automatic Payouts. Until you have accepted Stripe payouts the switch stays greyed out, with a "One step first" note above it. It is off by default, and it is available on the Professional and Ultimate plans.

Once it is on, approving a commission queues it for 24 hours and the next daily run sends it, so allow a day or two rather than expecting it the same evening. Each queued commission is charged separately, so the fixed part of the fee applies once per payout.

Automatic payouts reach affiliates in the UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and most of Europe, and only in GBP, USD or EUR. Affiliates elsewhere cannot connect a Stripe account through LinkJolt, so for them CSV export is the permanent method, not a step they can finish. Eligible affiliates still have to finish connecting their Stripe account before an automatic payout can reach them, and until they do, pay them by CSV export.

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