RawAlex

Okay, here are some of the best "shave and manipulate" techniques I have come accross... feel free to add yours on the list:

1 - End of month sales: Good programs will shave you like a motherfucker all month, and then in the last few days of a pay period, suddenly you will get sales, which is enough to encourage you to keep sending them traffic for another month.

2 - Declining traffic sales: Because programs shave everyone enough, they can grant occassional sales to affiliates who have shown a decrease in traffic, to encourage them to "come back". These are usually the "no referer" or "no data" sales.

3 - Opps, we turned off the shaver: Suddenly flurry of sales on a program that is out of line with normal traffic, usually as a result of the shave percentage being set to zero or turned off by accident. Never lasts!


On the worst / bad side:

1 - The difference between blank and zero. Nothing shows a program to be shaving hits more than a program that doesn't report traffic on days when you have no hits (blank line) and then the next day shows 0 hits (not blank). Obviously, the shave software rounded down, and there is a diference between shaved to zero and no hits.

2 - second page join link only counts: One program (nameless) counts less than 10% of the hits I send, and claims it to be uniques only... unique to what, the year?

Anyway... add on your experiences and comments!