PartnerStack and ClickFlare Integration Guide

PartnerStack is a partner platform that software companies use to run their affiliate and referral programs. As a partner, you join programs in one PartnerStack dashboard, get a referral link per program and earn rewards when the people you refer sign up or pay. To track PartnerStack programs in ClickFlare, the click ID has to travel in both directions:

The referral link carries the ClickFlare click ID out, as a PartnerStack sub ID in sid.
PartnerStack’s postback brings it back with each reward, inside a JSON body, in customer.sub_ids.

There is no ClickFlare template for PartnerStack, and you can’t paste a ClickFlare postback URL into PartnerStack. PartnerStack’s postbacks are HTTP POST requests with a fixed JSON body and its own key names. A relay in the middle (Zapier, Make or n8n) reads the event and posts the values to ClickFlare under ClickFlare’s keys. This guide covers the setup, the field mapping, reward statuses and how to check it all works.

At a glance

To set up PartnerStack with ClickFlare:

Set up your domain and custom conversions.
Add PartnerStack as Other affiliate network.
Add sid to your referral link.
Build the relay.
Register the postback in PartnerStack.

Each step is explained in Setup.

	PartnerStack + ClickFlare
How it connects	PartnerStack postback + Zapier, Make or n8n relay
What reaches ClickFlare	Rewards with amount and status per click
Timing	Real time, per reward event
Key parameters	`sid={cf_click_id}`, `customer.sub_ids`, `amount`, `reward_status`
Works with	reward.created and reward.updated events
Good to know	Amounts arrive in USD cents. Divide by 100 in the relay.

How the data flows

Ad click
  → https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/r/CAMPAIGN?...
     (ClickFlare records the click and generates the click ID)
  → [optional lander → CTA uses the ClickFlare click URL]
  → https://company.grsm.io/PartnerABC?sid=CF_CLICK_ID
     (PartnerStack captures the sub ID at the click)
  → Visitor signs up or pays on the company's site
  → PartnerStack POSTs a JSON event to your relay:
     event = reward.created, data.amount = 5000, data.customer.sub_ids = ["CF_CLICK_ID"]
  → The relay maps the fields and posts to ClickFlare:
     POST https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv
     {"cf_click_id": "CF_CLICK_ID", "payout": 50, "txid": "rwrd_GWCpiWvW3ZekLe", "ct": "approved"}
     (ClickFlare matches the reward to the original click)

Leg	Who sends it	Format	What it carries
Referral link	The visitor’s browser, via ClickFlare’s redirect	URL parameter	`sid={cf_click_id}`
PartnerStack postback	PartnerStack, to your relay	Fixed JSON body (POST)	Event, reward amount in cents, status, sub IDs
ClickFlare postback	Your relay, to ClickFlare	JSON POST to `/cf/cv`	`cf_click_id`, `payout`, `txid`, `ct`

Link = their parameter + your token. Postback = your parameter + their value. PartnerStack’s parameter is sid. The value comes back as the first entry of customer.sub_ids, and the relay sends it to ClickFlare as cf_click_id.

What you’ll need

A ClickFlare account with your own tracking domain. Shared domains get flagged. See Tracking domains.
A PartnerStack partner account, approved for the program you want to promote.
An account on a relay tool: Zapier, Make or n8n. A small script on your own server works too.

Setup

Set up your own tracking domain

Add a custom tracking domain first, for example trk.yourdomain.com. The relay posts conversions to this domain. See Tracking domains.

Create the custom conversions

Go to Settings → Custom Conversions and create one custom conversion per reward status you want as a column, for example pending, approved and declined. The relay sends these names in ct, and they must match exactly. See Custom conversions and Reward statuses.

Create the campaign

Go to Campaigns → New Campaign, choose Redirect tracking, pick your traffic source and select your tracking domain. See Creating a campaign.

Add PartnerStack as an affiliate network

While you create the offer, open its Affiliate Network field and create a new network. Pick Other affiliate network and name it “PartnerStack”. You don’t need its postback URL: the relay posts to ClickFlare directly. Set Payout currency to USD, because PartnerStack reports reward amounts in US dollars.

