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Affiliate System and S2S Postbacks: Exact Attribution
1) Why all this and what is "exact attribution"
Affiliates cite traffic and expect transparent payment for targeted activities (registration/deposit/jealousy). The operator wants fraud protection, consistent reports and a predictable economy. "Exact attribution" means:- unambiguous link click → session → event (FTD/deposit/revenue);
- Deterministic rules (windows, priorities, multi-touch)
- idempotent S2S postbacks and reconciled reports;
- single currency/settlement timezone and clear statuses.
2) Payment models and key definitions
CPA (Cost per Acquisition): fixed per event (usually FTD - first deposit) when conditions are met (LCC/min. deposit/NGR> 0).
RevShare: Percentage of NGR/Net Gaming Revenue player for period/entire LTV (with ceilings/floor).
Hybrid: CPA + RevShare.
CPL/CTR/RS metrics: CR to register, CR to FTD, ARPU/ARPPU, eCPA/eRPS.
FTD - first time depositor, Qualified FTD - FTD after anti-fraud/vaping.
3) Traffic marking: links, UTM and sub-parameters
Affiliate tracking link (example):
https://brand. com/track? aff_id=42&campaign_id=uk_oct&click_id={CLICK_ID}
&sub_id1={SOURCE}&sub_id2={ADGROUP}&sub_id3={CREATIVE}&t=slot-promo- 'aff _ id '- partner,' campaign _ id '- offer/country,' click _ id '- unique click identifier (GUID/ULID),' sub _ id1.. 5 '- free fields (source/ad/creative/placement/A/B).
- On the landing, create a click session and set the cookie 'aff _ click _ id' (HTTP-only, same-site), simultaneously save it to the server rack (anti-cookie-loss).
4) Attribution windows and priorities
Click-through window: 30 days (registration/FTD).
Engagement window (after registration before FTD): 7-14 days.
Priorities: last-click among affiliates (inside the last promotion), but does not overlap direct brand search according to internal rules (document).
Multi-touch: keep a chain of clicks, but pay according to the "payout rule" (for example, last-click). For analytics, show the contribution of all touches.
5) S2S Postbacks: Events and Contracts
Why S2S: the browser pixel is unreliable (adblock/browser policy). The S2S postback → the webhook to the affiliate/tracker side without the client's participation.
Events that usually send
`registration` (sign-up)- 'ftd '(first deposit)
- 'qualified _ ftd '(after CCR/waking)
- 'deposit '(each deposit)
- 'revenue '(RevShare: NGR/GGR for the period)
Example of S2S postback (HTTP POST, JSON)
POST https://aff-network. com/postback
Headers: X-Signature: sha256=ab12..., X-Timestamp: 1730000000
Body:
{
"aff_id": "42," "click_id": "clk_9f23", "event": "ftd," "user_id": "u_12345" ,//alias, not PII
"amount_minor": 2000, "currency": "EUR", "market": "DE", "ts": "2025-10-23T17:41:26Z", "session_id": "s_77", "sub_id1": "fb", "sub_id2": "adg_12", "sub_id3": "cr_88"
}Safety and idempotence
6) Click binding: how not to lose attribution
At registration: match 'aff _ click _ id' from cookie/server session with 'user _ id' (+ device fingerprint as backup, but GDPR-sensitive, use only with consent).
With FTD: search for the last valid click session in the window; if not, return 'organic/direct'.
Dedup: if two FTDs went on the same day due to PSP retrays, we pay once (unique FTD flag on 'user _ id').
7) Antifraud and vaping
Lifetime: FTD → status' PENDING'for 24-72 hours, qualified after CCD/no chargeback.
Signals: "burst" from hosting-ASN, VPN/Proxy, high registration speed, cookie-stuffing (click without a real session), mis-match geo/currency.
