> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.the-meridian.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Payouts

A payout is a batch of outstanding [commissions](/affiliate-commissions) for one affiliate, in one currency, that you're going to pay. Meridian does the arithmetic and the record-keeping; the money moves through your own rail.

## Generating them

**Generate payouts** aggregates each affiliate's outstanding commissions into a payout. It runs in the background. Payouts appear as each affiliate is aggregated, so a large program fills the list progressively rather than blocking.

Two things bound what's generated:

* **The minimum payout amount.** An affiliate below it **rolls over to the next period** instead of producing a payout worth less than the transfer fee.
* **Payout holds.** An affiliate on hold is excluded from generation entirely. See [Affiliate profiles](/affiliate-profiles).

## The lifecycle

| Status | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Pending** | Generated, not yet actioned |
| **Requested** | The affiliate has asked for it |
| **Processing** | You're paying it |
| **Paid** | Sent, and marked as such |
| **Cancelled** | Voided; its commissions return to outstanding |

## Paying one

Disbursement is manual in v1: pay the affiliate through PayPal, a bank transfer, Wise, or whatever you use, then **mark the payout as paid**. The payout detail shows the exact commission lines it covers, so what you're sending is reconciled to the ledger before you send it.

## The list

Every payout with its affiliate, number, amount and status, searchable by affiliate or payout number, filterable by status. Newest payouts lead. The **amount** header sorts the whole list: one click surfaces the largest payouts first, a second reverses it, a third returns to newest first. The sort survives search and filter changes and lives in the URL, so a ranked view can be shared.

## The numbers

**Awaiting payment** with how many are pending or requested, **paid out** all-time, and the **minimum payout** currently in force.

## Settings

The minimum payout amount is set here, and applies from the next generation. It doesn't retroactively split or merge payouts that already exist.


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