Paying Multiple Comission On Single Sale

4 replies
I have just come up against something interesting that happens when you advertise on multiple affiliate networks.

Let me set the scene with a brief overview of how most networks track sales:

1. User clicks on affiliate link
2. This adds a cookie to the users browser
3. User buys your product
4. On your sales confirmation page a tracking pixel cross references data from cookie to see if it is a sale from their network.

Now suppose you advertise on 3 different networks and you have 3 tracking pixels on your confirmation page.

Imagine the following happens:

1. User clicks on affiliate link fron network 1 then exits site
2. User clicks on affiliate link fron network 2 then exits site
3. User clicks on affiliate link fron network 3 then buys then product

Your confirmation page tracking pixels will register a sale at all 3 networks. So you will pay comission on all 3 networks.

In the grand scheme of things this will probably not occur too much, but with cookie stuffing being very easy to do, I don't want people exploiting this loophole. Especially as I want maximum exposure and to be on as many networks as possible.

The easiest thing I guess is to have multiple sites, but my site is several hundred pages, has lots of different products and inticate coding so its not the best option for me.

I spoke with tech support at one network and they had a very good system. They have an API that allows me to query the date the cookie was added. Then I can tag on a "void" value to the tracking pixel if there is a newer cookie present. The problem with this is that it only works if every network has the same facility.

I don't think that every network will have such a good system though so I thought I would throw this out into the open incase I am missing something blistering simple that I can do to get round this problem?

Anyone else advertise on multiple networks?

PS. I am giving a high comission rate so could possibly end up losing money on a sale if I dont track this.
#avoid #comission #multiple #paying #sale #single
  • Profile picture of the author GuerrillaIM
    No takers?
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    • Profile picture of the author IcedSEO-CEO
      Banned
      Originally Posted by GuerrillaIM View Post

      No takers?
      I don't really think this is doable, I mean... how could you be in 3 networks promoting same product, even if it happens it will be like once in a decade
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I don't want to pay the networks commissions or transaction fees on sales I generate on my own and without their help. Therefore, I have two different landing pages for the same product.

    The SEOed copy has no cookies on it. The affiliate-network driven copy does.
    Signature
    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author LondonPaladin
    You shouldn't have 3 sets of affiliate links to the same landing page. You should separate your affiliate setups better than that. Also, only the network that handles the payment processing should trigger a payment....
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