How affiliate tracking works: from click to commission, step by step

Affiliate tracking answers one question: which partner brought this sale? Everything else (commissions, reports, payouts) depends on that answer.

The path of a sale

1. The link. The affiliate gets a unique tracking link for each offer.
2. The click. When someone clicks, the platform records the click and creates a click ID, a unique code for that visit.
3. The redirect. The visitor goes on to the advertiser's page, with the click ID in the address (for example ?ref=CLICK_ID).
4. The sale. The advertiser stores the click ID with the order or sign-up.
5. The notification. The advertiser's server calls the platform's postback with that click ID.
6. Attribution. The platform finds the click, knows which affiliate it belongs to and works out the commission.

Postback, pixel or coupon

• Postback (server to server): the most reliable, because it doesn't go through the browser.
• Pixel: an image on the confirmation page. Simple, but ad blockers make it fail.
• Coupon: the sale is attributed by the code used, with no click. Good for influencers and podcasts.

See the comparison in postback vs pixel.

Why conversions get lost

• The click ID doesn't travel from the landing page to checkout.
• The conversion arrives after the attribution window (30 days by default).
• The pixel is blocked by the browser.
• The advertiser sends the postback with the wrong token or parameter.

The attribution rule

Most programmes use last click: the affiliate with the most recent click before the sale, inside the window, wins.

In RastroAff

Each click gets its own click ID, country, device and up to five sub IDs. Conversions come in by postback, pixel, API, Shopify, WooCommerce or coupon, and Clicks shows why a conversion didn't count. See tracking links and advertiser postback.