Paying your affiliates with Stripe

As your affiliates bring in referrals and earn commissions, you’ll need a fast, reliable way to pay them. With SliceWP’s Stripe payout method, you can pay your affiliates through Stripe without leaving your WordPress dashboard. SliceWP handles the whole process for you, from grouping commissions into payments to instructing Stripe to send the money.

Stripe payouts use Stripe Connect. In short, each of your affiliates connects their own Stripe account to your site, and when you process a payout, SliceWP tells Stripe to transfer their earnings from your Stripe balance to their connected account. Let’s see how to set everything up.

Prerequisites#

Before you can pay your affiliates via Stripe directly from your WordPress website, you’ll need the following:

1. A Stripe account.
2. Stripe Connect enabled on your Stripe account. Stripe payouts rely on Stripe Connect to create and pay your affiliates’ connected accounts, so you’ll need to enable Connect and complete your platform profile in your Stripe Dashboard.
3. Sufficient funds in your Stripe account balance to cover the payouts.

Connecting your Stripe account to SliceWP#

SliceWP connects to Stripe using your Stripe API Secret key. You can add a Test key and a Live key independently, so you can safely try everything out before paying real money.

Connecting your Stripe test account#

To make sure everything is working correctly, we recommend testing the Stripe payout functionality using your Stripe test keys first. To do this, please follow the steps below:

1. Log into your Stripe Dashboard and make sure you’re viewing it in Test mode.
2. Navigate to Developers > API keys and copy your Secret key (it starts with sk_test_).
3. In your WordPress admin area, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > Payouts (tab) > Payout Methods (section) > Stripe.
4. Paste the key into the Secret Key (Test) field.
5. Switch on the Test Mode option so SliceWP processes payments through your Stripe test account, then click Save Settings.

Connecting your Stripe live account#

To send actual payments from your Stripe account to your affiliates, you’ll need to connect your live Secret key. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Log into your Stripe Dashboard and make sure you’re viewing it in Live mode.
2. Navigate to Developers > API keys and copy your Secret key (it starts with sk_live_).
3. In your WordPress admin area, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > Payouts (tab) > Payout Methods (section) > Stripe.
4. Paste the key into the Secret Key (Live) field. Make sure the Test Mode option is switched off, then click Save Settings.

Paying affiliates in their local currency (cross-border transfers)#

By default, only affiliates who are based in the same country as your Stripe account can connect and be paid. When an affiliate selects a different country, they won’t be able to connect unless you enable cross-border transfers, both in SliceWP and in your Stripe account.

Setting this up involves two steps.

1. Choose the countries in your Stripe Dashboard#

Stripe lets you control which countries you’ll onboard connected accounts from. Log into your Stripe Dashboard and navigate to Settings > Connect > Onboarding options > Countries, then select every country you want your affiliates to be able to connect from.

Make sure the countries you intend to pay are ticked here. If a country isn’t selected, affiliates based there won’t be able to finish connecting their Stripe account.

2. Enable Cross-border Transfers in SliceWP#

In your WordPress admin area, navigate to SliceWP > Settings > Payouts (tab) > Payout Methods (section) > Stripe, switch on the Cross-border Transfers option and save your settings.

Once enabled, you can pay affiliates located in the US, UK, EEA, Canada, or Switzerland in their local currency via Stripe. This feature requires a Stripe platform account based in one of those same regions.

Webhooks#

Stripe uses webhooks to notify SliceWP about things that happen on Stripe’s side after a payout, such as a transfer being reversed or an affiliate’s account status changing. This is what keeps your payments and commissions accurate in SliceWP without you having to check Stripe manually.

When you save your Stripe keys, SliceWP attempts to set these webhooks up for you automatically. For each mode, it creates two event destinations in your Stripe account:

• a Thin destination, for Stripe’s newer (v2) events, and
• a Snapshot destination, for Stripe’s classic (v1) events.

In most cases there’s nothing for you to do here. You can confirm everything is in order in the Webhooks area of SliceWP > Settings > Payouts (tab) > Payout Methods (section) > Stripe, where each mode (Live and Test) shows one of the following statuses:

• Connected – webhooks are set up and ready.
• Action needed – SliceWP couldn’t finish setting up the webhooks for this mode, so you’ll need to complete the setup manually (see below).
• Not set up – no Secret key has been saved for this mode yet.

Setting up webhooks manually#

Automatic setup can occasionally fail. If a mode shows Action needed, first try to re-save your settings to let SliceWP retry the setup. If it still doesn’t connect, you will need to set the webhooks up manually:

1. From SliceWP > Settings > Payouts (tab) > Payout Methods (section) > Stripe > Webhooks, copy the Endpoint URL shown at the bottom.
2. In your Stripe Dashboard, create two event destinations that point to that Endpoint URL:
   • one for Stripe’s v2 events, listening to events from your connected accounts, subscribed to v2.core.account[configuration.recipient].capability_status_updated;
   • one for Stripe’s v1 events, subscribed to transfer.reversed.
3. After creating each destination, copy its signing secret (it starts with whsec_).
4. Back in SliceWP, click the Change link next to the matching destination, Thin for the v2 destination, Snapshot for the v1 destination, paste the signing secret into the Signing secret field, and save the settings.

Once both signing secrets are in place, the mode’s status will change to Connected.

