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Rewards with Referral Factory and PayPal

Reward referrals with PayPal payouts 🎁 Automatically issue direct cash payments to users for successful referrals

Updated over 3 weeks ago

What You Can Do With PayPal and Referral Factory

With PayPal and Referral Factory, you can reward users through direct cash payouts into their PayPal accounts. This is especially useful for users who prefer cash over credits or gift cards and want a fast, secure way to receive their rewards.

PayPal payouts can be sent in multiple currencies and countries, subject to PayPal’s availability.

Note: Only verified PayPal business accounts with Payouts enabled can issue rewards via this method.

Who Can You Reward?

You can reward:

  • The Person Referring (the person who shares their referral link)

  • The Person Invited (the person who signs up on the referral link)

  • Both users – if you want to reward both, you’ll need to set up separate rewards for each.

What Events Can Trigger a PayPal Reward?

Just like with other monetary rewards, PayPal rewards can be triggered on:

  • A converted referral (i.e. when the Person Invited "qualifies")

  • Once-off, recurring, or milestone-based triggers are supported

❗ Monetary rewards cannot be issued when someone simply joins a campaign. This is to prevent fraud and ensure rewards are only issued for legitimate referrals.

Requirements To Use PayPal for Rewards

Before connecting PayPal, make sure you:

  • Have a PayPal Business Account – sign up here

  • Have PayPal Payouts enabled

  • Have a verified email address, identity, and a linked bank account

  • Have sufficient funds in your PayPal account to cover payouts + fees

How To Add A Fixed Amount Reward and Issue It Via PayPal

Step 1: Connect Your PayPal Business Account

β†’ Connect your PayPal account in the Integrations section of your Referral Factory dashboard.

β†’ Follow the prompts to authorize access for payouts.

β†’ Confirm that you have Payouts enabled in your PayPal settings.

Step 2: Add Reward from the Rewards Dashboard

β†’ Go to the Rewards tab
β†’ Select Dashboard

β†’ Click the Fixed Amount tab

β†’ Click Add Reward

Step 3: Name Your Reward and Link a Campaign

β†’ Enter a name for your reward (this is internal only).

β†’ Select the campaign where this reward should be issued.

β†’ Click Create.

❗ Rewards are campaign-specific. You must create individual rewards for each campaign.

Step 4: Choose Who Gets Rewarded and the Frequency

β†’ Select whether this reward is for the Person Referring or Person Invited.

β†’ Choose whether the reward should be issued once-off or recurring.

β†’ Click Next.

Step 5: Set How and When to Issue the Reward

β†’ For issuing method, select PayPal.

β†’ Choose the event that will trigger the reward (e.g. 1 converted referral).

β†’ Click Next.

❗ Because PayPal rewards are monetary, they cannot be triggered when the Person Referring joins your campaign or when a Person Invited signs up via a referral link. This protective measure ensures that you only pay rewards for qualified/converted referrals.

Step 6: Define Currency, Value, and Target

β†’ Set the currency and value of the reward.

β†’ Optionally, define a target number of referrals required to unlock the reward.

β†’ Click Next.

Step 7 (Optional): Email Notification

β†’ Toggle email notification ON if you'd like an email to be sent when the reward is issued.

β†’ Use the drag-and-drop editor to customize the message.

β†’ Click Next.

πŸ“Œ You can disable or edit this email notification from the Rewards Dashboard by clicking the blue button in the Actions column alongside the relevant reward.

Step 8: Activate Your Reward

β†’ Toggle Auto-Issue ON if you want rewards to be issued without manual approval (not recommended).

β†’ Set a limit for how many times a reward can be issued per user (optional).

β†’ Click Activate.

Troubleshooting PayPal Rewards

Common Issues:

  • Your PayPal account is not a verified business account

  • Payouts feature is not enabled

  • You do not have enough balance in PayPal to cover the payout

  • The recipient’s email address is not associated with a valid PayPal account

PayPal Payout Fees

  • U.S. Transactions: $0.25 per transaction

  • International Transactions: 2% of the amount (capped depending on country)

  • Max per individual payment: $20,000 USD

  • No fees are charged to the recipient

Final Notes

Once everything is set up, your PayPal rewards will be issued automatically (or manually, depending on your settings) based on your campaign rules.

Need help setting up your PayPal account for payouts? See PayPal's official guide here

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