What is a sub ID?
A sub ID is a value you add to a tracking link, usually your own user's ID. The tracking system stores it with the click and sends it back when a conversion happens, so you know which user or placement earned it.
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You add the value to the link, the tracking system keeps it, and it comes back with the conversion.
Example: Pebble Rewards fills in the player’s ID when it shows the offer.
https://go.pebble.example/click?off_id=aff_4b20c7e19a3d&sub_id=u_48213When the player installs Harbor Blocks, the postback arrives with sub_id=u_48213. Pebble Rewards looks up that player and credits 1,500 pebbles. Without the value, it would know an install happened and have no idea whose it was.
A sub ID answers whichever question you set it up to answer. Rewarded apps need to know who to credit, so they use it for the user. Sites and newsletters often want to know which page or send did the work, so they use it for a placement. Systems with more than one slot let you do both.
Keep one rule: one user, one value, always the same. A shared value, or a placeholder nobody filled in, leaves conversions you can’t credit to anyone.
Put your user’s ID in sub_id on every link. It’s required, and a link without it is refused. Add up to ten values of your own as sub1 to sub10, each up to 128 characters, and they come back on the postback too, for 90 days after the click that carried them. All the parameters: Pass your user ID and sub IDs on a tracking link and Click Tracking.
Questions
What should I put in a sub ID?
Your user's own ID, the same one every time. Use an internal ID rather than an email address: it's all you need to find the user, and it travels through other systems.
Can I use a sub ID for a campaign name instead of a user?
On many systems, yes. On AffiliateOS sub_id is for your user, and campaign names and placements go in sub1 to sub10.
Does the advertiser see my sub ID?
On AffiliateOS, sub1 to sub10 are never sent to the advertiser. They're only for you.