Setting up webhooks manually is a more technical process. If you’re not comfortable doing it, or the status still shows Action needed after following the steps above, please reach out to our support team and we’ll be happy to help.

How your affiliates connect their Stripe account#

Stripe payouts require each affiliate to connect their own Stripe account to your site. This is a one-time, self-service process that your affiliates complete from their affiliate account and it’s how Stripe knows where to send their earnings.

Before an affiliate can connect their Stripe account, you’ll need to make sure their payout method is set to Stripe. You can do this for everyone by choosing “Stripe” as your Default Payout Method or for a specific affiliate from their profile (in your WordPress admin area > SliceWP > Affiliates > Edit an affiliate > Payout Details > Payout Method).

Once their payout method is “Stripe”, the “Get paid with Stripe” section will appear in the affiliate’s account “Settings” tab.

Here’s what your affiliates need to do:

1. Log into their affiliate account and navigate to the Settings tab.
2. Select their country from the Your Country drop-down.
3. Click the Connect with Stripe link, which takes them to Stripe’s secure onboarding flow.
4. Fill in their details on Stripe and, once finished, they’ll be returned to their affiliate account.

Once connected, the affiliate’s account settings will show a Stripe account connected confirmation, along with an Open Stripe dashboard link they can use to manage their account at any time.

Checking an affiliate’s Stripe setup#

Before processing a payout, you can check whether an affiliate is ready to be paid, directly from their profile. Navigate to SliceWP > Affiliates, click to edit the affiliate you want to check, and look at the Payout Details card.

Once an affiliate has connected their account, the card shows their Stripe account details, namely their account ID (linked to your Stripe Dashboard), their country and the date they connected. If the affiliate is fully set up and ready to be paid no additional message is shown.

If something needs attention, a short message will explain what’s going on. The messages you may come across include:

• The affiliate hasn’t connected a Stripe account yet – they can do so from their affiliate account settings.
• The affiliate has started the Stripe setup but hasn’t completed it – they can resume from their affiliate account settings.
• The affiliate’s account status isn’t available yet – Stripe is still processing the account, so check back shortly.
• The affiliate cannot receive Stripe payouts – where available, the message includes the reason reported by Stripe.
• The affiliate can receive transfers but cannot withdraw to their bank until they complete their Stripe account setup.
• The affiliate’s Stripe connection no longer matches your site’s current Stripe keys or mode – they’ll need to reconnect before they can be paid.
• Your Stripe account couldn’t be verified – re-save your Stripe settings before this affiliate can be paid.

Paying affiliates through Stripe#

Once your Stripe account is connected and your affiliates have connected theirs, you can start sending affiliate payments directly from your WordPress dashboard.

Everything is handled through SliceWP’s payouts system. If you’re new to creating payouts, we recommend first reading this step-by-step guide on paying your affiliates.

You can process Stripe payments in two ways.

Paying a single affiliate#

If you’d like to pay one affiliate at a time, you can process their payment individually:

1. Navigate to your WordPress dashboard > SliceWP > Payouts and open the View page of the payout that contains the payment.
2. Click the View button for the payment you’d like to process.
3. On the payment’s page, use the Process Payment card to pay the affiliate through Stripe and confirm the process.

Paying multiple affiliates at once#

To pay all the affiliates in a payout in one go:

1. Navigate to your WordPress dashboard > SliceWP > Payouts and open the View page of the payout you’d like to process.
2. Under the Payout Progress section, click the Select payout method… drop-down and choose the Stripe option.
3. Click the Pay Affiliates button and confirm the process.

What happens after a payment is processed#

When a payment is processed successfully, SliceWP marks the payment as Paid and sets all of its associated commissions to Paid as well. The transfer is sent to the affiliate’s connected Stripe account, and you’ll be able to see it in your Stripe Dashboard.

If a transfer is later reversed in Stripe, SliceWP is notified automatically via webhooks and will mark the affected payment as Failed and revert its commissions to Unpaid, so your reports always reflect what actually happened.

Frequently asked questions#

Does SliceWP charge any fees for Stripe payouts?#

No. SliceWP doesn’t add any fees of its own. Stripe’s standard Connect and transfer fees still apply, so we recommend reviewing Stripe’s pricing to understand the costs involved.

When will my affiliates actually receive their money?#

The transfer from your Stripe account reaches the affiliate’s connected Stripe account quickly. When that money then arrives in their bank account depends on Stripe’s payout schedule and their bank, which is outside of SliceWP’s control. Affiliates can review their payout timing from their own Stripe dashboard.

What currency are affiliates paid in?#

Affiliates are paid in the currency of the payment being processed. Your Stripe balance needs to have enough funds in that currency to cover the payout. If you pay affiliates in other countries in their local currency, see the cross-border transfers section above.

Can I re-pay a payment that’s already been paid?#

No. Once a payment has been marked as Paid, its commissions are settled and it won’t be processed again, which prevents affiliates from being paid twice for the same earnings.

What happens if a payout is reversed in Stripe?#

If a transfer is reversed on Stripe’s side, SliceWP is notified automatically via webhooks and marks the affected payment as Failed, reverting its commissions to Unpaid so you can review and reprocess them if needed.

And this is it! You now know how to connect Stripe to SliceWP, how your affiliates connect their accounts and how to pay them directly from your WordPress dashboard. If you run into any issues or have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team.