Pay your trusted affiliates automatically with PayPal Instant Payments (also known as Adaptive payments).

Key details

  • Adaptive Payments is a PayPal feature that sends funds to multiple people at once—in this case, you and your affiliate.
  • It only works when the customer pays through PayPal directly.
  • It does not support subscriptions or multiple-payment plans.
  • Only use this method with affiliates you trust, since the payment is sent instantly at the time of purchase.

Requirements checklist

To ensure everything works smoothly, make sure all the following conditions are met before the sale happens. 

If even one of them isn’t, the affiliate’s commission won’t be paid automatically.

Product requirements

  • Price: Set up the price-point you are offering for affiliate promotion as a one-time payment. Subscriptions or payment plans won't work.
  • Payment processor: Link PayPal as payment processor for the product. The customer’s purchase must be processed through PayPal.
  • Affiliate program: 
    • Complete your affiliate program's settings before the sale occurs.
    • Don't configure milestones for that affiliate program. Commission milestones won’t allow instant payments to go through.

Affiliate requirements

  • Approval: Set your affiliate's approval status to “Approved for Adaptive Payments” 
  • Payment: Confirm with the affiliate that they have PayPal connected as a payment method.
  • Tax forms: If you require a tax form from affiliates, make sure they’ve submitted it in advance.