How to migrate an affiliate program without losing a single link

By Jimi Barkway · Published 4 September 2026 · Part of the blog

Why do affiliates' links break when you move platforms?

In shortBecause a published link carries the old platform's referral parameter, and a new tracking script that does not read that parameter treats the visitor as unreferred. Everything else in a migration is bookkeeping. This is the part that loses money.

An affiliate link is a URL with a parameter on the end. Which parameter depends on the platform: via on one, fpr on another, tap_s on a third. Your partners pasted those links into reviews, videos, newsletters and profile bios over months or years. You cannot recall any of them. Nobody can.

So the whole question is whether the new script reads the old parameter. If it does, a link in a review from two years ago credits the same affiliate from the day the script goes on your site. If it does not, every one of those links is dead from the cutover, and nobody tells you. The affiliate notices when their next statement is empty.

AffiliateRail's script reads eighteen referral parameters besides its own, in a fixed order, and its own parameter wins a tie. The attribution guide lists them and the script itself is public, so you can check your platform's parameter is there before you move. The other half of the trick is the token. Each imported partner keeps their old referral token, so a link that says ?via=jane still maps to Jane, and never to a new id nobody published. Nothing to re-publish.

What has to move, and in what order?

In shortThree kinds of record, in this order: partners, then customers, then transactions. Payout details and tax forms never move. Every import runs as a dry run first, and every run can be rolled back.

Order matters. Partners first, because customers point at partners, then customers, because transactions point at customers, then transactions last, one row per payment, with the customer, the partner, the amount and the date. A row with no amount imports as a lead. Statuses are translated on the way in, and money arrives as a proper amount with a currency.

The records come from a spreadsheet, or straight from the old platform with your own API key. The key is used read-only, encrypted for the run, and removed when the run finishes. Nothing changes on the other side, which is what lets both platforms run at once. Five platforms import directly. The rest go through a CSV, with the column mapping pre-filled from your headers. The imports guide has the field lists.

Every import dry-runs first. The full pass, counting what would be created, updated, skipped and failed, with nothing written. Read those counts against the old dashboard. Run it for real only when they agree. If a run turns out wrong, rollback undoes it in one click: everything it created is removed and everything it updated is restored.

Two things never move, on purpose. Payout details, because a PayPal address or a bank account is something a partner gives to whoever pays them, and that is about to be you. And tax forms, for the reason in the tax section below.

How long do you run both platforms?

In shortA month of parallel running costs nothing. Both scripts on the page, both dashboards open, and one full payout cycle on the new side before the old account closes.

There is no required overlap. But a month buys three things. You can compare the two dashboards on the same traffic. You can watch a payout cycle end to end on the new side, from the sale to the money landing. And the last stragglers, the people who clicked a link the week before the cutover, get credited on whichever side saw them.

One thing to know before you compare. Some older tools' script hosts are on EasyPrivacy, the filter list most ad blockers ship with. If the old script is blocked on a visitor's browser and the new one is not, the old dashboard under-counts that visitor and the new one does not. So the two click columns will not match, and the gap is not an error. Compare sales. Sales arrive on the webhook whatever the browser did.

What does not carry over?

In shortPortal passwords, raw click logs, cookies already set on visitors' devices, and files stored in the old platform's resource area. People, links, customers, sales and commissions do carry.

Do tax forms carry over?

In shortTreat them as not carrying. A W-8BEN is valid to the end of the third calendar year after it is signed, but whether a form collected by one payer covers a different payer is a question for your accountant. The safe answer is fresh forms for a new payer of record.

The validity rule is the IRS's own, in the W-8BEN instructions. The transfer question is not answered anywhere in plain words, and this page will not pretend it is. What is certain is this. If you are moving from a platform that paid your affiliates on your behalf to one where you pay them from your own account, the payer of record changes, and the form was given to the old payer.

So collect again. Turn on required tax forms and each partner sees the W-9 or W-8 flow in their portal on their first visit. Payouts wait until the form is in, which is the only enforcement that works. The tax forms page has which form, from whom, and what a UK or EU founder does instead.

What do you tell your affiliates?

In shortOne email, the day the script goes on, with four facts: their links keep working, the one thing they need to do, when and from where the next payout runs, and who to reply to. Send it yourself. No platform sends it for you.

The importer does not email anyone, and a migration report to the merchant is on the backlog rather than in the product. So the message below is yours to send. It works because it leads with the fact they are worried about, and because it names the day.

Send a second, shorter one the day the first payout lands on the new side, because that is the message that ends the worry, and it is the one most merchants forget to send. Two emails.

What is the order of the day?

In shortExport, create, dry-run, run, install, invite, overlap, watch a payout, close. Nine steps, most of them minutes. The one that takes a month is the overlap, and it takes no effort.

There is a step-by-step guide for each platform you might be leaving, with its referral parameter, its export page, and what it does not carry, on the comparison pages. Each one is checked against the vendor's own help pages on the date it shows.

How many links does a migration lose?

In shortNo published figure exists, and this page will not invent one. The honest answer is a rule: none, if the new script reads the old parameter and the partner keeps their token, and all of them if it does not.

That is why the first question on this page is the parameter, and the export is second. An export can be re-run. A link in a video from three years ago cannot be re-published. Check the parameter before you check anything else.

Common questions