Understanding the mechanism explains why some referrals track and some do not.
THE SEQUENCE
- A visitor clicks your link.
- They arrive on our site and a cookie is stored in their browser.
- The cookie identifies you as the referrer and has a fixed lifetime.
- If they place an order before the cookie expires, the commission is credited to your account.
THE COOKIE PERIOD
Set out in the programme terms. It means a visitor who reads your article today and orders next week may still be attributed to you.
WHY REFERRALS SOMETIMES DO NOT TRACK
The visitor cleared cookies between clicking and ordering They clicked on a phone and ordered on a laptop They used private browsing, which discards cookies Browser settings or an extension blocked the cookie They clicked someone else's affiliate link afterwards, which may overwrite yours The cookie period had expired They typed our address directly rather than using your link
WHAT THIS MEANS
Some genuine referrals are not attributable, and that is a limitation of the technology rather than a dispute. It is why affiliate income is better judged over months than over individual referrals.
