Once your affiliates start earning commissions, it's up to you to pay them: the platform tracks the amounts but never sends the money. This article covers tracking what you owe, paying, and recording payments.
Tracking What You Owe
The Figures on Each Card
Settings > Affiliate shows a card for every affiliate in your program. A badge in the corner shows their reward rule (for instance "10% Recurring"), their coupon codes sit under their name, and a strip shows Revenue, Commission and Paid in that affiliate's currency. The amount still owed appears on the button at the bottom of the card, for example Pay $134.
Their Payout Details
The bank icon in the card footer opens Payout methods — "Copy the payout details for this affiliate to process commission payments" — with their method and details ready to copy. If you never filled those in, or the affiliate hasn't, you'll see a warning instead: "Payout information is missing. Please update the affiliate's payout details to proceed."
Paying Commissions Externally
There Is No Automatic Payout
Commission payouts happen manually, outside the platform, using each affiliate's own payout method and details. Nothing in Climbo transfers money to an affiliate, and there's no scheduled or automatic payout to switch on.
A Simple Routine
Pick a recurring date, like the 1st of each month, and process everything due in one sitting. For example, if you're paying through PayPal, open your PayPal account in a separate tab, check each affiliate's amount due, open their payout details to get their PayPal address, and send the payment.
Marking a Commission as Paid
The Pay Button
Once you've actually sent the money, click Pay on that affiliate's card. The confirmation dialog explains what will happen: "Once confirmed, the outstanding commission amount will be marked as paid and set to 0." You'll get a "[name] paid successfully" toast, the amount moves into Paid, and the button is replaced by a disabled Paid in full. An affiliate who has never earned anything shows No amount due instead.
It Records, It Doesn't Transfer
Marking as paid is bookkeeping only: it moves the outstanding amount into the paid column so both you and the affiliate can see nothing is owed. It sends no payment and doesn't touch your Stripe balance: the transfer has to happen in your own payment tool. The affiliate sees the new Amount due and Already paid figures in their own dashboard straight away.
Refunds Are Not Deducted
If you refund a client payment, the commission already recorded on it stays on the affiliate's totals — the platform doesn't reverse it. If you want that money back, settle it with the affiliate directly, for example by reducing their next payout.
Setting a Predictable Payment Schedule
Tell Affiliates When to Expect Payment
Since payments are handled externally, it helps to tell your affiliates upfront how often they'll be paid — for example, monthly on the 1st, or every two months — so they know exactly when to expect their commissions. If you've switched on the commission earned email in Settings > Emails, they'll also get an email for every commission they earn, which makes an agreed payout date all the more useful.
Removing an Affiliate
Delete Wipes the Record Too
The trash icon on an affiliate's card opens Delete affiliate — "Are you sure you want to delete this affiliate [name]? This action cannot be undone." Deleting removes their access, their card and their whole commission history, including anything still outstanding, and their coupons become free to assign to someone else. Settle what you owe them, and make a note of the figures you need, before you delete.