I just read it and made me scare a little. Adware/Malware which spread in their own network and increase Valueclick Profits by steal commissions from publishers. This is 2007 case here Please read and tell me do you believe what court actions against them?
I believe when it goes to court, it'll probably be revealed that a very small percentage of all sales are driven by "stolen" commissions as it's been put. This is especially true over the past year, when they've made all publishers disclose their methods such as this, bringing it to "full attention" of merchants, and giving merchants control over whether to let these publishers in.
Thanks for clarify me. Give me feel better a bit but "very small percentage" is mean the stolen has been happened for real, isn't? Is this situation could be happened with others network like Shareasale, Performics, Azoogleads, etc.? Is there possibly for any compensation that CJ should give back to publishers who their commissions got stolen? Like track down and give commissions back to their account.
Ya that problem has been around for years and I was happy when I 1st saw that lawsuit although not sure it will have much impact. FYI - Shareasale has an anti-parasite, anti-adware policy and pro-actively screens to try to keep the parasites out. Some of the other networks DO allow some companies that CAN steal commissions. Just because a network allows parasites does not mean all merchants are infested! It's important to realize it can only happen if the merchant allows the parasites to join their specific program. Most good, pro-active affiliate managers (like 5 Star programs) won't let them in. It's pretty easy to check and see if a merchant is dirty and partners with lots of the bad guys. Those are merchants to avoid.
I've worked in a few large affiliate programs (on the advertiser side), and can tell you that these "parasites" do not drive many sales. Also, most users of these sites (such as ebates) don't even download the software, since everyone is so concerned about spyware, tracking browsing habits, etc. I'm not a fan of parasites, but they really aren't a problem. I'm also a publisher, and I don't worry about parasites stealing my commissions. It's much more likely that I'll lose a commission because my visitor cleared their cookies than to a parasite.