When you start an affiliated marketing program, one of the major factors that you need to take into consideration is how you are going to pay your affiliates. This can be overwhelming at times. What is supposed to be can exciting time of your life turns into a nightmare of stress and frustration trying to figure out what your best option is. There are two ways of going about paying your affiliates the commissions that they earned.

The first option that you have is to send a paper check through the mail. This is the traditional method of payment and many people get satisfaction out of holding a check with their names on it.

It is important to understand that receiving a paper check may have some costs associated with it. Consulting your financial institution to ask about these charges will allow the process to go more smoothly. In some instances, you will need to set up a merchant bank account and there are costs associated with it.

Another aspect of issuing paper check is the cost of the materials that are needed. this includes the check, envelopes, and stamps. The costs of these material can add up, therefore most affiliate programs stipulate a minimum of twenty five dollars must be earned before a check is issued. There are some programs where the minimum is raised to one hundred dollars.

Another option that you have to send payments to your affiliates is to make the payments by PayPal. This method is chosen more than any other method of payment. PayPal is an online bank that offers it members the benefit of send and receiving money from all over the world. The funds are added to your account as soon as the transaction is complete, usually within thirty seconds. From PayPal, the funds can be transferred by each affiliate into their own bank account. PayPal also offers a debit card that can be used in any store or restaurant just as a regular credit card would.

Many affiliate mangers prefer to send affiliate payments through PayPal because it is quick and easy. With the click of a mouse, the payments are sent and there is no time wasted writing checks, sealing envelopes and driving to the post office to mail them. Record keep is faster and more accurate when you use PayPal because the payments are automatically registered. Another benefit is that there is no minimum deposit amount meaning that you can send a payment for only one dollar and there will not be a charge.

One thing that all affiliate managers are cautioned about is that you should never send a payment until the products warranty has passed. If the product is returned before the warranty is up, and you have already sent the payment, then you have to ask the affiliate to give back the commission back. This can lead to a nightmare of legal problems including withholding future commissions until the funds are repaid.

Using affiliate programs such as clickbank will alleviate most of the problems that can arise on a daily basis. As an affiliate manager, you have enough to deal with; programs such as clickbank can make your job a lot easier. It is important to understand that clickbank deals primarily with digital products so it might not be the right program for your business if it does not deal with digital products.