If you are searching for how does ShareASale work, the short answer is that it doesn’t any more. The ShareASale platform closed on 6 October 2025, and the affiliate programmes that ran on it now run on Awin. Plenty of guides still describe ShareASale’s dashboard, approval process and payment schedule as if nothing had changed. Treat them as history.
For anyone who earned through ShareASale, the useful question is narrower: what broke in the move, and what do you have to fix yourself? Most of the work is a one-off clean-up. It is also the kind that gets put off, because commissions keep arriving from the links that survived and the problems stay out of sight.
How does ShareASale work now? It runs on Awin
Awin is ShareASale’s parent company, and it has folded the two platforms into one. According to Awin’s ShareASale to Awin platform upgrade FAQ, eligible publishers were upgraded to Awin automatically, carrying their partnerships across. Suspended accounts were not migrated.
The FAQ also makes clear that the old platform is not a fallback. Awin refers to payment statements being available “prior to its closure on October 6th”, which tells you the ShareASale interface is gone rather than running in parallel. At the time of writing (October 2026), Awin is where your account, links and payments live.
What changed for affiliates, and what to do about it
The migration was mostly automatic, but not entirely. The table below sets out what Awin says changed, alongside the action each change asks of you.
| Area | What Awin says | What you need to do |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Eligible publishers were upgraded automatically; suspended accounts were not migrated | Log in to Awin with your new credentials |
| Links | Most old ShareASale links keep working, but “ShareASale short links with no clicks in the 12 months before the migration will no longer track” | Find dead short links and replace them with Awin links from the Toolbox |
| Pending commissions | “All eligible pending commissions on ShareASale have been finalized and will be paid out from your ShareASale balance.” | Check that the final balance matches what you expected |
| Payment method | Awin pays by ACH (US) or Payoneer (international), monthly or twice monthly; old Payoneer accounts can’t be reused | Update your bank details in Awin |
| Security | Two-step verification is needed for payments | Turn it on before you need to be paid |
| Programmes | Not every partnership came across | Rejoin programmes that didn’t migrate |
Two of these are easy to miss because nothing visibly breaks. Dead short links still send visitors to a page, so you will not notice them unless you look. And an unfinished payment set-up does not stop you earning; it stops you being paid.
The link audit most publishers skip
The rule on short links is the one with real money attached. Any ShareASale short link that had no clicks in the twelve months before the migration no longer tracks. That sounds harmless, since a link with no clicks was earning nothing. The catch is what happens next: if an old post starts ranking again, or you link to it from a new article, the visitors who arrive will click links that pay you nothing.
The fix is a straightforward audit:
- Export or crawl every outbound affiliate link on your site and pull out the ShareASale ones.
- Flag short links, and check your old click data to see which went quiet in the year before the move.
- Generate replacements from the Awin Toolbox for each merchant you still promote.
- Swap them in, starting with posts that get search traffic today.
While you are in there, check your disclosure wording. If your posts name ShareASale as the network, update the text so it matches where the links now point. Our guide to affiliate disclosure covers what readers need to see.
This is where centralised link management pays off. If your affiliate links sit behind a redirect plugin, you change each destination once and every post updates. If they are pasted raw into hundreds of articles, you are editing post by post. Our guide to affiliate link cloaking covers that set-up and its trade-offs.
Payments: the step that can’t wait
Awin pays by ACH for US bank accounts or Payoneer for international ones, on a monthly or twice-monthly schedule. If you were paid through Payoneer on ShareASale, do not assume that account carries over: Awin says old Payoneer accounts can’t be reused. You need to set the payment method up again inside Awin.
Two-step verification is part of that. Awin requires it to access payment details, so switch it on first and the rest of the set-up follows. A commission balance you cannot withdraw is the most avoidable loss in the whole migration.
While you are in the payments area, reconcile the old account too. Your final ShareASale balance is paid out separately from anything you earn on Awin, so note what it should be before the figures blur together. Awin also warns that ShareASale payment statements are no longer available now the platform has closed, so the records you already hold are the ones you will have. Keep them with your accounts.
An unfinished payment set-up doesn’t stop you earning. It stops you being paid.
Is ShareASale legit, and is Awin the better choice?
“Is ShareASale legit” is a question with a dated premise. ShareASale was a long-running affiliate network; it is now part of Awin, and the choice between “Awin or ShareASale” no longer exists. For merchants that ran programmes on ShareASale, Awin is where you will find them now.
The more useful comparison is between Awin and the other large networks. If you are weighing CJ Affiliate against what used to be ShareASale, read our guide to CJ Affiliate’s payment cycle and our walkthrough of joining impact.com. Judge each one by the merchants in your niche, the payment terms, and what those programmes actually convert at, not by the network’s brand. Our explainer on affiliate EPC shows how to compare programmes on earnings per click rather than headline commission.
A short checklist
If you only do five things this week, make them these:
- Log in to Awin with your new credentials and confirm your partnerships came across.
- Turn on two-step verification.
- Add your bank details through ACH or a new Payoneer set-up.
- Audit and replace dead ShareASale short links, highest-traffic posts first.
- Rejoin any programme that didn’t migrate.
One limitation applies to all of this. Awin’s FAQ explains the rules of the migration, not how any individual account was handled. Whether a particular partnership moved, or a particular link still tracks, is something only your own Awin dashboard and click data can confirm. Check there rather than relying on any guide, this one included.
Frequently asked questions
How does ShareASale work now?
It runs on Awin. Programmes that used ShareASale are managed through Awin, which handles tracking, reporting and payment. You join and promote merchants there, not on the old ShareASale platform.
Does ShareASale still exist?
Not as its own platform. ShareASale closed on 6 October 2025 and eligible publishers were upgraded to Awin, its parent company. Suspended accounts were not migrated.
Do my old ShareASale links still work?
Most do. The exception is short links: Awin says ShareASale short links with no clicks in the 12 months before the migration no longer track. Replace those with links from the Awin Toolbox.
What happened to my pending ShareASale commissions?
Awin says all eligible pending commissions were finalised and are paid out from your ShareASale balance. New earnings are paid through Awin by ACH or Payoneer.
Can I keep using my old Payoneer account?
No. Awin says old Payoneer accounts can’t be reused, so you need to set up payment again inside Awin, with two-step verification turned on.
The takeaway ShareASale closed on 6 October 2025 and now runs as Awin. Log in, turn on two-step verification, redo your payment details, replace dead short links and rejoin any programme that didn’t come across.
