fake sales and real commissions

[Freedom35]

My affiliate program require me to put an invisible image anywhere in the
"Thank You" or order confirmation page that is displayed to the customer after the payment is processed.

This invisible image is called when a sale is processed, and it runs a code in
affiliate system that will check for referring affiliate and tracks the sale.

The code is in the form:
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/affiliate/scripts/sale.php?TotalCost=
XXXXXX.XX&OrderID=XXXXXX&ProductID=XXXXXX"
width=“1“ height=“1“>

The problem I'm facing is if someone manage to go to this "thank you" page without buying or a customer simply refresh this page, sales will be recorded and affiliate commission will be allocated. These sales are non existant but commission is a real payout.

Does anyone has any idea how this problem can be solved?

[Collectors-info]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

Hi, you say “IF” someone goes to this page again. Have you tried this out to see if anyone can get to this page twice? Some programs won’t let this happen. They sometimes work like software download pages in that they won’t let one person buy & 10 others download.
Think it works on some sort of once per session cookie
I think the only way to prove this is to purchase something from your site from another/friends computer.

Just a note: & You may already know this! But, it’s worth putting in the affiliate rules.
1. No refunds on purchases after 21 or maybe 28 days
2. Pay outs to affiliates 90 days
It’s only to stop fraud.

Good luck.

[Freedom35]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

My "Thank you" page is in a simple url (www.horsedummies.com/welcome.html). So if customers remember this page and for some reasons they decided to refresh, go back to this page or press the "back" button on their browser, they will innocently register another sale on my side.

The code work in such a way that whenever it is being displayed one time, one sale will be registered.

I have however just manage to solve this problem. I simply put the code in a blank page and create a redirect code in this page.

Thank for your advice

[Collectors-info]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

Good idea! I maybe giving wrong advice, but it maybe even worth cloaking the url to the affiliates/blank page with the code in. (Not the redirect)
But check this doesn’t affect your affiliates in any way.

[Vasili]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

I've been watching intently.......LOL

I could not understand the original question as was posed (I've never been aware of an affilitate program or network to allow/require such), nor could I decipher if the attempt to "cloak" transitional navigation was a valid exercise (I personally do not believe so, and the numerous threads supply much discussion as to why, and cannot yet understand why efforts continue).

Maybe a closer look at your site and some disclosure of your "affiliate" relationshps would help me, that is.
Or....is this a PAP issue?

Still unclear.....but.. it is very late....and has been another 18hr workday.....LOL
Tomorrow

[Freedom35]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

What do you mean by "...some disclosure of your "affiliate" relationshps..."?

I don't know do other affiliates program softwares track sales and affiliates as per how PAP does it. If they do, I believe it's the issue of all these softwares, otherwise it's only PAP problem.

The way it works is like tracking website impression. Every one time display = one time sale (impression)!

Or maybe I'm the problem! I believe i'm not the only one using PAP, but it seems like i'm the only one with this problem...LOL

[Vasili]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

PAP, a software program for you to run your own affiliate program (have others place your banners on their websites to earn commission by referring customers to your site for sales) is not intended to track sales made on your site......at least, not that I've ever encountered!!

And, it is not meant to track sales made on other sites either.....it is merely a program to track traffic, and give credit to the referrer of that traffic all the way through a sale.
If you are using a cart (php, etc.), that "thank you" page was generated after a validated sale was made dynamically...it is not "linked" to page history as is an HTML site...especially if you have SSL. (That is why most proper sites ask to re-send the info as part of the "refresh") And....even if returning to a dynamic page that was populated AFTER a sale was made, the cookie in the visitor's browser is merely a client ID that has been logged referenceing the referrer.....not the sale itself....which has been uniquely recorded in your accounting.....
In this "dynamic" model demonstrates that a command need be generated to produce the sale-page, not merely "landing" on it.

[Freedom35]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

The "thank you" page is simply a html page where after payment is made at paypal, paypal will redirect the customer to.

This is what PAP says in their manual:

"The general method of integration is putting an invisible image anywhere in the "Thank You" or order confirmation page that is displayed to the customer after the payment is processed.

This invisible image is called when the sale is processed, and it runs a code in affiliate system that will check for referring affiliate and tracks the sale.

The code is in the form:
<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/affiliate/scripts/sale.php?TotalCost=
XXXXXX.XX&OrderID=XXXXXX&ProductID=XXXXXX"
width=“1“ height=“1“>"

Though the above code is not a banner but whenever it is flash once, a sale is recorded.

I have however solved the issue. For those maybe facing the same problem can try the following two methods:
1. Use Paypal IPN so that you don't require the above code anymore.
2. Place the above code and a redirect script in an empty page. Set the redirect timing to immediately. Set Paypal's return page to this empty page as well. So the process will be: after customer pay at paypal, he will be directed to this empty page (where sale will be recorded) and immediately this empty page will direct the customer to your "thank you" page. I tried to go "back" from the "thank you" page, it will go directly to paypal and not this empty page. So nobody can back and refresh the code to record phantom sale. You might want to give this empty page a complicated and long name so that it is not easy to remember and manual key into the url.

[Vasili]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

GOOD POST!



Sorry I was not able to properly help you out.....

[Freedom35]

Re: fake sales and real commissions

no problem. we learn from one another. That's how we grow...