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MyBid traffic source template MyBid is a self-serve programmatic ad network selling push, in-page push, popunder, native, banner and video traffic. You buy on CPC or CPM, with a CPA Goal mode and an automatic optimizer on top. This guide sets up MyBid as a traffic source in ClickFlare. It covers passing MyBid’s click data and cost into your reports and sending conversions, with their value, back to MyBid so its goals, its CPA Goal bidding and your stats agree. You do everything from the campaign editor. The MyBid traffic source is created inline, without leaving the campaign.

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At a glance

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How it works

1

MyBid sends the click

A visitor clicks your ad. MyBid opens your ClickFlare campaign URL and fills in its macros: the click ID in click_id, the cost in cost, plus the source, creative, ad type and country.
2

ClickFlare stores the MyBid click ID

ClickFlare saves the value of click_id as the visit’s External ID, records the cost, and redirects the visitor to your lander or offer.
3

The conversion reaches ClickFlare

Your affiliate network or store posts the conversion back to ClickFlare, matched on the ClickFlare click ID.
4

ClickFlare posts it back to MyBid

ClickFlare fires the MyBid postback, replacing {external_id} with the stored MyBid click ID and {payout} with the revenue. MyBid matches it to the original click and records it under the goal in goal_id.
The mirror to keep straight: in the campaign URL you write ClickFlare’s parameter (click_id) and MyBid’s macro ({%click_id%}). The template does this for you. In the postback URL you write MyBid’s parameter (click_id) and ClickFlare’s token ({external_id}). The parameter name is the same on both sides. The values are not.

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Before you start

  • Set up your own tracking domain. Run the campaign and the postback on your own custom domain. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. See Custom Domains.
  • Have an offer ready in ClickFlare, and its affiliate network set up to post conversions back to ClickFlare. See Creating an Offer and Adding an Affiliate Network.
  • Create your conversion goals in MyBid first. Each goal has its own goal_id, and the postback needs it. See Get the goal ID from MyBid.
  • Decide which conversions MyBid should receive. MyBid’s CPA Goal bidding optimizes on the goals you select. See Tracking several goals.

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Step 1 – Create the campaign and the MyBid traffic source

  1. Go to Campaigns and click New.
  2. In Traffic Source, open the dropdown and click + New Traffic Source.
  3. Type mybid in the search box and select the MyBid template.
  4. Enter a Name, for example MyBid.
  5. Leave Cost currency on USD unless your MyBid account is billed in another currency.
The template fills in the Parameters table for you: The MyBid template's Parameters table in ClickFlare, with MyBid's macros pre-filled MyBid macros are written with a percent sign inside the braces, for example {%click_id%}. Keep that exact spelling. Each tracking field becomes a column you can group reports by. source_id is the one you will use most: MyBid’s CPA Goal scores traffic by source, and the column shows you which sources convert, so you can block them or bid on them with Bid by source in MyBid.
Don’t change or remove the External ID row. MyBid ties every conversion to the click through {%click_id%}. If the macro is missing or misspelled, the postback has nothing to send back, and MyBid’s test stays on Waiting.
To pass more MyBid data, click Add Parameter, give it a name and parameter, and enter the MyBid macro as the TS Token. ClickFlare assigns the next free tracking field. MyBid shows its available macros in the campaign editor. Its public help center doesn’t list them, so check them there before adding any.

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Step 2 – Set up the postback

The postback is what sends conversions to MyBid. It lives on the traffic source, so every campaign that uses this MyBid traffic source sends conversions the same way.

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Get the goal ID from MyBid

MyBid attaches every conversion to a goal. You create the goal first, and MyBid generates a postback with that goal’s goal_id.
  1. In MyBid, open the Goals tab and click + Create conversion goal.
  2. Fill in Name, for example Purchase, and pick the Conversion Type that fits.
  3. Choose the Value Type:
  1. Click Next. MyBid generates the postback URL. Note the number after goal_id=.
  2. Click Copy & done to save the goal.
The URL MyBid gives you has this shape:
You only need the goal_id from it. The ClickFlare template already has the click ID and payout tokens in place.

