7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Clickbank, Can they overdrive the cookies and steal our commission?

by wizard12
5 replies
Hi mates...

As a CB affiliate do you think that it possible a hijacker/ hacker or whatever you call it override their cookies and steal our income somehow? Is it REALLY possible?

I tripled the traffic to one of CB products I promote (the traffic is targeted), but no increase to the number of sales AT ALL!!! Anyway regardless to the traffic quality, can the hijackers/hackers steal out commission somehow? Should I create a new CB account to see if that's the case? Is that the way to find out if I am hacked somehow?

Thanks
#clickbank #commission #cookies #overdrive #steal
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by wizard12 View Post

    As a CB affiliate do you think that it possible a hijacker/ hacker or whatever you call it override their cookies and steal our income somehow? Is it REALLY possible?
    I've seen very occasional alleged reports of this happening. (And far fewer of them now than 5 years ago.)

    My guess is that it can happen, by "evil techie means", but that it's really very rare indeed. And certainly not ClickBank's fault, if/when it happens.

    Other than "vendor interference" (which is of course possible in situations in which the vendor has your potential customer's email address before a sale is made - and I appreciate that isn't what you're asking about, above), it always seems a little far-fetched, to me. I strongly suspect that the instances of this actually happening are probably a very small fraction of the allegations one sees made and discussed online.

    To me, it all instinctively feels more or less on a par with the hysterical nonsense one reads along the lines of "ClickBank is stealing my commissions" (total nonsense, but there are people who believe it, and nothing one can say to them will change their minds about it.)

    Originally Posted by wizard12 View Post

    I tripled the traffic to one of CB products I promote (the traffic is targeted), but no increase to the number of sales AT ALL!!! Anyway regardless to the traffic quality, can the hijackers/hackers steal out commission somehow? Should I create a new CB account to see if that's the case?
    You can try that, if you want to, certainly. The only downside that I'm aware of, in doing so, is that a new account will have to comply with the Customer Distributor Requirement before its funds are released to you.

    Originally Posted by wizard12 View Post

    Is that the way to find out if I am hacked somehow?
    Don't know; sorry.

    I'll be interested to read others' replies to this thread, but am already preparing to take them with a pinch of salt. "Just my perspective".


    .
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9726140].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author webproishere
    Nothing's perfect (i mean tracking) they rely on cookies so.....

    One of the best way is hardcoded links but then again, some people remove the ref part (can you imagine ? Why i don't know !)

    Would CB do this on purpose ? I really really doubt it.
    Buy the product yourself and ask friends to do the same if you are not sure about it.
    It's the best "test"
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9726600].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Removing the affiliate cookie-recognition wouldn't help ClickBank financially, anyway: it would help the vendor.

      .
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9726656].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author ClickBank
        Hi webproishere:

        We (ClickBank) do not manipulate or alter our own referral tracking system to alter attribution. Also, we use several referral tracking technologies in addition to cookies; you can see this in action by executing a hop, visiting the order form, seeing the affiliate attribution, then clearing all history/cookies in your browser and then visiting the order form directly again without going through a hop; our tracking system still attributes the referral to the original affiliate.

        Earlier this year, we did release a feature that permits vendors to set affiliate attribution for select products to 0%. In the event that they are selling a no-commission product, the tag at the bottom of the order form will state "[affiliate = none]". Keep in mind the vendor may have products in their OTO or upsell funnel that pay commissions so this is not always an indicator that you will not earn revenue from that vendor (the marketplace stats are reliable, but you can contact the vendor directly if you want funnel details and/or guidance on how best to earn/promote with them). The marketplace stats we display for average earnings per sale accurately take into consideration all product commissions paid, including those without a commission.

        Any manipulation of the referral tracking system by either a vendor or affiliate is not only against our terms, but could break the law depending on the circumstance. If you suspect or have evidence of network abuse or computer crimes such as unauthorized access or malware driven theft, then you should contact our security and risk team through our support portal here. We take such abuse very seriously and we actively work with federal law enforcement agencies to protect clients and consumers.

        Thanks,
        The ClickBank Team
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9727008].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author seoboyz01
    An official response from Clickbank! I'm very impressed that you guys took notice of this situation and are making a public stand. That's really decent. So many affiliate companies leave the affiliates (who are the salespeople) out in the cold on situations like this.
    Signature
    Google DOMINATION SEO service - Take your site 1st page of Google.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9727153].message }}

Trending Topics