Sponsors come out here! Tell us your cookie settings !

50 1 day cookies

LMAO. My GFY cookie must be permanent.

seriously though, 1.5 days is brutal by all means

http://ww2.milfcruiser.com/track/NDc5OjU6Nw/
1 day
nats=NDc5OjU6Nw; expires=Mon, 07-Feb-2005 07:11:34 GMT; path=/; domain=milfcruiser.com

Seriously, sponsors should make it customary to tell their affiliates how, they track signups and how long they give the aff credit for the traffic and what they do with Non US traffic.
Its no longer good enough for affiliates to find out by trial and error which sites convert the best.We need to know upfront.
I get quite a lot of CC sign ups with nastyDollars from non US sites such as Italy, UK, Australia, Japan and most of Europe.I'd be pissed if this traffic was redirected.

SHIT! That beloved "NATS" link not only is a one day cookie, it unleashed 9 FUCKING exit pops!

Totally! We hadn't even gotten to non US traffic yet. LMAO

Are there any sponsors that track using BOTH the affiliate ID in the URL *and* a tracking cookie?

My guess is that affiliate URL tracking is more reliable than tracking cookies ...

Many folks run programs to strip out cookies - especially if they're third-party regardless of the compact privacy policy that's set inside the cookie.

Ron

Ron,
TRUE. Both should be used. What I'm looking at is surfers that visit and come back. The folks that are running progs to strip cookies are normally people who know WTF their doing on their PC. Like webmasters, the paranoid, and the hardcore porn surfers not looking to get caught.
HA!

we give credit for 10 days after the fact it seems our cookies stay for 10 days.. we also pay on forgin traffic with no redirects... they may join with a dialer but you still get your % of it and sometimes that can pay more than a sale itself... we in no way steal your traffic and never will.. we use nats and have no pops as of now.. and if and when we do you will get credit for all pop ups as well.... we play fair....

255 day cookies for us.

Great thread.

Ours are at 90 days..

What sponsors from the ones you checked do this? please spit it out

Its a fucking joke...I mean they have the branding, so its very easy to see surfers coming back to cams.com...pfff

Swede - thanks alot for your findings.

This is one of the best GFY threads of 2005

It's nothing for a program owner to press a few buttons and give the affiliate the MAXIMUM chance of a sale. At one time 90 days was the maximum with ccbill and I had it set to 90 days for years. Then I saw another program that said they had theirs set to 255 days and I didn't believe it. But then I logged in and saw that I could raise the cookie time to 255 and I did it immediately.

Not setting it for the maximum time is like introducing your friend to a girl at a party and just because your friend fucked the girl two weeks later, he shouldn't say Thank You because too much time has passed. Without the initial introduction, there wouldn't BE any time to pass with the girl.

I almost never sign up with a program as soon as I see it because usually I see it at the boards while I am still reading, so it goes to the desktop for later. Sorry if anyone's lost any referrals because of this

What happens in a situation like this:

Sponsor has cookie set for 200 days.

Surfer clicks on affiliate A's link goes to site but does NOT sign up.

199 days later same surfer clicks on affiliate B's link and goes to site and signs up.

Who do you think gets credit?

Is that fair?


BTW our cookie is set for 3 days.

If he clicks and follows another affiliate link I think he will have different linking codes...ence giving the signup to affiliate B...am I wrong?

Well, did my best to figure it out so i wrote ccbill, first ansver i got was pretty much just an explenation to how cookies work but rather interesting still :

"The life of the cookie does not matter in how we track it. However, web browsers have limited space on how many cookie they store per site. Lets assume you have cookies set to 30 days. Your customer may go to a referral site that has lets say 200 banners. If during the month, the customer goes to your banner and then others, at some point the browser runs out of space kicks the oldest cookie out of its memory. So in this case, yes setting the cookie life longer than 3 days can affect cookie tracking."
(Anyone know the default number of cookies stored in IE ? could look like 30 days or 300 days won't really make any difference)



Well, I wrote back with the following question :

"What i meant was not so much how the cookie works, if you look at where you write in the admin :

When the expiration value is greater than 3, no extra data will be logged to CCBill's database, so the cookie will be the only means of tracking a referred sale

The "no extra data will be logged to CCBill's database" part indicates, at least the way i read it, that if the value is set to 3 days or less there is some kind of extra data logged in CCbills database, and this extra data is not loged if the cookie length is set for more than 3 days ?"


