When do affiliates get paid? A plain-English payout timeline

Here is the short answer, before the detail: you get paid after your brand's monthly invoice clears, and from that point payouts run daily through Stripe Connect, with a $25 minimum. You earn the commission the brand sets, in full. The 20% platform fee is billed to the brand, so it is never taken out of your payout.

The rest of this article walks through the four states your money passes through, why the wait exists, and the two rules — the $25 minimum and the December 15 year-end payout — that decide exactly when a balance moves.

The four states your commission moves through

Every sale you drive moves through the same four states, in order. Your earnings page shows which state each one is in, so you are never guessing where your money sits.

The order is always pending -> eligible -> funded -> paid. A sale can only move backward during the refund window: if the customer returns the order, the commission is reversed, pro-rated to the amount refunded. For the full guide to the whole lifecycle, see how athletes get paid.

Pending: you drove the sale

Someone clicks your tracking link, buys, and the order is credited to you automatically — no discount code for the customer to enter, nothing for them to remember. The commission is recorded as pending the moment that attributed sale lands. Credit is first-party and server-side, matched through your brand's Shopify store, so it holds even if the customer comes back and buys a few days later.

Eligible: it has cleared the refund window

Once the accrual settles past the program's refund window, the commission becomes eligible — recorded, cleared on your side, and ready to be billed to the brand. The refund window is the period during which a return can still reverse a commission; it is set per program and is separate from the attribution window that decides how long after a click a sale counts.

Funded: the brand has paid its invoice

This is the state that unlocks your payout. When the brand's monthly invoice clears, the eligible commission moves to funded, which means the money behind it has actually settled. See funded for the one-line definition.

Paid: it is on its way to your bank

Once your commission is funded, it joins the next daily payout. Stripe Connect sends it to the bank account you set up at verification. After that, when it lands depends on your bank.

Why payouts run daily, but only after the invoice clears

There are two timing rules at work here, and they pull in opposite directions.

First rule: we never pay out money that has not settled. We do not front commission. A sale you drive is billed to the brand monthly through Stripe Billing, net-30, on the 1st of the following month — the commission you earned plus the 20% platform fee on top. The day that invoice clears, your commission becomes payable. The wait is not us holding your money; it is us refusing to pay you with money that has not yet arrived. That is also why Harmonia never has to claw back a payout later or sit on a reserve of your earnings.

Second rule: once the money has settled, we move it fast. After the invoice clears, we do not hold your balance for a monthly payday. We run a payout every day. Any payable balance of $25 or more goes out on the next daily sweep through Stripe Connect, with no request or trigger from you.

The $25 minimum, and what happens below it

There is a $25 minimum payout. If your payable balance is under $25, nothing is lost — it rolls forward and keeps adding up until it crosses $25, then it goes out on the next daily payout. The minimum only sets when the money moves, never whether you keep it. For the full mechanic, see the payout floor definition.

December 15: the year-end payout

There is one exception to the $25 minimum. On December 15 we pay out any remaining balance regardless of the minimum, so even a balance under $25 is paid before year-end. See the December 15 force-pay definition for the precise rule.

This keeps your tax reporting clean. If you clear the IRS reporting threshold for the year, Stripe issues your 1099-NEC automatically at year-end, and that form reflects the commission you were paid that year. The December 15 payout leaves no earned balance sitting below the minimum at the cutoff, so what you earned and what your 1099-NEC shows line up.

A worked timeline

To make the timing concrete, here is a single sale walked end to end. Say a brand sets a $40 commission and you drive a sale on March 10.

• March 10 — pending. The attributed sale lands. Your $40 commission is recorded against your tracking link.
• After the refund window — eligible. Once the sale settles past the program's refund window, the $40 is eligible and ready to bill.
• April 1 — invoiced. The brand is billed for March through Stripe Billing, net-30: your $40 plus the 20% platform fee, paid by the brand.
• When the invoice clears — funded. The day the brand's payment settles, your $40 moves to funded and becomes payable.
• Next daily payout — paid. Your balance is at or above $25, so the $40 goes out on the next daily sweep through Stripe Connect.

$40commission set by the brand $40athlete keeps, in full

The 20% platform fee in that example is billed to the brand on top of your $40, never deducted from it. For why the fee sits on top instead of coming out of your share, see how athletes get paid.

What you need to set up, once

Your first payout needs Stripe Connect Express set up one time. This happens the first time a brand approves you, not at signup, so you can browse programs and apply before sharing any personal details. You confirm your identity and add your bank through Stripe; after that, payouts run on their own.

Stripe collects and holds your ID and bank details directly. Harmonia never sees or stores your Social Security number or bank account, and your brand never sees them either. For the walkthrough, see the identity verification help article, and to check your own schedule, see the payouts help article.

FAQ

How long after a sale do I actually get paid?

It depends on when in the month the sale happened, because your payout follows your brand's invoice. A sale is recorded as pending, becomes eligible after the program's refund window, then is billed to the brand monthly through Stripe Billing, net-30, on the 1st of the following month. The day the brand's invoice clears, your commission moves to funded and becomes payable. From then on, any balance of $25 or more goes out on the next daily payout through Stripe Connect. There is no fixed payday; the timing tracks the invoice.

What happens if my balance is under $25?

Nothing is lost. The minimum payout is $25, so a payable balance under $25 rolls forward and keeps adding up until it crosses $25, then it goes out on the next daily payout. The minimum only decides when the money moves, never whether you keep it. The one exception is December 15: at year-end we pay out any remaining balance regardless of the minimum, so even a balance under $25 is paid before the year closes.

Why do I have to wait for the brand's invoice to clear?

We do not front commission. A sale you drive is billed to the brand monthly through Stripe Billing, net-30, and your payout is funded by that payment. The day the brand's invoice clears, your commission becomes payable and joins the next daily payout. Waiting for the invoice to clear is what keeps the model honest: money reaches you only after the money that funds it has settled, which is why Harmonia never has to claw back a payout or hold a reserve of your earnings.