How to Track Subaffiliate Commissions in Post Affiliate Pro When Promoting Third-Party Network Offers

Problem definition

Affiliate marketers often participate in external affiliate networks to promote third-party offers. To scale their efforts, they may wish to recruit their own subaffiliates—giving each subaffiliate a unique tracking link, monitoring their performance, and sharing the commissions received from the third-party network. Post Affiliate Pro can facilitate this by tracking subaffiliate referrals, receiving postbacks from the external network, and automating commission sharing.

This article explains how to configure Post Affiliate Pro to function as a subaffiliate management system in conjunction with an external affiliate network.

Using Post Affiliate Pro to Recruit and Track Subaffiliates for External Offers

When you join a third-party affiliate network, you are provided with offer links to promote. Post Affiliate Pro allows you to create your own affiliate program on top of this by:

1. Registering your own subaffiliates in your PAP instance.
2. Generating unique tracking links for each subaffiliate, which redirect to the external offer.
3. Appending a dynamic parameter (such as visitorId) to the offer URL so the user’s journey can be tracked across both systems.

Example workflow:

• Your subaffiliate shares their PAP tracking link.
• When a user clicks the link, they are redirected via PAP and assigned a unique visitorId (or similar parameter).
• PAP modifies the offer URL to include this visitorId (e.g., &subid={$visitorid}).
• The user lands on the external offer page; the external network stores the visitorId.
• When a conversion occurs, the external network sends a postback to your PAP installation, including the visitorId.
• PAP attributes the conversion to the correct subaffiliate and assigns a commission.

Troubleshooting Third-Party Network Integration for Subaffiliate Tracking

• Parameter lost: Ensure the external network supports passing and storing custom parameters (e.g., subid, clickid, visitorid) and that these are not stripped from the URL.
• No postback received: Confirm that the external network is configured to send a server-to-server postback to your PAP sale.php endpoint, including the visitorId.
• Incorrect commission assignment: Double-check that the parameter names match between your PAP setup and the external network’s postback system.

To monitor and debug incoming postbacks, use the Tools → Sale requests log in your Post Affiliate Pro installation. This feature allows you to browse through all sale and action tracking requests received by the software and helps you quickly identify issues with tracking or commission assignment. For more details, read the official knowledgebase article: https://support.qualityunit.com/068903-Quick-debugging-with-Sale-requests-log

Test the end-to-end process with a live or test transaction to ensure all parameters and postbacks function as expected.

Best Practices for Commission Sharing with Subaffiliates in Post Affiliate Pro

• Clearly define your commission-sharing rules in PAP campaigns (e.g., assign a percentage of your received commission to each subaffiliate).
• Use the dynamic {$visitorid} parameter in all PAP-generated offer links for accurate tracking.
• Regularly check PAP’s commission logs and debugging tools—especially the Sale requests log—to confirm postbacks are processed and subaffiliates are credited.
• Communicate with your subaffiliates about payout schedules and reporting.

Understanding Visitor IDs and Parameter Passing in Post Affiliate Pro

The visitorId is a unique identifier assigned by PAP to each click. By embedding this in the external offer URL, you create a bridge between your PAP system and the third-party network, enabling reliable tracking of which subaffiliate generated each conversion.

Configuring Postbacks from Third-Party Networks to Post Affiliate Pro

To automate commission sharing, instruct the third-party network to send a postback like this to your PAP installation when a sale or conversion happens:

https://YOUR_PAP_URL/scripts/sale.php?visitorId={subid}&TotalCost={commission_amount}&OrderID={order_id}

Replace {subid} with the parameter name used by the external network, and ensure all required parameters are included. Consult both your network and PAP support if configuration assistance is needed.

Scaling Your Subaffiliate Program

As your subaffiliate program grows, use PAP’s reporting, commission tiers, and automated payout features to manage and incentivize your network. Regularly audit tracking links and postback integrations to ensure continued accuracy as both your offers and the third-party network evolve.