Test link checks your integration with an Affiliate end to end: from the Affiliate's click to the postback Aftrad sends them when a conversion happens. Run it before the Affiliate sends live traffic.
⚠️ Important: Test conversions appear in Advertiser Events, but they are not counted in general Stats.
Before you start
The Affiliate must be created in Aftrad, with its postback URL configured. See Affiliate Postbacks.
The Affiliate must have access to the offer you want to test.
Start a test
Go to Home → Offers, open the offer and go to the AFFILIATES tab. Click the three dots in the Affiliate's row and select Test link.
You can also go to Tools → Tracking link tests, click Create, select the Offer and the Affiliate, and click Next.
The test is a wizard with four steps:
Step | What you do |
Select offer and affiliate | Choose the offer and the Affiliate (already filled in when you start from the offer). |
Setup testing link | Share the tracking link with the Affiliate and paste the link they send back. |
Select action | Check the click and trigger a test postback. |
Test summary | Check how the conversion is processed and the notification sent to the Affiliate. |
Share the tracking link with the Affiliate
Keep External test selected: it simulates a real click from the Affiliate.
Copy the link in Copy this tracking link and share it with the Affiliate. Use URL builder to review its parameters.
The Affiliate sets up this link in their platform and sends you back the tracking link from their platform, which calls Aftrad's link.
Paste the Affiliate's link in Paste the link provided by an affiliate and click Begin test.
Check the click and trigger the postback
A new tab opens on the Select action step. On the left, the Test summary shows the click. The key value is the Affiliate click ID: the click ID the Affiliate's platform sent when their link was called. Aftrad uses it later, in the postback to the Affiliate.
On the right, Select action lists the offer's payout rules, and the option Go directly to offer tracking link. That option sends the click to the Advertiser, for an end-to-end test with the Affiliate and the Advertiser at the same time. It's not the usual case: tests are normally done with the Affiliate or the Advertiser separately.
To test the Affiliate, select a payout rule (e.g. Rule #1) and click Trigger postback.
Check the result
A new section on the right shows how the test conversion is processed. It refreshes automatically every 30 seconds, or click Refresh to update it.
Event status — the status of the test conversion. If there's no problem, it reaches Processed.
Affiliate attributions → Main notification — the postback sent to the Affiliate:
Status: Sent — the Affiliate's platform received the notification and answered OK.
Notification URL — the full URL notified to the Affiliate, with their click ID.
If the notification fails, you'll see an error status instead.
Other statuses you may see in Event status:
Processing — being processed; it changes when complete.
Temporarily retained — held by a time-based retention rule; it changes automatically after the configured period.
Rejected — rejected because of an invalid
click_id, a time between click and event that is too long or too short, a payout that is too high, or an invalid or missing secure token.
If something goes wrong, see Postback troubleshooting.
All your tests
Every test is saved in Tools → Tracking link tests, with its date, offer, Affiliate, Event ID, Aggregated ID, Affiliate click ID and who created it. Use Filter to find a test, click the eye icon to open its summary, or click Create to start a new one.