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Add the template’s postback in ClickFlare

  1. Back in the New Traffic Source form, scroll to Passing conversion info to traffic source.
  2. Turn on Traffic source postback URL. The template’s postback appears:
  1. Replace REPLACE_WITH_GOAL_ID with the goal’s ID from MyBid. Leave {external_id} and {payout} as they are. ClickFlare fills them in. With goal ID 186 and a Dynamic goal, the result is:
  1. If the goal is Fixed or No Value, change the cost part as shown in the table above.
  2. In the dropdown on the left, choose the ClickFlare event that should fire the postback. Keep Conversions to send every conversion. If your final action is a custom conversion (for example purchase), choose that instead.
  3. Click Save. You are back in the campaign editor with the MyBid traffic source selected.
The Traffic source postback URL switched on, showing the MyBid template's postback
Replace REPLACE_WITH_GOAL_ID with your goal’s number. MyBid needs the goal_id to attach a conversion to a goal. A postback that still contains the placeholder isn’t credited to any goal, and CPA Goal campaigns don’t see it.
In MyBid’s postback, cost is the conversion value, not your ad spend. cost={payout} tells MyBid what the conversion earned you, for its revenue and ROI columns. MyBid’s own example uses {cost} as the value token. That works in some trackers. In ClickFlare, {cost} is your cost for the visit, so keep the template’s {payout}. For payouts in another currency, see Multicurrency in ClickFlare. To learn what each postback token does, see How to Configure a Traffic Source S2S Postback URL.

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Step 3 – Finish the campaign and copy its URL

  1. Name the campaign.
  2. Set the Cost Model to Not Tracked, so ClickFlare uses the cost MyBid passes. On CPM campaigns, read Cost first.
  3. Choose Redirect or Direct tracking. Redirect is the usual choice for MyBid’s push and popunder traffic.
  4. Click Next and, on Destination, add your lander (optional) and your offer.
  5. Save, open Tracking, select your own tracking domain and copy the campaign URL.
The campaign URL already contains every MyBid macro from the template, for example click_id={%click_id%} and cost={%cost%}. If you use a lander, its call-to-action must link to the ClickFlare click URL, not to the offer directly. Otherwise the visit reaches the offer without a ClickFlare click ID, and the conversion cannot be traced back to MyBid. See Creating a Campaign in ClickFlare.

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Step 4 – Create the campaign in MyBid

  1. In MyBid, create a new campaign or edit an existing one.
  2. Paste the ClickFlare campaign URL into the Click URL field.
  3. Choose the format, pricing model, targeting and budget as usual.
  4. If you use CPA Goal, select your goal under Conversion Goal(s) and fill in Target CPA and the Daily test budget. CPA Goal can’t run with an optimizer, so leave Select optimizer empty.
  5. Submit the campaign.
Paste the URL exactly as ClickFlare gives it. MyBid replaces each {%...%} macro when the ad is clicked.

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Step 5 – Test the integration

MyBid has its own test tool. Run it before launching.
  1. In MyBid, go to Goals → Test conversion and click Generate test.
  2. Paste your ClickFlare campaign URL into Click URL. It already contains click_id={%click_id%}, so don’t click the {%click_id%} chip under the field. That would add the parameter a second time.
  3. Click Next. MyBid creates the test and a Test URL. Click Copy & Done.
  4. Open the Test URL in a browser and complete the offer the way a real visitor would.
  5. In ClickFlare, go to Logs → Postback Status and filter by the campaign. A successful request to postback.mb-d.com confirms ClickFlare sent it.
  6. Return to Test conversion in MyBid and reload the page:
If several conversions with the same goal_id happen in one test, the table shows only one. Live campaigns count them all.

