473,320 Members | 1,969 Online
Bytes | Software Development & Data Engineering Community
Post Job

Home Posts Topics Members FAQ

Join Bytes to post your question to a community of 473,320 software developers and data experts.

Affiliate Networks Technology

Hi all,
I'm studing affiliate marketing networks, and I was wondering if anybody
knows how Affiliate Service Providers (ASPs)like cj.com or linkshare.com
track successful sales on merchant websites.

As far as I know the algorithm should be:
1) The affiliate publishes a link with his ID and the Merchant ID in his
website (ie. http://www.cj.com/redirect.xxx?id=12345&merch_id=54321)
2) The visitor clicks on the link with the intention to buy from the
Merchant
3) The link takes the visitor to the site of the Affiliate Service
Provider (in this case cj.com) that logs the visit, referrer, etc. and
sets a cookie in the visitor's PC
4) The visitor is redirected the the Merchant's web site that logs the
new visitor as coming from the ASP either by reading a special ID on the
GET string or by reading the referrer value
5) The visitor proceeds to shop while the Merchant tracks the visitor
around the site with an id binding it to the ASP and probably the Affiliate
6) The visitor checks out paying on a secure server with a credit card

Now here comes the puzzle. How does the Merchant notify the ASP of the
successful transaction?
My hypothesis are:
- The ASP gives the Merchant a snippet of code to be embedded in the
source code of the "Thank you" page that connects to the ASP server
notifying the details of the succesful transaction.
- The ASP tells the Merchant to embed an <IMG> tag in the "Thank you"
page linking to a server-side script in the ASP server.
- The ASP gives/sells a custom e-commerce platform along with the
subscription to the service to the Merchant (not likely)
- The ASP tracks the visitor throughout his "journey" on the Merchant's
webserver via embedded <IMG> tag or some other tracking technique,
including his checkout process in the HTTPS secure pages (not likely).

All of these artifices are perfectly viable, but what puzzles me is that
they all suffer from one huge flaw: the merchant can cheat.
Obviously the whole point of tracking the visitor is to credit
successful sales to the rightful Affiliates (thus giving them the right
commission), but if the Merchant cleverly manipulates the server-side
code in his scripts, for example by randomly or deterministically
disabling ASP's tracking tecniques, he can receive free leads for sales
that neither the Affiliate nor the ASP will never be aware of.

Now, my big question is: am I missing something here or is the whole
model of affiliate networks heavily reliant on trust?

I would love to here from you guys if you know anything about the "real"
mechanics going on behind the scenes of ASPs.
Regards
Joe Black
Nov 19 '05 #1
1 1417
The real mechanics? Affiliate marketing is based on fraudulent
representation from the get go.

There is absolutely no way to guarantee a referral as HTTP itself is a
flawed protocol in this context. The HTTP_REFERER server variable is not
reliable -- often empty or containing fraudulent data -- and when using the
web using this server variable is the only way to capture the origin of a
click event required to credit an affiliate referrer. The merchant does not
care be they slime or ignoramous as they get the visitor to their website
either way.

QueryString values can also be modified by slimey affiliates and resubmitted
to the merchant's website so there is rampant fraud in that regard as well.
Finally, with regard to mechanics, tracking referrals also depends on
client-side cookies which for a variety of reasons are not reliable either.

I wrote affiliate scripts and consulted for two and a half years attempting
to build a line of business in what I thought would be a lucrative niché --
a win-win for all concerned -- and what I learned while doing so left me
more cynical than ever.

The entire process and most involved were and are corrupt and fraudulent:
software vendors and merchants alike.

It takes a lot of software, testing and reporting to create and manage a
credible affiliate marketing program, most merchants are in fact either
ignoramouses or slime and want something for nothing, the software vendors
are definitely slime and when all is said and done there is no way to
resolve the flawed mechanics. So to what end?

Making referrals is an honorable but idealistic objective that has been
spoiled by the pimps who exploit the vulnerabilities of the process when it
is conducted using Internet protocols as the implementation. I'm out of
here...

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher, "Twice the Results -- Half the Cost"
Architectural & e-Business Consulting -- Software Development
NET cs*********@REMOVETHISTEXTmetromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/

"Joe Black" <jo*@black.com> wrote in message
news:fx*******************@twister1.libero.it...
Hi all,
I'm studing affiliate marketing networks, and I was wondering if anybody
knows how Affiliate Service Providers (ASPs)like cj.com or linkshare.com
track successful sales on merchant websites.

