Glossary
The words used on CPA Radar, in plain terms. For how we measure them, see the methodology.
- Affiliate network
- A company that holds offers from many advertisers and pays affiliates for the results they send. CPA Radar tracks networks, not individual advertisers.
- Offer
- One thing a network pays for, with its own payout, allowed countries, traffic rules and landing page. The same product can be an offer on several networks.
- Payout
- What the network pays you for one result, in the currency it states. An offer can pay different amounts per country or per payout type.
- CPA (cost per action)
- A fixed payout when a visitor completes the action the offer asks for: a sale, a signup, a deposit, an install.
- CPL (cost per lead)
- A CPA offer where the action is a lead: a form filled in, an email or phone number given.
- CPS (cost per sale) and PPS
- A payout per completed sale. PPS (pay per sale) means the same.
- CPI (cost per install)
- A payout per app install, usually with rules on the device and country.
- COD (cash on delivery)
- Offers, common in nutra, where the buyer pays the courier. You are paid only for orders the call center confirms, so the approval rate matters as much as the payout.
- Approval rate
- The share of your leads or orders the advertiser accepts. A drop means fewer of the same leads get paid. CPA Radar alerts Pro users when a COD offer’s approval rate drops and stays down.
- EPC (earnings per click)
- What affiliates earned on average per click on an offer, as the network reports it. It depends on traffic, so it is a hint, never a promise.
- GEO
- The countries an offer accepts traffic from. Traffic from other countries is usually not paid.
- Cap
- A limit on how many results the network pays for in a day, week or month. Results over the cap may go unpaid.
- Payout cut and raise
- A change to an offer’s payout between two checks. CPA Radar records every one and alerts on those past its thresholds (see the methodology).
- Dead offer
- An offer the network no longer lists. Traffic still sent to it is often not paid. Its history stays on CPA Radar.
- Vertical
- The market an offer belongs to: nutra (health products), finance, dating, sweepstakes, gaming, apps and so on.
- Tracking platform
- The software a network runs on, such as Everflow, Affise, CAKE or HasOffers (TUNE). Networks on the same platform expose offers in the same way.
- Smartlink
- One link that sends each visitor to the offer most likely to pay for them, chosen by the network.
- Postback
- A server-to-server message the network sends your tracker when a conversion happens, so you can count results without a pixel.
- Payment terms (Net 7, Net 30)
- How long after a period ends the network pays you, plus the minimum payout and the methods (crypto, Payoneer, PayPal, wire, Paxum). Network pages list them with the date we checked.
- Hold
- Time a network keeps earnings before paying them, to check for fraud or refunds. New affiliates often start with a longer hold.
- Scrub
- Results the network or advertiser removes before paying, for example duplicates or traffic that broke the rules.
— CPA Radar