Are Spyware Scumbags stealing our Affiliate links and our Commissions?

[ideaguru]

I've heard for a while that some spyware out there is purposely design to hijack commission junction and clickbank affiliate tracking links.

Has anyone else heard this?

Is there any way to combat this?

Someone mentioned that up to 60% of our sales are being stolen by spyware scumbags. The spyware gets installed on the visitor's computer. Whenever they click on a cj or clickbank link, it's automatically converted to the spyware owner's tracking code, so they get credit for the sale.

[Essex_boy]

Yes there have been posts like this before here and teh general theme is that this does happen. why oh why the big aff sites like CJ etc allow this to happen is beyond me.

[growingdigital]

I have heard the same thing. Supposedly this is one of the reasons behind CJ coming out with so many new tracking URL's. Additionally, you can now encrypt your link. Both of these appear to be safe guards to prevent commission hijacking.

[iblaine]

The exact number is debatable and largely depends on how you track your sales. That number is going to decrease as you move to lesser known independent tracking solutions. It's my opinion that the figure is up to 15% in extreme cases and for those using large affiliate networks the average is probably around 3%.

In reponse to CJ using new tracking URLs, this was done to prevent ad blocking software and has nothing to do with parasiteware.