Get your referral link

In PartnerStack, click Switch programs in the top right and pick the program. Open the Links tab and copy your referral link. It looks like this:

https://companyname.grsm.io/PartnerABC

If the program supports custom links, you can use one, but don’t put the sub ID inside the custom link text. Sub IDs are always added at the end.

Create the offer with the click ID in sid

In the offer form, paste the link into Offer URL with the sub ID at the end:

https://companyname.grsm.io/PartnerABC?sid={cf_click_id}

Write the parameter yourself and leave Append Click ID to Offer Url off. Set the payout to Auto so ClickFlare uses the value the relay sends.

The Offer URL field of the ClickFlare New Offer form with a PartnerStack link ending in sid={cf_click_id}

PartnerStack sub IDs take up to 255 characters. For more than one, use sid1, sid2, sid3 and so on, for example ?sid1={cf_click_id}&sid2=facebook. Keep the click ID in the first one so the relay can find it.

Write {cf_click_id} with braces. PartnerStack also notes that sub IDs may not work with every company you partner with. Run a test click and signup on each new program before you scale.

Build the relay

Create a webhook trigger in your relay tool and copy its URL:

Zapier: Webhooks by Zapier → Catch Hook.
Make: Webhooks → Custom webhook.
n8n: a Webhook node, method POST. Use the production URL.

Then add the step that posts to ClickFlare, with the mapping in Field mapping:

curl -X POST 'https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"cf_click_id": "CF_CLICK_ID", "payout": 50, "txid": "rwrd_GWCpiWvW3ZekLe", "ct": "approved"}'

Each relay guide shows this step in its own tool: Zapier, Make, n8n.

Go to https://dash.partnerstack.com/settings/postbacks, or open your profile settings and then Postback. Create a new postback:

Field	What to enter
Endpoint URL	The relay’s webhook URL
Name	Something that says where it goes, for example “ClickFlare relay”
Event Types	`reward.created` and `reward.updated`. Add others only if you need them.

Save it, then send the test event. The relay should receive {"event": "test", "data": {"message": "Test event sent!"}}. Add a filter in the relay that skips test events so they never reach ClickFlare.

Add a lander (optional)

If you send traffic through a lander or comparison page, its CTA must use the ClickFlare click URL, not the PartnerStack link. ClickFlare then adds the click ID when it redirects.

Save the campaign and launch

Save the campaign, copy the campaign URL from the Tracking tab and use it in your ads. Run the checks in Verify the setup first.

Field mapping

PartnerStack’s reward events look like this (from its postback docs):

{
  "event": "reward.created",
  "data": {
    "key": "rwrd_GWCpiWvW3ZekLe",
    "amount": 5000,
    "reward_status": "approved",
    "source": "transaction",
    "company": { "key": "co_1IfoLwRHJjObNrdv", "name": "IdeaAI" },
    "customer": { "key": "cus_1IfoLwRHJjObNrdv", "sub_ids": ["CF_CLICK_ID"] }
  }
}

The relay maps it like this:

ClickFlare key	PartnerStack field	Notes
`cf_click_id`	`data.customer.sub_ids[0]`	`sub_ids` is a list. The click ID is the first entry if it’s in `sid` or `sid1`.
`payout`	`data.amount` ÷ 100	PartnerStack sends cents in USD. 5000 means 50.00.
`txid`	`data.key`	The reward key, for example `rwrd_GWCpiWvW3ZekLe`. Keeps each reward its own conversion. See Reward statuses.
`ct`	`data.reward_status`	Or a fixed name such as `reward`. See Reward statuses.
`param1` (optional)	`data.company.name`	The program, so you can split rewards by company.
`param2` (optional)	`data.source`	What triggered the reward: `transaction`, `lead`, `deal` and others.

Make and n8n can read sub_ids[0] and divide by 100 in the mapping itself. In Zapier, add a Formatter by Zapier step for the division, or a Code by Zapier step for both.

