Glossary
Affiliate ID
The code a program or network assigns to you and writes into every link it generates, so clicks and sales are credited to your account. It exists only inside that network: when a program moves elsewhere, your old ID means nothing there.
Also called: publisher ID, partner ID, aff_id, tracking ID, Associate ID.
Each network has its own name and format for it. Awin passes it as awinaffid, Amazon Associates calls it a tracking ID and carries it in the tag parameter, and other platforms use aff_id or publisher ID. It is visible in every link, which is part of why extensions that swapped in their own IDs at checkout became a big enough problem for the Chrome Web Store to restrict them in 2025.
Keep it apart from sub IDs. The affiliate ID says who gets paid; sub IDs say which source, placement or page sent the click. To split earnings by site, use what the program already offers, such as extra tracking IDs at Amazon or sub parameters at most networks. Before a program changes networks, record your IDs, clicks and earnings: after the move, nothing in the new system points back to them.
Related terms: Affiliate link, Sub ID, Tracking link, Affiliate network, Cookie stuffing.