Let's talk about cookies

[MeatPounder]

Originally Posted by MadCat

Also, cookies can (and do) get overwritten - in general if I send a surfer to a sponsor and the surfer already has a cookie from that sponsor for another affiliate, that cookie gets overwritten with mine (the honest thing really). The nasty thing is that most sponsors will delete any cookies that were set if you go straight to a website.

Exactly...make sure you make the sale the first visit as it is very likely that is your only chance

Sure if the surfer on your referal looks around and gets interested but doesn't bite, he might (slim chance in hell) go back to that exact same referal page and click it again....but most likely he will do a earch for the site in a search engine and follow the link he finds to the paysite on the search page AND THE COOKIE WILL GET OVERWRITTEN by the new affilates...or he will see another page promoting that site, and think oh yea this is what I was looking at and that new referrer gets the sale...or they will remember the sites name but forget the .com and google will nicely put the sites direct link up and the sponsor will not have to pay ANY affiliate...or as Mad Cat says, even if the surfer remembers the exact url of the paysite, as he types it directly many sponsors immediately will overwrite ALL cookies setting their own anyways pretty much defeating the point of cookies (NOW THAT IS SHITTY and perhaps something a tool would beuseful for, giving you the ability to read cookies as then you could click your own affiliate link and then look at the cookie set once you go to the site...then close your browser windows and reopen your browser and go directly to the sites main url...then look at the cookie again...THAT is where you will find sponsors ripping you off).

So stop worrying about cookie length so much...make sure you make the sale the first time you send the surfer there