If you referal a user to a website such as Tesco, you can expect to receive 2% for any sales the referred customer may make within 14 day of referral.... If the customer has already spent online at Teco.com but came through my website - would you expect them to be treated like any other referral and any sale that take place from referral would lead to a 2% to my website? This is not a specific question about Tesco - just used Tesco as an example Thanks for any advice, Joe
Sounds like Tesco (example site) has a 14 day cookie. That means if someone goes from your link and buys something, you get the commission...as long as he did not visit Tesco through someone else's link within the previous 14 days. It also means if he returns within 14 days and buys something else...even if he comes through someone else's link...the cookie should give you credit for the sale. This would work the other way if he buys FIRST through another affiliate's link and then returns within 14 days through your link and buys something else. The original affiliate would then get the credit. Whose ever link he uses first has "exclusive rights" to that customer for 14 days and gets the commission. After 14 days, it depends on whose link he uses...and, then that affiliate has "exclusive rights" for another 14 days. Now, if the customer "clears his cookies" after visiting through an affiliate link...the 14 day "exclusive rights" gets erased. Jim
Nope not true. Well Tesco may do it that way, not sure. 95% of affiliate programs and networks credit the LAST affiliate with the sale, which I think is most fair.
Not if the person doing the buying already has a valid cookie in his computer for the first affiliate. That is the whole idea behind affiliate cookies. Jim
Nope sorry, but the last affiliate overwrites the 1st affiliate cookie in 95% of programs. The cookie works for X 3 of days if the customer comes back and buys through a search engine or bookmark. But if the surfer clicks another affiliate link the 2nd link gets the sale. Ive been in affiliate management for years and worked with almost every network and all the major tracking solutions and they all work this way except a very few. In fact I have only worked with one program that gave credit to the 1st affiliate referral. CJ, DirectTrack, MyAP and Clickbank all pay the last affiliate for sure and I'm am fairly certain Linkshare, SAS and Performics do too.
You're right...my mistake. I misread the information I was using. Just to make sure, I called a friend who owns a web design company in Texas and installs a few different affiliate modules. She also verified your information. Sorry about that. I don't mind being wrong and corrected (that's why I still buy pencils with erasers), I just don't like passing along misinformation. I hope Joe re-reads this. Thanks for being insistent! Jim
If somebody goes through my link to ebay, doesn't sign up today, but decides to type in www.ebay.com in the address bar tonight, tomorrow, etc., and sign up and buy a new computer (hopefully), I would still get credit. If you introduce your user to a site, and they return on their own, you deserve to get credit for that. And that is what cookies are designed to do. Atleast that is the way I understand it. Is that right 5star?
Hi Jim, No problem at all. Hope I didn't sound too insistant. Thanks for coming back to clarify so Joe or other readers would not be left confused. We're all on the same page now. Hi Matt, Yes you are right and thats how affiliate cookies are designed to work. Once you send a surfer to a site you should get credit for the sale even if they come back directly, through a search engine or bookmark or any other way during the set cookie period. The exception for most programs is if they click another affiliate link in the meantime - then your cookie gets overwritten. Every program sets cookies differently - some are for 1 day and some are for 365 days. Also some programs are set to pay you for repeat sales during the cookie period, but some only pay you for the 1st sale and not the 2nd, even if it's the next day. In CJ it tells you now if they pay for 1 "occurance", 3 or unlimited "occurances" (i.e. repeat sales from the same cookie.)