We have implemented a couple of options that will allow you to pay your members' rewards however you choose. You can either:
Send rewards internally (without leaving Buzzbassador) via our PayPal integration
Send rewards externally (outside of Buzzbassador) using any other method of your choice, like Venmo, Cashapp, Stripe, ACH/Bankt transfer, etc.
A Walkthrough of the Rewards Interface
All rewards are attached to an order brought in by a member's referral code. Each reward amount is calculated based on the commission rate and rules set in the Program that the related member belonged to at the time the related referral order was placed on your Shopify site.
You can see all your members' rewards in your Rewards page.
Rewards are either Unpaid or Paid. You can switch between each type of reward using the tabs at the top of the Rewards page.
Unpaid rewards are either Due, Processing, or Declined status. You can see a report of all rewards in each status at the top of the Unpaid Rewards tab.
If a reward is in the 'Processing' report, it means that the reward is not finished processing yet. The duration for processing depends on your set Payout Processing Period.
If a reward is in the 'Due' report, it means that the reward has finished processing and is ready to be paid to the member
If a reward is in the 'Declined' report, it means that the reward was declined before it was ever paid.
Paid rewards are either Success, Pending, or Failed status. You can see a report of all rewards in each status at the top of the Paid Rewards tab.
If a reward is in the 'Success' report, it means that the reward was paid (or marked as paid) successfully and reflects as such on the member's end
If a reward is in the 'Pending' report, it means that the reward was initiated, but has not gone through to the member yet
If a reward is in the 'Failed' report, it means the reward was initiated but it failed for some reason. Click 'View Details' on any Failed reward to see details as to why it failed.
How to Pay Due Rewards
1. Pay rewards internally via PayPal
In Buzzbassador we currently offer you the ability to process payouts seamlessly through PayPal. So, first, you want to make sure you have set up -- and been approved for -- the PayPal Payouts feature.
Once you have been approved for and connected your PayPal Payouts feature to your Buzzbassador account, the most important step to remember is...
CRITICAL: You MUST have sufficient funds in your PayPal account balance. The Buzzbassador PayPal integration can ONLY pull funds from your PayPal balance -- it CANNOT pull funds from any bank accounts or cards that are linked to your PayPal.
Once PayPal Payouts is connected to Buzzbassador and your balance is sufficient, you can now issue rewards via PayPal from within Buzzbassador.
How to Pay Due Rewards via PayPal in Buzzbassador
Navigate to Rewards > Unpaid > Due report
Select which rewards you want to pay
If you want to pay ALL of your due rewards, click the YELLOW "PAY ALL" button at the TOP RIGHT.
If you only want to pay SELECTED due rewards, check all of the due payouts you want to issue and click the GREEN "PAY" button at the TOP LEFT.
Once you click either "Pay" or "Pay all", a pop-up will appear. Click the "Pay with PayPal" option.
Confirm that the amount you are about to pay is correct
Use the total amount you see in the pop-up to make sure your PayPal balance is sufficient before you confirm and issue the payouts
Click the "Confirm & Pay" button
A few notes:
If you have a lot of due payouts, it may take a moment for all of them to process and move from the Unpaid/Due section to the Paid section.
Any rewards initiated via PayPal for a member who has not linked their PayPal account to Buzzbassador will automatically fail. You can retry them once they add their PayPal account from the Paid > Failed report.
Again: Following the above steps DOES send money from your PayPal balance to the members' linked PayPal accounts, triggering a cash payment of these rewards via PayPal. If you are only wanting to MARK the rewards as paid, rather than ACTUALLY pay them, please see below.
2. Pay rewards externally with something other than PayPal
The use of Buzzbassador is not fully dependent on PayPal. While PayPal is currently the only way to pay rewards inside of Buzzbassador, many of our merchants choose to pay their rewards using external methods, while still using Buzzbassador for all the other features it provides (application form, landing page, order tracking, email automation, programs & reward calculations, etc.).
How to do this: Once you have paid your rewards externally to Buzzbassador through your preferred payment system, just simply mark the rewards as paid in Buzzbassador. This will notify the member via Buzzbassador that they have been paid, and the reward will show up as paid on their end of the account.
How to Mark Rewards as Paid in Buzzbassador
Navigate to Rewards > Unpaid > Due report
Select which rewards you want to mark as paid
If you want to pay ALL of your due rewards, click the YELLOW "PAY ALL" button at the TOP RIGHT.
If you only want to pay SELECTED due rewards, check all of the due payouts you want to issue and click the GREEN "PAY" button at the TOP LEFT.
Once you click "Pay" or "Pay all", in the pop-up, select the "Pay Externally" option
After you have confirmed that the selected rewards have been successfully paid to each member outside of Buzzbassador, click the "Confirm & Mark as Paid" button.
Again: Following the above steps DOES NOT actually send any payment to the members for the selected rewards. It solely UPDATES the STATUS of the rewards to Success (Paid), assuming that the actual reward payment was sent to the member EXTERNALLY (outside of Buzzbassador).