How the affiliate network works
New to affiliate networks? Here’s the whole idea. Creators (influencers) on the network promote your products to their audience. When one of their followers clicks through, comes to your site, and buys, that sale is credited to the creator — and you pay a commission only for that sale. No upfront ad budget, no cost-per-click, no risk.
Creator promotes your product
↓ shopper clicks their link
Shopper buys on your site
↓ your server reports the sale
Network credits it to the creator
↓
Creator earns commission · you pay per sale
Everything below — field names, headers, the signature scheme — is exactly what our server checks. Match it verbatim and your first call will pass.
The two pieces you’ll install
There are two moving parts, and they do different jobs.
1. The tracking script (pixel). A small JavaScript snippet on every page. It notices when a shopper arrives from a creator’s link and powers your Aeris dashboard — visits, add-to-carts, purchases. It is for analytics only.
2. The order report (server API). A call your server makes when an order is actually paid. This is the only thing that settles commission and pays the creator.
The one rule to remember: the pixel never pays anyone — the server report does. Install both. The pixel gives you a live dashboard; the server report is the source of truth for money. They stay in sync because both refer to the same order using your order id.
Why a server call and not just the pixel? Browsers block tracking scripts (ad-blockers, Safari ITP, server-rendered checkouts), so a pixel-only setup would silently lose sales. A server-to-server call always fires, so no confirmed order is ever missed.
