What is your opinion of cookies and sales?

[Toby]

Alot of people make a big deal out of whether CCBill programs have referral cookies set to last 3 days (the default) or 30 days or whatever.

I really don't care what they have them set for, if I don't make the sale today then odds are they're going to clear their temp files, cookies, etc. before a return visit anyway. Any sale I get credited for on a revisit cookie is a bonus in my book.

CCBill does overwrite existing referral cookies when a link from another affiliate is clicked. Which I think is the right way to do it. BUT you gotta watch some programs like a hawk. If they send to an alternate tour rather than their root URL I always go check and make sure they're not resetting to their own affiliate code on the home page. I've found a couple of programs doing this to avoid paying for type in returns, and not just CCBill programs. They'll all justify it with the "just tracking sales" argument, but we all know that's BS.

There are lots of ways to shave, and damn few of them actually involve altering credit within the admin software itself. Which is what most think of when they hear the term shaving.

In my opinion, most programs are honest. But it only takes a few bad apples to leave a bad taste in everyones mouth.