IMPORTANT: Rules for posting affiliate links in this forum

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Because a lot of the deals come from vendors that are not associated with one particular device, like Smashwords or MLRBooks.

Also, if you use Calibre to convert, the device doesn't matter.

[greencat]

Originally Posted by ApK

By the way, I've seen mention of the affiliate links generating cookies which give the affiliate credit for all Amazon purchases made in 24 hours (assuming no other affiliate link is clicked, I guess). Does anyone have any proof of this?
I do not believe it works this way. As far as I can tell, the affiliate link is only good for the one browser session, which typically only survives about 20 minutes if the session is inactive, and would not survive, say, fully exiting and reopening your browser, or rebooting your computer.

ApK

From the Amazon affiliate agreement:

A “Session” begins when a customer clicks through a Special Link on your site to the Amazon Site and ends upon the first to occur of the following: (x) 24 hours elapses from the customer’s initial click-through; (y) the customer places an order for a Product that is not a Digital Product; or (z) the customer follows a link to the Amazon Site that is formatted with an Associate’s tag that is not assigned to you.

That said there are plenty of affiliates who believe that not everything is tracked. I suspect Amazon set a cookie that expires after 24 hours. Clearing your cookies would probably wipe it.

[pilotbob]

So, does (y) mean they get the commission for that order, or not?

BOb

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

So, does (y) mean they get the commission for that order, or not?

BOb

I believe what that means is that, because digital orders don't go into a cart, but are bought separately, a digital order doesn't end the session, whereas a purchase that goes into a cart and through the normal checkout process does end the session.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

So, does (y) mean they get the commission for that order, or not?

I want to say no, since it says the affiliate-session ends when that order is placed.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

I want to say no, since it says the affiliate-session ends when that order is placed.

Yes, but that could mean, the order is placed and then it ends, or the order is placed which ends it so that order isn't credited to the affiliate.

BOb

[anamardoll]

If the question is: do affiliates get credit for things purchased on Amazon within the browsing period that were NOT the item they initially linked to, I can confirm through my experience as an affiliate that the answer is yes.

Indeed, Amazon actually tracks your ratio of credited items to directly-linked items (for lack of a better term). My ratio is pretty low -- apparently my readers like to click over to Amazon to look at books I recommend and leave with movies and toys.

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My 2 cents is that I'm not in favor of sub-device forums. However, if we ARE going to do this "Affiliate links for BOB" method, I would PREFER "Affiliate Sony links for BOB", "Affiliate Amazon links for BOB"... Easier than mega-threadedness.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

If the question is: do affiliates get credit for things purchased on Amazon within the browsing period that were NOT the item they initially linked to, I can confirm through my experience as an affiliate that the answer is yes.

My question was do affiliates continue to get credit hours after the initial link-following shopping session, even if the shopper closed their browser, rebooted their PC, etc, or does the referral terminate when the browser session terminates, which could be days if the person stays online browsing Amazon in a marathon all-night shopping session, but would typically end when they close their browser or reboot their PC.
The snippet from the agreement seems to suggest the former.
The technical means by which Amazon maintains the state of the affiliation is unimportant to me, I was curious as to the facts.

ApK

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

If the question is: do affiliates get credit for things purchased on Amazon within the browsing period that were NOT the item they initially linked to, I can confirm through my experience as an affiliate that the answer is yes.

Including non-digital products? The reason I want to know is I do a lot of shopping from Amazon, for nearly everything, and 4% of the price of the coffee table I ordered there last week is a lot more than a few pennies...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

Including non-digital products? The reason I want to know is I do a lot of shopping from Amazon, for nearly everything, and 4% of the price of the coffee table I ordered there last week is a lot more than a few pennies...

Why not ask Amazon? They seem to have a support forum on their affiliates site.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why not ask Amazon? They seem to have a support forum on their affiliates site.

But that would require effort on my part!

That coffee table wasn't purchased on anyone's affiliate link, so I'm not exactly worried. Just curious.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ApK

My question was do affiliates continue to get credit hours after the initial link-following shopping session, even if the shopper closed their browser, rebooted their PC, etc, or does the referral terminate when the browser session terminates, which could be days if the person stays online browsing Amazon in a marathon all-night shopping session, but would typically end when they close their browser or reboot their PC.
The snippet from the agreement seems to suggest the former.
The technical means by which Amazon maintains the state of the affiliation is unimportant to me, I was curious as to the facts.

ApK

Once the browser is closed, the affiliate session is ended -- Amazon is clear on that. That includes rebooting and cookie clearing. There is also a 24-hour window after which the cookie is purged if it hasn't been already.

The ONLY exception to that is that anything the prospective buyer puts in their cart during that session is eligible for the referral fee -- even if they check out later, after the cookie clears.

So I have a girlfriend who uses her Cart as her Wish List. There's stuff in there that will, someday, give referral money to some link she clicked on years ago. In theory, anyway.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

That coffee table wasn't purchased on anyone's affiliate link, so I'm not exactly worried.

You'd have been 'worried' otherwise? It's important to you that Amazon keeps all their profit and shares none with folk who refer traffic to the site?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Once the browser is closed, the affiliate session is ended -- Amazon is clear on that. That includes rebooting and cookie clearing.

That's what I thought. I didn't check the context of the agreement snippet posted above, but was wondering why there then wasn't a "(w) the browser is closed..." mentioned.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by ApK

That's what I thought. I didn't check the context of the agreement snippet posted above, but was wondering why there then wasn't a "(w) the browser is closed..." mentioned.

Yep. Not a golden gravy train by any means.

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Also, for what it's worth, I just learned thanks to Koland that Slickdeals and Inkmesh links are also affiliate linked, as are eReaderIQ links. So from the surrounding conversation in that thread, I think I understand that any links from those sites are also covered by this policy and are therefore not allowed in deals threads. (Except for the Special Named Threads, of course.)

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=43

It would appear that the only thing NOT affiliate linked are direct Amazon links, and I'm pretty sure those are cloaked to give Jeff Bezos a 4% commission.