Short answer: influencers track sales by putting a tracked redirect between the platform they post on and the checkout, then attributing revenue back from the checkout to the redirect that started the click journey.The implementation ranges from "paste a UTM-tagged URL and read Google Analytics" to "connect Stripe to a link tracker and read a dashboard." This post covers the three shapes that actually work.
Shape 1: affiliate program links
The oldest shape. Every affiliate program (Amazon Associates, LTK, ShareASale, PartnerStack, whichever) issues you a personal tracking link. You paste it in your bio, in your captions, in your DMs. When someone buys through your link, the merchant attributes the sale to your affiliate code, and you see the commission in the affiliate program's dashboard. Sales tracking is the program's job, not yours.
The downside: you can see your total commissions on the program's dashboard, but you cannot see which platform (bio, story, DM, an email you sent) drove them. That requires adding your own tracking layer on top.
Shape 2: UTM tags on every share
You append UTM parameters to every link you share: ?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=bio&utm_campaign=summerfor one, a different utm_source for each platform, a different utm_campaign for each push. The analytics tool on the destination (Google Analytics is the most common) groups sales by those UTM values. You get per-platform breakdowns and per-campaign attribution as long as the UTMs survive from click to checkout.
The downside: you have to remember to tag every share. Every different bio, every new campaign, every different link. Miss one and that share's data ends up unattributed.
Shape 3: a link tracker plus revenue integration
You put a tracked redirect (a linksync-style short URL) between your bio and the destination. Every click gets classified by platform automatically. The session survives the redirect via a small URL parameter. When the visitor buys, the checkout tool (Stripe Connect, or a small script on the store) reads the session parameter and attributes the sale back to the click that started the journey.
The result: one dashboard shows "this platform drove X sessions and Y sales for Z revenue," without you tagging anything. This is the shape most creator-tool link trackers (including linksync) are converging on.
What most influencers actually use
Realistically, most influencers use a mix. Affiliate program dashboards for the products where they sell on commission. UTM tags on high-value campaigns where the tagging discipline pays off. And a link tracker for everything else, because tracking every share by hand is not sustainable.
The 30-second version
Put a tracked redirect between the platform and the checkout, classify the click, forward the session to the checkout, attribute revenue back. Affiliate programs handle the money side; UTM tags or a link tracker handle the platform-attribution side. linksync stitches both together for creators who want one dashboard instead of five.