Weighting: Reduce CPA payouts by quality thresholds (e.g. NGR <0, retention List of exceptions: branded SEM, prohibited sources, incident traffic - ban/0-payments. 8) Economics and formulas NGR = GGR − bonuses − jackpots − provider fi − PSP fi − chargebacks. RevShare payout = NGR × RS% (с min/max cap). Hybrid payout = CPA + NGR × RS%. eCPA = Payout/Number of FTDs, Affiliate ROI = Payout − TrafficCost. Document the settlement currency (for example, EUR) and the daily FX rate (ERU/provider). 9) Data diagrams (simplified) 10) Reporting and panels Performance (day/market/offer): clicks, registrations, FTD, CR, depositors, GGR/NGR, payouts, eCPA. Cohort slice: D1/D7/D30 retention, NGR/deposits per player, share of chargebacks. Discrepancy panel: discrepancies between clicks/registrations/FTD and affiliate tracker (± X%). Fraud heatmap: ASN/countries/sites with anomalies. 11) Calculation and reconciliation procedure 1. Daily - raw events in slices (clicks/reg/FTD/deposits/NGR), CSV/S2S unloading. 2. Once per period (week/month) - invoice draft with decoding and adjustments (chargeback/returns). 3. Arbitration: dispute window (usually 5-10 working days), documented reasons for deviations (fraud, non-compliance with the offer, incident). 4. Final account → payout (SEPA/SWIFT/crypto) with period reference; 'issued/paid'statuses. 5. Audit: WORM snapshots of reports, signature/hash. 12) Privacy and compliance Parties do not need PII: use aliases ('user _ id', 'hash (email)' if necessary with salt). DPA with affiliate networks, specifying roles (controller/processor), retention periods for clicks/events. Consent for cookie/UTM; fingerprinting - only on legal grounds. Geo-restrictions of offers (countries of license), age filters. 13) API Examples 13. 1. Click registration (server-side, optional) 13. 2. User Registration Binding 13. 3. Postback to the network side (our "outgoing") 14) Anti-traps and incidents A. Cookie-stuffing Signs: many clicks without session/scroll/time on the page. Measures: server click-log + threshold of "valid session" (minimum activity), ignore the last clicks if suspected. B. Different Timezones/Currencies → Report Discrepancies Measures: unified settlement TZ (for example, UTC or Europe/Kyiv) and currency (EUR); conversion on a fixed course source with a daily snapshot. C. Postback doubles Measures: Idempotency-Key + unique index 'event _ id', status machine 'pending→acked'. D. Splash of fraud from hosting-ASN Measures: WAF/bot manager, stop offers by segment, FTD trading, 0-payments by disputed sources before the proceedings. 15) Dashboards for daily work Affiliate Overview: FTD/depositors/NGR/payments for the top 10 partners for 7/30 days. Funnel: clicks → register → KYC → FTD (CR in steps, time to FTD). Quality: hold/ARPPU/chargeback rate by offers. Tech Health: p95 postback delay, HMAC error, retrai, DLQ. Finance: acts/invoices, status of payments, accounts receivable. 16) Delivery checklist A reliable affiliate system is deterministic attribution rules, secure S2S postbacks with idempotency, anti-fraud circuits and strict reconciliation. Standardize link parameters, store clicks and touch chains, pay according to an understandable model (CPA/RevShare/Hybrid), fix windows and timezones, protect webhooks and automate invoicing. Then you will have clean reports, less controversy and a sustainable unit economy for the operator and partners.
sql
-- Clicks/Sessions aff_clicks (
click_id text primary key, aff_id int, campaign_id text, sub1 text, sub2 text, sub3 text, sub4 text, sub5 text, ts timestamptz, ip inet, asn int, ua text, landing text
);
-- User binding aff_attribution (
user_id bigint primary key, click_id text references aff_clicks(click_id), aff_id int, campaign_id text, attributed_at timestamptz, window_days int, rule text -- e. g. 'last_click'
);
-- Postback Events aff_events (
event_id uuid primary key, user_id bigint, click_id text, event_type text, -- registration/ftd/deposit/revenue/adjustment amount_minor bigint, currency char(3), ngr_minor bigint, -- для revenue occurred_at timestamptz, status text, -- pending/sent/acked/failed retries int default 0
);
-- aff_payouts Affiliate Financial Accounting (
payout_id uuid primary key, aff_id int, period month, currency char(3), model text, -- CPA/RevShare/Hybrid cpa_minor bigint, rs_minor bigint, adjustments_minor bigint, total_minor bigint, status text -- draft/issued/paid
);
http
POST /v1/aff/click
{"aff_id":42,"campaign_id":"uk_oct","click_id":"clk_9f23","sub1":"fb","sub2":"adg12"}
→ 202 {"status":"ok"}http
POST /v1/aff/attach
{"user_id":12345,"click_id":"clk_9f23","ip":"1. 2. 3. 4","ua":"..."}
→ 201 {"attributed": true, "rule":"last_click","window_days":30}http
POST https://aff. example/postback
Headers: X-Idempotency-Key: evt_7a1, X-Signature: sha256=...
Body: {"event":"ftd","click_id":"clk_9f23","amount_minor":2000,"currency":"EUR","ts":"..."}
→ 200 {"ok":true}
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