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If you visit the site, put stuff in your cart and get all the way to the checkout page, you must know by that point who sent them to your site. If the customer

If you visit the site, put stuff in your cart and get all the way to the checkout page, you must know by that point who sent them to your site. If the customer then goes away and googles for voucher codes, it shouldn't change the source. When (if?) they return, you should know they are the same person, from the same original source. How did the affiliates manage to steal these customers? It seems to me like your referral tracking is massively broken.

rorrr2 13y ago
My guess is they check the cookie after the checkout, which is somewhat reasonable. This is an edge case that became a major case due to this scam.
dangrossman 13y ago
Affiliate networks require you put their code on the "thank you" page shown after checkout. Conditionally removing that code would be seen as an attempt to scam the network and get out of paying commissions owed. What you're proposing doesn't work anyway -- you don't know that they didn't come through an affiliate link a week prior; the cookie isn't on your domain, but you owe a commission for that referral.
- endymi0n 13y ago
  Correct. There's a "blind" tracking pixel at the checkout page that will usually catch the sale in a "last cookie wins" fashion. So on top of the advertisers, anyone actually facilitating the sale by advertising is ripped off by the coupon sites. It's a major pain for the industry - the only surefire way to protect yourself is to get rid of drop either affiliate marketing or coupon codes.
- martin-adams 13y ago
  "you don't know that they didn't come through an affiliate link a week prior" Does that mean you have to fully trust the affiliate with how many referrals they claim to have made?
- johnward 13y ago
  Many times it's the last referral that gets the commission. This is why coupon code sites are a pain to both affiliates and site owners.
toble 13y ago
It's not so much stealing the customer as it is rescuing the order. It may not be the most ethical of techniques but they are claiming a bounty for converting abandoned carts. Like someone else said earlier, the order process is broken by encouraging users to leave the website and potentially forget the order.

rorrr2 13y ago

My guess is they check the cookie after the checkout, which is somewhat reasonable. This is an edge case that became a major case due to this scam.

dangrossman 13y ago

Affiliate networks require you put their code on the "thank you" page shown after checkout. Conditionally removing that code would be seen as an attempt to scam the network and get out of paying commissions owed. What you're proposing doesn't work anyway -- you don't know that they didn't come through an affiliate link a week prior; the cookie isn't on your domain, but you owe a commission for that referral.

endymi0n 13y ago
Correct. There's a "blind" tracking pixel at the checkout page that will usually catch the sale in a "last cookie wins" fashion. So on top of the advertisers, anyone actually facilitating the sale by advertising is ripped off by the coupon sites. It's a major pain for the industry - the only surefire way to protect yourself is to get rid of drop either affiliate marketing or coupon codes.
martin-adams 13y ago
"you don't know that they didn't come through an affiliate link a week prior" Does that mean you have to fully trust the affiliate with how many referrals they claim to have made?
johnward 13y ago
Many times it's the last referral that gets the commission. This is why coupon code sites are a pain to both affiliates and site owners.

toble 13y ago

It's not so much stealing the customer as it is rescuing the order. It may not be the most ethical of techniques but they are claiming a bounty for converting abandoned carts. Like someone else said earlier, the order process is broken by encouraging users to leave the website and potentially forget the order.