..and got this ansver :

"The type of data we collect is the same regardless of the length of time a cookie is active. How much data we collect is dependent on the life of the cookie with respect to the time set in the web admin, whether the cookie is being tracked by the consumer's web browser and whether or not the consumer's computer accepts cookies."
(bolded words where bolded in the ansver recieved)


Anyways, that still leaves me rather confused but the way i still read this is that they track more if the cookie is set to 3 days than they do if it's set longer.. Anyone read this differently ?

i'm not sure either

New cookie will overwrite the old one.

Affiliate B gets credit, I have asked this ccbill before. The new cookie replace the old one.

right

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;306070

Microsoft Internet Explorer complies with the following RFC 2109 recommended minimum limitations:
* at least 300 cookies
* at least 4096 bytes per cookie (as measured by the size of the characters that comprise the cookie non-terminal in the syntax description of the Set-Cookie header)
* at least 20 cookies per unique host or domain name


http://www.cookiecentral.com/faq/#2.5
2.5 Will cookies fill up my hard drive?

So lots of cookies can be stored.

Here we got the importance of NOT PROMOTING EVIDENCE CLEANER kind of programs. The surfer will have it running on its computer and thus never store any cookies or get into the habit of cleaning out the cookies every other day


What I think she means is that since there are limitations in the browsers cookie handling, the customer may not be tracked for 200 days, if you set it to 200. But if the cookie is still in the browser, they will be tracked.

I made a small test with storing 50 cookies from the same domain.

IE 6: 20 were stored
FireFox 1: all 50 were stored
Opera 7.51: 30 were stored

jesus, that is kind of fucked

bump for the sponsors

Damn traffic cash gold has no cookie? are you sure. Must be one of the reasons i'm 1/4000 uniques off our exits. Damn.

shit....
thinks for running that test

As for TCG I would like to know more about their no-cookie thing...as for the 1.5 day with cams...

Bump for a business related thread.

Thanks,It seems we gained alot of "cookie" info here !


Conclusions I got here:

payserve uses BOTH the affiliate ID in the URL *and* a tracking cookie.
Best way to track it and to get your credits for your sales



CCBill webmasters can set their own cookie times in the backend what makes it
interesting to check the cookie settings of CCbill ones first.
n CCbills admin when setting the cookie length there is this information :

When the expiration value is greater than 3, no extra data will be logged to CCBill's database, so the cookie will be the only means of tracking a referred sale. If the surfer does not accept the cookie, the system will not be able to track them. Using the Text Box, enter the cookie expiration in days.

Sponsorporgrams don't react as fast to these thread as to threads asking where to send traffic

I checked out some NATS programs, they were all set to 10 days.

Most sponsors set their time to 1-3 days

List of sponsors ( investigation not don by myzelf )


Triple X Cash
http://signupsb.triplexcash.com/cgi...te=29&program=2
No cookie is set

TNA Cash
http://www.nikkinevada.com/click/nikki/humpty/
3 days
ml_affiliate_global=humpty; expires=Wed, 09-Feb-2005 04:55:02 GMT; path=/

Leading Edge Cash
http://www.vigrx.com/clicks/clickth...&b=621&t=hit100
almost a year
a=enlargeme; expires=Sat, 28-Jan-06 04:48:24 GMT; path=/

TCG
http://www.pumpthatass.com/?wm_login=xxxjay
Doesn't set a cookie

Medium Pimpin
http://www.glamourmodelsgonebad.com/t1/revs=100089
Month + 2 days
REDIRECT_PSID=100089; expires=Tue, 08-Mar-2005 04:45:05 GMT; path=/t1/

