Some affiliate marketers provide rebates, points, or shopping tips – and provide browser plugins to present this information as users browse. These plugins can be popular with customers, who perceive they’re getting a great deal. But these plugins can also create extra expense for advertisers. We test plugins to make sure they’re playing by the rules, including claiming only those affiliate commissions they have fairly earned, not taking commissions that are properly payable to others, and otherwise following all applicable rules.
Most merchants and networks require that shopping plugins only invoke affiliate links when users actually click to request this. It’s not enough for a user merely to visit merchant.com; a plugin must present a relevant message, and a user must click that message, before the plugin is allowed to get paid. We test plugins to make sure they follow this rule.
Most merchants and networks also limit how a shopping plugin can behave when another affiliate sends traffic to a given advertiser. For example, suppose a user is reading a New York Times Wirecutter review of a product, and clicks the link to a seller’s website. If Wirecutter monetizes that link with an affiliate link, any other software on a user’s computer – such as a “loyalty” or cashback browser plug-in – is prohibited by network rules from jumping into redirecting the traffic or even to present its offer. This “stand-down” requirement gives Wirecutter a fair chance to get paid for its work originating the lead.
Stand-down is notoriously difficult for networks and advertisers to test. Testing requires obtaining and installing hundreds of browser plug-ins. Plug-in practices change over time. Plug-ins have periodic changes that claim commission contrary to applicable rules, and we’ve seen that these “malfunctions” (if their developers are to be believed) often occur during peak shopping season.
VPT charts a course through this complexity. We test all the plug-ins you know, and hundreds you don’t. Our automated reports show practices in extreme clarity, including screen-capture video. We tabulate observations in an easy-to-use online grid.
For those that need information about historic violations – potentially, up to several years ago – we have that available on a by-request basis from our archives.
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VPT helps clients keep their affiliate programs clean. Every dollar paid to fraudsters is a dollar less for legitimate affiliates that drive genuine and incremental value. Let us help you focus your spend on the affiliates that matter!
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