Dots Payouts

Normally, JourneyFuse records advisor payouts while you move the actual money in your bank or payment processor. With the Dots integration connected, you can review a payout with Pay and then confirm Send via Dots to send money through Dots to each advisor's chosen payout method — bank account, PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, and more.

Perfect for: agencies running regular commission payrolls across many advisors who are tired of exporting CSVs, uploading them to a bank portal, and reconciling by hand.

How It Works

1. Your agency keeps a balance in a Dots app wallet (topped up from your bank in the Dots dashboard)
2. Each advisor connects once through a guided Dots setup where they verify their identity and pick how they want to be paid
3. When you pay commissions in JourneyFuse, the money moves from your wallet to each advisor's chosen method automatically
4. Dots reports back as each payment settles, so both you and the advisor see live status
5. Dots also handles 1099 filing for advisors paid through it

Setup (Agency Owner/Admin)

1. Connect your Dots app

1. Create an app in the Dots dashboard and copy the Client ID and API key (Developers → API keys)
2. In JourneyFuse go to Settings → Integrations → Dots Payouts
3. Choose the environment — start with Sandbox to test with fake money, switch to Production when ready
4. Paste the credentials and click Verify & save. JourneyFuse checks them against Dots and shows your app's wallet balance

2. Turn on status updates

1. In the Dots dashboard, open API Management and add a webhook endpoint
2. Paste the endpoint URL shown on the JourneyFuse Dots settings page (it's unique to your agency)
3. Subscribe to the transfer, user, and flow event types
4. Copy the endpoint's signing secret back into JourneyFuse and save

Without this, payouts still send — but the Payouts page won't update from "sent" to "paid" as they settle.

3. Payout settings

• Who pays the Dots fee — absorb it as the agency or pass it to the advisor
• Low-balance alert — the Payouts page warns you when the wallet drops below this amount

Advisor Setup

Each advisor connects themselves — you never collect bank details:

1. The advisor opens their portal and goes to Payouts
2. A "Set up your payouts" banner walks them through the Dots-hosted flow: phone verification, tax info, and payout method — about two minutes
3. Once done, their row on your Payouts page shows a green Dots badge with their chosen method

Advisors who haven’t finished setup show Set up payouts instead of Pay. Open it to Email setup link or Copy setup link. Advisors should use this JourneyFuse link, not create a separate business account on the Dots website. They cannot be selected for a Dots pay run until their payout method is set up.

If your Dots app already has payees in it, use Sync payees from Dots on the settings page to match them to advisors by email.

Paying Advisors

Nothing about your payout flow changes — it just moves real money now:

• Single advisor: click Pay, review the amounts, confirm. The dialog reminds you this sends money via Dots.
• Pay run: select everyone (the master checkbox skips advisors who aren't set up), click Pay N advisors, confirm once.
• The wallet balance shows above the list — if what's ready to pay exceeds the balance, you'll see a warning to top up before the run instead of hitting failures mid-way.

Record a payment made elsewhere

Record external payout records money you already paid outside Dots; it does not send a transfer. You can select specific commission lines first, then review the selected total, actual payment method, reference, payment date, expected arrival date, notes, and statement-email choice. Do not record a payment that has not actually been made.

Ready to pay is an unpaid balance, not proof of a completed transfer. Check the advisor’s setup and any applicable holds. Pending shows commissions held by your payout timing rules; supplier receipt timing and advisor payout timing are separate.

Payment status

The History tab shows a Dots badge per payout:

Advisors see the same status (worded gently) on their portal Payouts page.

When a Send Fails

If Dots rejects a payout (wallet short, advisor's method broken), the commissions stay marked paid but the batch shows Dots · failed in History with the reason. Fix the cause, then click Retry Dots on that row — use the existing payout’s retry controls rather than creating a second payout. Review the transfer status and error first; a saved payout batch alone does not prove that money arrived.

Failure emails

You don't have to watch History to find a failure. Within about 15 minutes of one:

• Your commission contact gets an email listing each failed payout: the advisor, the amount, what to do next, and Dots' own reason. That is the person picked under Settings → Notifications → Who handles commission reconciliation; if nobody is picked, it goes to the workspace owner. Several failures in one run arrive as one email.
• The advisor gets an email too when the fix is theirs, with a button to their payout setup page:
  • Their payout account details are invalid or not found: they reconnect their account.
  • Their payout method isn't enabled on your Dots account (for example debit card payouts): they pick a different method, such as bank, Venmo or PayPal.

Each failure is emailed once. If you send it again and it fails again, a new email goes out. Rejecting a payout in review, or undoing a split, never sends one.

FAQ

Do I still need to export payment files? No — for Dots-connected agencies the pay dialogs drop the "pay externally first" guidance entirely. The exports remain available if you want records.

What does sandbox mode do? Everything works identically but no real money moves, and Dots pre-funds the test wallet. Run a full practice payroll in sandbox before switching to production keys.

Can an advisor change how they get paid? Yes — the Manage payout method button on their portal Payouts page reopens the Dots flow anytime.

Who files 1099s? Dots collects W-9s during advisor setup and handles 1099 filing for payments sent through it. Payments made outside Dots still follow your normal 1099 export process.

What does the advisor see about their tax docs? Once you're connected to Dots, the Lite portal tells them so in three places: the Commissions → Tax & 1099 nav item, a note on My Submissions, and the Tax Info page, which explains that their W-9 and year-end 1099 come from Dots and gives them a Set up tax & payouts button that opens their own Dots flow. There is no W-9 to upload in JourneyFuse and nothing for them to email you.

We file our own 1099s outside JourneyFuse. Does that change what advisors see? No. If you're connected to Dots, Dots is what your advisors are pointed to, whether or not Settings → Commissions → Tax filings is set to external. That setting only controls JourneyFuse's own W-9 collection and 1099 export tools for you; it never overrides a live Dots connection in the advisor's portal.