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Tracking several goals

MyBid tracks as many goals as you create, for example a registration, a deposit and a purchase. Each goal has its own goal_id, so each needs its own postback:
  1. In MyBid, create a goal for each step and note each goal_id.
  2. In ClickFlare, create a custom conversion for each step, for example registration and deposit.
  3. On the MyBid traffic source, click + Another postback URL once per extra goal.
  4. In each postback, paste the template’s URL and replace REPLACE_WITH_GOAL_ID with that goal’s ID. Map each postback to its ClickFlare event: registration to goal 186, deposit to goal 187.
  5. Test each goal. One test can show several rows, one per goal received.
  • CPA Goal optimizes on the goals selected in Conversion Goal(s). Each selected goal needs its own postback with its goal_id.
  • MyBid recommends about 10 verified conversions a day for CPA Goal to learn.
  • In MyBid’s statistics, select goals in the Conversion Goals filter to see each goal as its own column.
If MyBid should only learn from your final sale, keep a single postback and map it to that event. Earlier steps still show in ClickFlare. They just don’t reach MyBid.To send a postback only for some conversions, for example only those above a certain payout, use Event filter under the postback to add conditions.

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Cost

The template passes cost per visit. The cost row sends MyBid’s {%cost%} macro, and ClickFlare records it as the visit’s cost. On the campaign, set the Cost Model to Not Tracked so ClickFlare uses the cost passed in the URL. See Cost Models. How exact that cost is depends on MyBid’s pricing model:
MyBid’s own tracker guides say automatic cost tracking is exact for CPC campaigns, and that CPM costs may need dividing by 1,000. On a CPM campaign, compare ClickFlare’s Cost column with your MyBid spend after launch. If it’s about 1,000 times too high, switch the Cost Model to CPC and enter your CPM bid divided by 1,000 as the cost value.
When the recorded spend differs from your MyBid spend, correct it with a manual cost upload. See also Traffic Source Cost Tracking.

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Delayed revenue

If you run search arbitrage (RSOC or AFD) behind MyBid, the feed reports revenue hours or days after the click. To pass that revenue to MyBid once it arrives, use a Dynamic goal and see Sending Delayed Revenue to Traffic Sources.

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Troubleshooting

  • The page wasn’t opened from the Test URL that MyBid generated.
  • The Click URL in the test is missing click_id={%click_id%}, or it appears twice.
  • The postback uses {%click_id%} or another tracker’s token instead of ClickFlare’s {external_id}. ClickFlare sends unknown tokens as literal text.
  • REPLACE_WITH_GOAL_ID is still in the postback.
  • Traffic source postback URL is off on the MyBid traffic source.
  • Disable sending postbacks to traffic source is on in the campaign.
  • The postback is mapped to a different event than the one the conversion logged. Check Logs → Event Logs to see which event was recorded.
  • The goal_id belongs to a goal you deleted or to another account.
  • Check Logs → Postback Status: a failed request shows the status code MyBid returned.
The goal’s Value Type is No Value, or the postback has no cost={payout}. For a Dynamic goal, restore &cost={payout}.
The campaign is on CPM pricing and {%cost%} arrives per 1,000 impressions. Switch the Cost Model to CPC with your CPM bid divided by 1,000, or fix the days with a manual cost upload.
For the general checklist, see Conversions not showing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q1: Can I use the same MyBid traffic source for all my MyBid campaigns?
A1: Yes, if they share the same goals. The postback is set once on the traffic source and every campaign using it sends conversions the same way. Create a second MyBid traffic source only if a campaign needs different goals.
Q2: The parameter is click_id in both the campaign URL and the postback. Isn’t that the same thing twice?
A2: It’s two halves of one value. In the campaign URL, click_id={%click_id%} is where MyBid writes its click ID and ClickFlare reads it. In the postback, click_id={external_id} is where ClickFlare writes that stored ID back to MyBid. Keep both as they are.
Q3: Why does the postback send {payout} in a parameter called cost?
A3: Because MyBid names its conversion value cost. MyBid uses it for revenue and ROI, not for spend. ClickFlare’s {payout} is the conversion’s revenue, which is what MyBid expects there.
Q4: Should I use Redirect or Direct tracking with MyBid?
A4: Redirect is the usual choice and works with every MyBid format. Use Direct only if MyBid must see your lander’s domain as the destination. See Direct Campaign Tracking.

Traffic source postbacks

Every token you can use in a postback.

Custom conversions

One ClickFlare event per MyBid goal.

Cost models

How CPC, CPA and RevShare costs are calculated.

Conversions not showing

The general checklist when postbacks don’t arrive.