Reward statuses

Each reward carries a reward_status: hold, pending, approved, declined or paid. PartnerStack sends reward.updated when it changes. Sending the status as ct gives you each stage as its own column in ClickFlare:

`reward_status`	`ct`	`payout`
`hold`, `pending`	`pending`	0, or the amount if you want to see expected revenue
`approved`	`approved`	The reward amount
`declined`	`declined`	0
`paid`	skip, or `paid`	Already counted under `approved`

Pick one stage to carry the money, usually approved, so the same reward isn’t counted twice in revenue. Then send only that custom conversion on to your traffic source. Several rewards from one customer. ClickFlare keeps one conversion per click ID and custom conversion. A program that pays per transaction can create several approved rewards for the same customer. Without a transaction ID each would replace the last, so send the reward key data.key as txid in the JSON body. A different txid makes each reward its own conversion. If your relay uses the GET postback instead, put it in the URL:

https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id=CF_CLICK_ID&payout=50&ct=approved&txid=rwrd_GWCpiWvW3ZekLe

See Postback parameters.

Other events

PartnerStack postbacks also cover action events (action.created, action.updated), customer events (customer.created, customer.updated, customer.deleted) and transaction events (transaction.created, transaction.updated). All of them carry customer.sub_ids. Two are useful:

customer.created can report a signup as its own custom conversion, for example ct=signup with payout 0.
transaction.created carries the customer’s payment in amount_usd (cents). That is revenue for the company, not your reward, so don’t use it as payout.

Verify the setup

Click through the campaign

Open the ClickFlare campaign URL. When the company’s site loads, check that the first request to grsm.io had sid= followed by a real click ID, not the text {cf_click_id}.

Sign up in an incognito window, as PartnerStack suggests for testing referral links. In PartnerStack’s Reporting tab, open Commissions or Customer performance. The Sub ID columns on the right show the click ID once a commission exists.

Check the relay and ClickFlare

When the reward event arrives, check the relay’s run: cf_click_id should be the click ID and payout should be in dollars. In ClickFlare, the conversion appears on the campaign under the custom conversion you sent, and in Logs → Event Logs.

Troubleshooting

Rewards show in PartnerStack but not in ClickFlare

The postback isn’t subscribed to reward events. Open it in PartnerStack’s postback settings and check Event Types.
sub_ids is empty. The link has no sid, the lander CTA goes straight to PartnerStack, or this company doesn’t support sub IDs.
The relay reads the wrong entry. If you use several sub IDs, check which position holds the click ID.
The ct doesn’t match. ct must match a custom conversion name exactly, including case.

See Troubleshooting S2S postbacks.

The payout is 100 times too high

The relay sends data.amount as it is. PartnerStack uses cents: divide by 100.

Only one reward per customer shows in ClickFlare

Repeat rewards with the same ct and no txid replace each other. Add txid to the body, set to data.key. See Reward statuses.

Test events show up as conversions

Add a filter in the relay that only continues when event starts with reward..

FAQ

Does ClickFlare integrate with PartnerStack?

Yes, through a relay. You pass the click ID as a sid sub ID, and Zapier, Make or n8n turns PartnerStack’s reward postback into a ClickFlare conversion.

Why do I need a relay?

PartnerStack posts a fixed JSON body with its own keys, such as amount and customer.sub_ids. ClickFlare’s JSON endpoint expects cf_click_id and payout. Something has to translate, and convert cents to dollars.

Can I promote several PartnerStack programs?

Yes. One PartnerStack postback covers all your partnerships, and one relay can serve all of them. Create one offer per program in ClickFlare, each with its own link and sid={cf_click_id}. Send data.company.name in a param to split rewards by program.

Where do I see sub IDs in PartnerStack?

In the Reporting tab, under Commissions or Customer performance, in the Sub ID columns on the right.

Zapier

Relay with a Zap

Make

Relay with a scenario

n8n

Relay with a workflow

Overview

Traffic Sources

Affiliate Networks

Search Arbitrage

Pay-Per-Call

E-commerce & Funnels

CRMs

Automation & BI

PartnerStack and ClickFlare Integration Guide

At a glance

How the data flows

What you’ll need

Setup

Field mapping

Reward statuses

Other events

Verify the setup

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Zapier

Make

n8n

​At a glance

​How the data flows

​What you’ll need

​Setup

​Field mapping

​Reward statuses

​Other events

​Verify the setup

​Troubleshooting

​FAQ

​Related

Zapier

Make

n8n

At a glance

How the data flows

What you’ll need

Setup

Field mapping

Reward statuses

Other events

Verify the setup

Troubleshooting

FAQ

Related