FTP FAQ’s

What is FTP?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is used to send computer files between a client and server on a computer network.

On ShareASale, our FTP server hosts Merchant’s product datafeeds that Affiliates can request access to.

How do I use FTP with ShareASale?

FTP is well known as a way to send bulk or very large files, but it’s also a great way to store files off local machines and in one remote location. When it comes to the ShareASale datafeeds from Merchants, they may have 18 products or 180,000! It is in our best interest to provide our Merchants with a secure location to store these feeds and let them selectively allow certain Affiliates access to this server.

As we say on the FTP Access Approval page for Merchants, we think that this tool will greatly increase your Affiliates ability to generate quality traffic and performance. Product links are one of the highest converting type of creative!

How do Affiliates get Setup with FTP on ShareASale?

MERCHANTS

As a Merchant, you must grant access to this feature for each of your Affiliates.You may choose who to allow access or not allow access. You can reach the FTP Approval Access page by clicking on it in your Merchant homepage.

Please keep in mind that due to the costs associated with maintaining the FTP server, each Affiliate that you approve for FTP access will incur a $1.00 charge to your account. This is a one-time charge (no monthly charges) and will be debited directly from your account balance.

You can also setup your own uploads to our FTP server by requesting FTP credentials. Similar to how Affiliates automate downloads, you can automate uploads with this feature. Just contact our Tech Team by support ticket or e-mail to shareasale@shareasale.com. To expedite the request, include your server’s static IP address product datafeed file uploads will originate.

AFFILIATES

You will be able to apply for FTP access from the Merchants you have joined only if they have a datafeed available. This is an advanced feature and is recommended only for advanced Affiliates. 

You can request access from the Datafeeds Available page.

Once you apply for access, you can view your current approvals from the FTP Access for Datafeeds page.

The instructions are shown on the page but to see how simple they are, they are also listed here.

FTP Access Instructions:

Username: Your ShareASale Username
Password: Your ShareASale FTP Server Password (put this in on your account settings page)
FTP Server: datafeeds.shareasale.com
Port: 21 

You may also connect via SFTP on port 22. The server fingerprint is: ssh-rsa 1024 06:4f:9c:9a:06:fc:69:6c:b2:f5:95:4a:4d:6c:9d:32

You will find a folder for each Merchant Program you have FTP access for, and will find three files in each folder. The data in each file is identical, the only difference is the compression used. One file is plain text, one is in Zip format, and one is in gZip format.

You will need to replace all occasions of the word “YOURUSERID” with your ShareASale userID before you can use this datafeed.

If you have any more questions regarding the ShareASale FTP either from the Merchant or Affiliate perspective, please contact us and we will be happy to help you!