We’ve pondered how much to pay and what others are paying so now you should have a good idea of what YOU will be offering your affiliates.

So let’s take a look at some of the ways you can get those commissions paid out to your affiliates.

Which Payment Method?

There are a variety of ways to pay your affiliates but a few of the most common ones are:

• Payment via physical check
• Payment via PayPal (or another payment processing system)
• Having a third-party service take care of the payments (think ClickBank)

Payment via Physical Check

Many affiliate systems include check-printing integration, so you can print your checks with a few clicks of a mouse. You’ll still have to sign the checks and get them into addressed envelopes.

Payment via PayPal.com

This online processing payment service that is used by more than 100 million people worldwide and is easily the most popular method. It is an easy and inexpensive way to instantly send payments from your PayPal account to all your affiliates.

Many affiliate systems will generate what is called “PayPal Mass Payment” files, so you can pay all your affiliates in one transaction. You are charged only a small processing fee for each mass payment you do and your affiliate incurs no charges for receiving the money- a nice perk for your affiliates.

Note: To do a Mass Payment to your affiliates, you will need to have a sufficient balance in your PayPal account. This can be from sales you generate for your products or you can transfer money from your bank account. Just allow enough time for the transfer from your bank to complete.

Give Them A Choice

You can give your affiliates a choice as to which payment method they can choose or you can decide to offer one option only. It’s completely up to you, but you might want to consider the following:

• Mailing checks is more time-consuming and more expensive.
• However, mailing your affiliates gives you a good opportunity to send further promotions and incentives in the mail each time you pay. People often take offers more seriously when they’re in hand than via email that isn’t always read.
• Even if you pay via PayPal, you can still send mail out to your affiliates and require their postal address when they sign up for your affiliate program

Some affiliate managers insist that there’s nothing more motivational than receiving a check in the mail.  I’m not so sure that’s absolutely true, however, take everything into consideration and do what is best for YOUR business and affiliates.  Here are some more things to think about before deciding:

==>    There is no waiting for checks to clear. This is particularly an issue if you have international affiliates. They will often have to wait up to 20 business days (sometimes longer) for an out-of-country check to clear.
==>    Payments are more reliable. The mail is not always reliable, but affiliates can count on their regular payments that come instantly through PayPal.

==>     A business owner often lives by their PayPal account and having money coming into their account, means they have money to spend on their business and that can be very motivational.
==>    It’s cost-effective to pay affiliates more frequently and that can be very motivational. You can pay your affiliates every week or whatever frequency you’d like.

Some PayPal drawbacks consider:

• Not all countries have PayPal available. Check the current list at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-approved-signup-countries-outside
• Some affiliates may choose not to use PayPal.

Third-Party Systems

If you don’t want the hassle of handling affiliate payments, you can have a third-party affiliate program service take care of this for you and they will determine the method of payment.

There are affiliate networks lik:

• ClickBank
• Commission Junction
• Link Share

These services typically charge a hefty transaction fees but will free you up from the responsibility of accounting & actual payment.

We’ll discuss the more in later posts but in the mean time please any questions you might have in comments.

Have You Seen?

• 3 Types of Affiliate Programs
• Paying Your Affiliates: How Much?
• Paying Your Affiliates: What Are Other People Paying?