Twisted Cash
http://tc.rachelaziani.com/t1/revs=hiddenzone/enter.php
Month + 2 days
REDIRECT_PSID=hiddenzone; expires=Tue, 08-Mar-05 04:53:07 GMT; path=/t1/

Pussy Cash - DISCLAIMER! I'm not 100% sure about this one since it set several cookies. But the rest seemed like session cookies + a global cookie that lasted for 30 years.
http://sex2go.com/wmaster.asp?WID=123589177530
Until browser is closed
s2g=bid=50096812&xit=10011274; path=/
http://imlive.com/wmaster.asp?WID=1...motionCode=avcr
Until the browser is closed
imlv=spns=10016924&CBName=&evc=avcr&linkid=701&xit =10016924&strna=ews; path=/

Legendary Lars
http://webmasters.legendarylars.com/?Ref=evildick
1.5 day
Ref=evildick; expires=Mon, 07-Feb-2005 16:59:23 GMT; path=/

AAC
http://www.adultactioncam.com/hit.php?cid=713245
1 year
r=713245; expires=Mon, 06-Feb-2006 04:55:12 GMT; path=/; domain=.datecam.com
r_adultac=713245; expires=Mon, 06-Feb-2006 04:55:12 GMT; path=/; domain=.datecam.com

ND Cam Crush
http://www.camcrush.com/main.htm?id=bigcook
Did only set 1 cookie that was not for tracking purposes
__________________

Waiting for some big sponsors to add a note

Thanks for allthe investigation guys!

Lots of good questions in this thread. I'll cover what Topbucks does:

1) Our cookie settings are for 90 days
2) If a surfer comes to our site without cookies on we track with a hard coded revid that we pass on
3) If a surfer is referred to our sites from a new webmaster but has visited our sites through a previous webmaster, the most recent webmaster gets credit for the surfer if they sign up (I think most sponsors do this). Only exception is if a new cookie request occurs within a few minute time frame of another cookie request to protect the original webmaster from instances of fraud.

~Alli

Yes ok I have changed it to 30 days for now. Here is the issue we have
if you set it for say 6 months, then we get webmasters who visited our site with another webmasters ref code, and then they go to do a test signup, they dont see th sale in their stats cuzz their cookied with the other webmasters ref code they call us up and scream at us that we are stealing from them. I have had at least 20 of these phone calls over the years. So we lowered the cookie setting to please these people. Now you have the other crowd who claims we are stealing because of the 1.5 day cookie. you can not please all the people all the time.


If you have a co brand site with us then the cookie does not mean anything since it is tied to the url and you get all sales to that url forever as long as the url remains active. And anyone who signs up for a free account is tagged in the database for life with that ref code. Cookies do not come into action on any of these things.

1. We do URL and cookie tracking. To give you maximum sales.

2. If a user creates a free account that account is stored in the database for life so if he comes back 5 years from now and logs in and buys time you get paid !

3. All co branded sites get 100% of sales as the sales are credited to the url reguardless of cookie. So on this system there is no slop at all, no exit consoles no traffic leaks and no cookies to expire or fuck up 100% of all traffic is paid to you on that url.

4. If a surfer bookmarks a url on our system it has the ref id in it so when they return you get sales for that as well.

5. In light of the current things brought up about cookies we will once again review our process, and adjust things to be as fair as possible for all of our webmasters to make th most $$ possible from us.




Ideally we would like it so URL takes precident over cookie. So BOB sends traffic to cams.com bob gets ref cookie, say set for life, bobs traffic did not sign up on a free signup and did no buy time. Then JIM sends traffic to site, JIMS REF in his URL overwrites BOBS Cookie Jims traffic does not sign up for a free account. FRED sends traffic and gets his cookie on there and finally freds customer signs up for free but does not spend money that day but does so later we look up in the database that the customer login belongs to fred customer spends money and we pay fred for the sale.