As far as I know the algorithm should be:
1) The affiliate publishes a link with his ID and the Merchant ID in his
website (ie. http://www.cj.com/redirect.xxx?id=12345&merch_id=54321)
2) The visitor clicks on the link with the intention to buy from the
Merchant
3) The link takes the visitor to the site of the Affiliate Service
Provider (in this case cj.com) that logs the visit, referrer, etc. and
sets a cookie in the visitor's PC
4) The visitor is redirected the the Merchant's web site that logs the
new visitor as coming from the ASP either by reading a special ID on the
GET string or by reading the referrer value
5) The visitor proceeds to shop while the Merchant tracks the visitor
around the site with an id binding it to the ASP and probably the Affiliate 6) The visitor checks out paying on a secure server with a credit card

Now here comes the puzzle. How does the Merchant notify the ASP of the
successful transaction?
My hypothesis are:
- The ASP gives the Merchant a snippet of code to be embedded in the
source code of the "Thank you" page that connects to the ASP server
notifying the details of the succesful transaction.
- The ASP tells the Merchant to embed an <IMG> tag in the "Thank you"
page linking to a server-side script in the ASP server.
- The ASP gives/sells a custom e-commerce platform along with the
subscription to the service to the Merchant (not likely)
- The ASP tracks the visitor throughout his "journey" on the Merchant's
webserver via embedded <IMG> tag or some other tracking technique,
including his checkout process in the HTTPS secure pages (not likely).

All of these artifices are perfectly viable, but what puzzles me is that
they all suffer from one huge flaw: the merchant can cheat.
Obviously the whole point of tracking the visitor is to credit
successful sales to the rightful Affiliates (thus giving them the right
commission), but if the Merchant cleverly manipulates the server-side
code in his scripts, for example by randomly or deterministically
disabling ASP's tracking tecniques, he can receive free leads for sales
that neither the Affiliate nor the ASP will never be aware of.

Now, my big question is: am I missing something here or is the whole
model of affiliate networks heavily reliant on trust?

I would love to here from you guys if you know anything about the "real"
mechanics going on behind the scenes of ASPs.
Regards
Joe Black

Nov 19 '05 #2

This thread has been closed and replies have been disabled. Please start a new discussion.

Similar topics

1
by: max | last post by:
I don't know much about PHP, but I have a small task I need help with. Could someone tell me how to modify the line after <!--NEW--> in the code below (paypal.php) in order to get the order...
2
by: JJ | last post by:
Hi, I am writing an affiliate system, where other websites put our banner on their website, and we pay them commission on sales which are made from clickthroughs. We also want to report on...
0
by: shank | last post by:
Can anyone recommend an affiliate script they like and use? I would like to offer participants a percentage of sales they generate. Either by themselves, or through customers they recommend. I...
0
by: Nathanael | last post by:
Hi Guys, You probably have heard of affiliate marketing before but what exactly is affiliate marketing? In this introduction you'll find an explanation of the basics of affiliate marketing. The...
0
by: Hille | last post by:
Learn about the lucrative world of Affiliate Marketing at www.happyaffiliate.net
0
by: lindagoldstein100 | last post by:
Questions on Affiliate Marketing - Linkshare / Commission Junction etc ? I have heard of LinkShare, Commission junction etc ? Are these any any good ? Any one have experience with them ?...
1
by: Larry in Honolulu | last post by:
I'm trying to help a friend who has a website where he sells a single product. He wants to have an affiliate program that would pay a single level commisssion on each sale thru PayPal.. Does...
3
by: CoreyWhite | last post by:
A friend of mine just was over at my house explaining Neural Networks and I understood it as well as I could. Here is my own explination. A neural network has to first run in a loop 1,000's of...
10
by: iheartvba | last post by:
Hi, I hatve 2 peer to peer networks which I am triying to connect via the Windows XP VPN application. I have achieved the following: 1. Connect to Remote Office 2. Ping all Computer IP...
0
by: DolphinDB | last post by:
Tired of spending countless mintues downsampling your data? Look no further! In this article, you’ll learn how to efficiently downsample 6.48 billion high-frequency records to 61 million...
0
by: ryjfgjl | last post by:
ExcelToDatabase: batch import excel into database automatically...
0
isladogs
by: isladogs | last post by:
The next Access Europe meeting will be on Wednesday 6 Mar 2024 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC) and finishing at about 19:15 (7.15PM). In this month's session, we are pleased to welcome back...
0
by: Vimpel783 | last post by:
Hello! Guys, I found this code on the Internet, but I need to modify it a little. It works well, the problem is this: Data is sent from only one cell, in this case B5, but it is necessary that data...
0
by: jfyes | last post by:
As a hardware engineer, after seeing that CEIWEI recently released a new tool for Modbus RTU Over TCP/UDP filtering and monitoring, I actively went to its official website to take a look. It turned...
1
by: PapaRatzi | last post by:
Hello, I am teaching myself MS Access forms design and Visual Basic. I've created a table to capture a list of Top 30 singles and forms to capture new entries. The final step is a form (unbound)...
0
by: Defcon1945 | last post by:
I'm trying to learn Python using Pycharm but import shutil doesn't work
1
by: Shællîpôpï 09 | last post by:
If u are using a keypad phone, how do u turn on JavaScript, to access features like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram....
0
by: af34tf | last post by:
Hi Guys, I have a domain whose name is BytesLimited.com, and I want to sell it. Does anyone know about platforms that allow me to list my domain in auction for free. Thank you

By using Bytes.com and it's services, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

To disable or enable advertisements and analytics tracking please visit the manage ads & tracking page.