I think someone is stealing my CB commissions!

I have contacted CB they seem to be of no help...contacted Google because I was running the campaign through PPC...Now my question is this: I noticed another competitor in this same market had a php script running with my ClickBank ID...is it possible for someone to get a hold of your ID write a script and everytime your/my hoplink is called on have it redirect the user to their site and somehow replace your ID with theirs? I was getting loads of traffic through PPC but no conversions...I thought it may have been a duplicate site of the advertiser I was promoting but I checked the IP's and the site that has my hoplink is a completely different name from the advertiser and is in a different country! Is this possible!? I am not a programmer but have been researching and I think that this can be done and I have unfortunately became a victim in one of my campaigns! My other campaigns seem to be fine and I am getting credit for them. As I said earlier I contacted CB and Google and got nowhere! I really hate to bother my fellow DP members with this question but I really need to find an answer so I don't go through this again if this is happening. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I have no idea if it is possible, but a competitor that has your hoplink in the site's script does sound fishy...

 

People can be very sneaky with their efforts, but it is impossible to switch your hop with theirs unless the end user has this script installed on their computer (i.e. zango was known to do this - they would replace the end users hops with their own, perhaps they still do not sure).

1. Cookie stuffing: Their site could have a script or iframes/includes etc. that stuff up to 20 cookies to the end users machine, hoping that within 2 months they will buy one of the products they have stuffed. This practice is HORRIBLE - don't get caught doing this, or better yet - DON'T do it.

2. The end user is monetized by the last cookie served - so if that script gets to them after you've already set their cookie, yes you will lose the sale.

3. Why would a competitor want YOUR hoplink ID? So that h/she can replace it on a users end IF they install the script or queitly have it installed via a 3rd party or other sneaky method. Not sure exactly how this is affected via PPC other than this competitor trying to wipe you out via infractions with SE's...?

I wouldn't worry about it too much, and if it continues simply open another CB account - they are free for affs..

Best of luck to you.
NC.

 

I understand your concern, but php dosent make any miracles. dont you think that its not as easy as that? If Affiliate "abc" make a script at a particular location, thers no way it can alter your affiliate link or whatever. As long as you are not referencing his script in any way "his script" cant fiddle with anything about you

However, if the script is on your merchant page thats another matter but i dont think thats the issue in your case.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Cookies have been a problem with CB for a long time. The free Adware/Spyware programs such as spyBot, flags Clickbank cookies as an A #1 threat. If people run their programs often, like myself, all cookies are deleted everyday. Other programs such as CJ, do not have this problem. The Browsers have also made it much easier to delete cookies when closing. If you don't make a sale on the first hit, you could be in trouble. I quit promoting CB products because of these issues. There are way too many other places to go to sell products

Good luck!!

Zeek

 

No, it is not possible to steal you commissions with this approach That silly competitor is advertising the products on your behalf LOL.

The most likely reasons for you not making any sales are the following:

1. your landing page looks bad and visitors you send to it with PPCs do not click through to the vendor's site. as a result your aff cookie is not set.
2. you selected a bad product to promote. some products just do not convert.
3. the commissions on a sale are given to the last visited affiliate (last cookie set). your keywords are not specific enough and target users that are at the early stages of product selection.

Do not get too upset about not making sales. Scrap your current campaigns and start a new. Read all the possible adwords books you can get your hands on, ask questions on this forum and other related forums. Experiment, experiment, and experiment more. Do NOT run campaigns that do not make you money. Increase daily spending limit so that you can FAIL FAST and move on armed with the new knowledge of what is not working....

Cheers.

 

Darn good post baumann!!
Many beginners do not consider the different phases people go thru when shopping on the net. As a marketer, you want to catch them on the last phase which is the buying phase. At this point the consumer has already done the research and is now ready to buy. So, an example would be to use keywords such as buy product xyz or purchase product xyz etc. This will get rid of the researchers and the undecided people. If you are getting clicks at this stage and not converting, then you need to look at your landing page etc. Hope this makes sense..

Zeek

 

Don't you just HATE that damn COOKIE stuffin'? I do!

 

Zango toolbar and software changes the affiliate url with their affiliate links for any user viewing your site with zango software installed if Zango also joined the same affiliate program.

 

I guess its possible that as soon as a person reaches a site through a hoplink that the site refreshes itself or redirects to another domain that redirects back to it, erasing the hoplink and the publisher gets 100% comission.