On a side note if you do not overwrite cookies then people who have large volumes of traffic have an advantage over guys with few custoemrs as the big guys will get the base installs very quickly and little guys will never get any sales. since everything will be cookied by only the largest traffic sources since all traffic is pretty much from the same pool rotating around the net at this point.


In order to change the way we do cookies and urls it is going to take a rewrite of our Traffic tracker which is a week of programming. In the mean time we have set the cookie to 30 days. If you want to avoid cookies you can create a co brand where cookies are not taken into account. 95% of our traffic goes through co brands so this discussion does not affect 95% of our webmasters. Only those who send to camgirlslive cams.com and cumtv.com are effected. And I will add that that affect is minimal. I have talked to the programmers this morning and we are working on a plan to change things out to work a bit diffferetnt hat i hope will make everyone happy and make as many people the most possible money Thanks for bringing this issue up I was not aware that the cookies were set that short.

At Bling Cash We have ours set to 30 days. Also we track by the hard linked URL and there is also IP tracking.

This threads to good to die.

Mine are 3 days. The explanation why most ccbill sponsers are 3 days is, its the default and if we never did anything thats what its still set to. But as posted previously I beleive Ccbill tracks you to some extent even if the surfer blocks cookies, and my understanding was that is lost if you set it to > 3.

Good to hear Lars

And of course it should always be the last webmaster who referred a surfer that should get the credit.

Was waiting for topbucks to reply, they have been doing this for a long time, and is one of the few big guys I know that does! Topbucks

ZoiNk

We are set to 30 days.

We know some surfers will check out a tour, bookmark it and come back when they are horny enough.

If you lead them to us in the first place ... you deserve the sale.

xoxox,
Megan

I have cookies set for 30 days on my site and all the sites in my network


Ivy

LOL i lied ... i forgot we had set ours to 90 days about a month or 2 back.

But the most current webmaster that sends the traffic will get the sale.

xoxox,
Megan

Is there any other sponsors you are interested in?

I don't know why programs only use hardcode tracking and cookies. Both have points of failure. I know my system doesn't track other ways, but I would think with ALL the cookie issues coming out that programs would start to include ip tracking, backup referring id tracking or something to help improve it.

Just my two cents as a program owner.

When I set them up in CCBill, I set them to never expire. You sure about that?

Nevermind, I see it in the CCBill admin now. I know 2 years ago they had a never expire option or I'm going insane.

"The Affiliate System allows you to specify the number of days to track a cookie before the life of the cookie expires. This cookie is set in the surfer's browser when they click through a banner on an Affiliate's website. Valid ranges are 1 to 255 days. The default cookie expiration is 3 days.

Enter Cookie Life day(s)
When the expiration value is greater than 3, no extra data will be logged to CCBill's database, so the cookie will be the only means of tracking a referred sale. If the surfer does not accept the cookie, the system will not be able to track them. Using the Text Box, enter the cookie expiration in days."

Great thread guys!

It adds another dimension to choosing a sponsor.

Another related topic could be 'follow-me' traffic. I was surprised to learn that some of the big boys don't credit their affiliates on internal cross sales (or external).

As an affiliate,while I appreciate when a sponsor quickly remedies the discovery of a problem or unacceptable policy, by that time, the jigs up and whatever they do (set their cookies or change policies) doesn't matter as much because they only did it after they were busted (and probably would not have if their settings/policies went undetected/unchallenged) - that doesn't instill much trust in that sponsor.

-Dino

Keeping business threads alive

After looking into the cookie issue and who deletes it on return visitors has put everything in a different light. For some reason I expected more from new sponsors, since they are trying to become established. But I see the same "tricks" on both old established sponsors as on new and upcoming sponsors. Pretty sad.

I have a few sponsors that I've always liked since they've always seemed fair and now when I looked into them more, they are more than fair. So my gut feeling was right.
Then there's the old and very well known sponsors that I've never really trusted, that has showed themself now to not be fair. My gut feeling was right.