Cookie Question

[cd34]

any way you track the sales, you have a fundamental problem:

Webmaster A refers surfer, cookie (or IP tracking or whatever gets set)
Webmaster B refers surfer, cookie (or IP tracking or whatever gets set)

The change that you are noticing appears to be whether Webmaster B overwrites Webmaster A's cookie.

On one hand, Webmaster A could be legit, Webmaster B could be a user-installed toolbar, in which case Webmaster A should get credit

On the other hand Webmaster A could be legit, Webmaster B could be legit, and Webmaster B should get credit.

The advantage that you used to have with smaller programs is that the cookie would get set by ccbill with some expiration time -- and a typein to the main domain wouldn't reset that cookie. Most sponsors nowdays reset the cookie at the time of the typein. If a surfer bookmarks the webmaster tour (where the url doesn't have the webmasters ID), the ccbill cookie which has an expiration date could credit the webmaster if it hasn't expired.

Which of those two scenarios do you want? When you have two clicks in relatively rapid succession, who should win?

And remember, you're not just dealing with toolbars.... there are other ways to stuff cookies with ccbill that have the same effect -- without needing a toolbar or any nasty coding and a relatively complex way to determine if that particular stuffing took place.