Payouts
Manage payout periods, review earnings, and distribute rewards to your affiliates.
Payouts are how your referrers receive their earned rewards. Depending on your program's reward mode, payouts can be automatic (gift card top-ups) or manual (tracked for you to pay out yourself).
Reward Modes
The payout process depends on the reward mode you chose for your referral program:
Gift Card (Automatic)
When a conversion is approved, the referrer's Square gift card balance is automatically topped up with the reward amount.
- No manual payout needed
- The referrer can use the balance at your business
- Zero cash leaving your business
Manual Payout
Rewards are tracked in the system, but you pay them out yourself through your preferred method (check, bank transfer, PayPal, etc.).
Payout Statuses
Each payout moves through these stages:
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Draft | Payout created, showing calculated earnings for the period |
| Exported | Payout data has been exported for processing |
| Paid | Payout is marked as complete |
Creating Payouts
- Navigate to Payouts in the sidebar
- Click Create Payout
- Select the payout period (date range)
- Review the calculated earnings for each referrer
- Save as Draft
The payout is calculated from all Approved conversions within the date range that haven't been included in a previous payout.
Reviewing Payout Details
Each payout shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Period | Start and end date of the payout period |
| Referrer | The person being paid |
| Total Conversions | Number of successful referrals in the period |
| Total Amount | Sum of all reward amounts |
| Status | Draft, Exported, or Paid |
Processing Payouts
For Gift Card Programs
Gift card rewards are processed automatically when conversions are approved. The payout record serves as a record of what was issued.
If a gift card top-up doesn't go through (e.g., a temporary Square issue), the operation is saved and retried automatically. You can also manually retry from Partners > Failed Operations.
For Manual Payout Programs
- Review the draft payout to verify amounts
- Export the payout data (CSV) for processing through your payment system
- Process payments through your preferred method
- Mark the payout as Paid once complete
Tracking Revenue and Commissions
The dashboard provides a visual breakdown of revenue versus commissions over time, helping you understand the ROI of your referral program:
Best Practices
- Set a regular payout schedule (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) so referrers know when to expect rewards
- Review draft payouts before marking as paid to catch any issues
- Use gift card rewards when possible to keep money in your business and simplify payouts
- Check Failed Operations regularly to make sure gift card top-ups aren't stuck
Next Steps
Tracking Conversions
Understand how conversions are created and linked to referrers.
Fraud Detection
Learn how automatic fraud detection protects your payouts.