Comments on: What Is Cookie Stuffing?

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:41:56 +0000

To generate those kind of commissions their stuffing must have been brutal and they may have used techniques that go beyond the simple popups that are mentioned on your post. This is cookie dropping on massive scale.

By: Geno

Geno — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:32:13 +0000

In case you've missed this: 2 cookie-stuffing affiliates are now facing the prospect of a 20-year imprisonment + significant fines (precisely for the above-described black hat technique of stuffing cookies in the eBay's affiliate program). More in Kellie Stevens' Affiliates Indicted For Cookie Stuffing post.

By: Geno

Geno — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:59:26 +0000

Bill, just to clarify your question: you’re talking from a standpoint of an affiliate who uses iframes?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:53:56 +0000

Geno,
Does an iframe for setting the cookie open your website to vulnerability to attack?

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 11 May 2010 23:56:11 +0000

Moses and Pal,
What are you talking about?
Read this article one more time!
Please!

Geno, хорошая статья! Спасибо.

By: Pal

Pal — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:09:47 +0000

I find the article quite interesting, however it is reasonable to take a look from another perspective. I am from Thailand and in our country, we have quite a few affiliate networks, and all of them work on an ad view basis – from your perspective “cookie stuffing” – that basically all merchants accepted.

The reason behind is that if you see the merchant’s ad (let’s say 50% off on a last minute vacation) on a website and don’t click, but go home, talk to your wife about it, and the next day go directly to the merchant’s website and make the purchase – the affiliate does not make any money. So to overcome this problem, Swedish affiliate networks provide their programs and revenues based on ad views (users get the cookie upon views and not clicks), but the returning days are usually only 1-3 days.
The “last cookie gets the commission” still works here, but since all affiliates are working based on the same system, it is quite fair. Honestly, I don’t see this that harmful, and again, these programs are all approved by the merchants.

I wonder if this is just unique to my country that the market has developed this way or are there affiliate networks like this in the US as well? Or are they all click-based?

By: Moses

Moses — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:11:08 +0000

There is no better word to explain cookie dropping than spam, fraud and all the bad words. Cookie are small files attached to a specific affiliate that allow it to be recognize by the merchant system. Due to the flaws of these systems affiliate use them to exploit merchants and fellow affiliates.

Although cookie dropping gives enough referral check, but it’s not a good ethic it’s black hat seo. It might you in trouble with search engines and merchants one day, so stay clear of it. Always practice white hat seo, it’s an honest way to make money on line.

By: Geno

Geno — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:45:30 +0000

When a company knows what’s going on, they are generally against it. The problem is that it is not unusual for the company not to have any idea that they have a cookie stuffer on board of their affiliate program. That is why I’m posting what I’m posting. Education is still desperately needed in our industry.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:45:39 +0000

Thanks Geno. I guess there would not be any companies with affiliate programs that would promote this kind of marketing?

By: Geno

Geno — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:37:51 +0000

Bill, thank you for your question. Regardless of the “age” of the article, the problem is still a very real one. Speaking of “companies that offer the affiliate programs” and prevention of cookie stuffing, if you’re talking about affiliate networks: yes, there are several (ShareASale, AvantLink, buy.at) that openly stand against such techniques, and affiliate programs that are run on these platforms are less likely to have cookie stuffers on board. Having said this, much depends on the merchant’s own stance on the question. When in doubt, consult with fellow-affiliates in forums.