Definition
Payout threshold
The payout threshold is the minimum amount an affiliate must accumulate before a payout is sent to them.
It exists for the same reason commissions are grouped: fixed fees. Sending €3 costs almost as much as the €3, and the accounting line that follows costs something more again.
Fifty to a hundred euros is the usual range. You set the dial by knowing the two symmetric mistakes. Too high and small affiliates — that is, most of them — never reach the threshold, never get paid, and leave having worked for nothing; it is the surest way to kill a program's long tail. Too low and you pay fees on trivial amounts.
The threshold must be visible before sign-up, in the same place as the commission rate. Discovered after a first sale, it reads as a trap — and for an affiliate who was hesitating, that is the moment they stop.
At earnwithaffiliate
Configurable per campaign. Commissions below the threshold stay payable and accumulate — they are never lost.
Related terms
Affiliate payout
A payout groups several payable commissions for one affiliate into a single payment. It is the last step of the chain, and the most visible one for them.
Commission approval window
The approval window is the delay between a commission being earned and becoming payable. It exists to cover the refund window.