ebay sends affiliates to prison

[theGman]

A pretty interesting article and no doubt that this type of thing is happening within the gaming industry. How could it not. Check it out

xhttp://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-the-fbi-shawn-hogan-and-brian-dunning-2013-4?op=1

[baldidiot]

My wife knows one of those guys from when she was at uni - random!

[universal4]

This is a good lesson in why (in my opinion) that cookies should be over-writable.

This is also a good lesson in why cookie stuffing is bad for both sides.

Rick
Universal4

[Roulette Zeitung]

As i was a little boy...

My mother always told me: Never trust a man with no hair and dark glasses.
She was right again.

Leopold

[Anthony]

That is some story.

I also prefer the last cookie counting.

[p.arena]

Interesting story!

Seems strange that he claims ebay encouraged him to continue the practice, even after finding out what he was doing.

Why would they want to pay him revenue for coincidental sales that they would have gotten anyway?

[Renee]

Interesting story!

Seems strange that he claims ebay encouraged him to continue the practice, even after finding out what he was doing.

Why would they want to pay him revenue for coincidental sales that they would have gotten anyway?

Probably because once they go to jail ebay doesn't have to pay anything anymore..

[UKCasinoOnline]

Am I the only one whose unable to view the original article?

[AceOdds]

The affiliate managers probably didn't realise exactly what he was up to and their incentives were likely set up to encourage affiliate traffic with a disregard for where it can from.

It could also be a case of departments in a large company not talking to one another.

[F-L-C]

Am I the only one whose unable to view the original article?

It appears after a few minutes, I had to be patient

[Anthony-Coral]

Probably because once they go to jail ebay doesn't have to pay anything anymore..

"...eBay pays about $70 million annually to its 26,000 affiliate marketers, according to court papers. The average payment is around $2,700 a year. Remove Hogan and Dunning from the equation — Hogan alone was 15% of eBay's total payout — and the average payment drops even lower..."

that quote is very telling

[xecutable]

Watch now eBay's revenue boost by a lot. The article stated that he was ready to bail out, so that's why they encouraged him to keep sending. They knew they are going to pay commission, but after the case they are going to get everything back, plus all of his buyers, plus him being gone to jail.

It's guys like these that bring distrust in the relationships between affiliates and companies!

[LukeC]

This is a good lesson in why (in my opinion) that cookies should be over-writable.

This is also a good lesson in why cookie stuffing is bad for both sides.

Rick
Universal4

Ebay cookies are overwritable. If they cookie stuff they overwrite other affiliates cookies and also get extra sales from what would otherwise be direct traffic.

That article is also very one-sided against Digital Point. I'd never encourage cookie stuffing, but Hogan alleges that Ebay's affiliate managers were encouraging him to do so (see Hogan's blog), which isn't covered at all in that article. I'd be very surprised if at least some people within Ebay didn't realise that something was amiss very early on, as it isn't particularly difficult to spot when something dodgy is going on, especially when someone is operating at that scale. Hogan sending so much traffic makes the affiliate manager look great though...

[theGman]

Last Cookie is probably best for Affiliates as universal has pointed out. If it is happening with Ebay affiliates , i hate to think of what is happening in our industry. Did the GPWA do a poll of affiliate companies and what they did with their cookies ? I am sure i saw that a while back.

On top of everything else that needs to be watched , there is a cookie situation as well I might want to revisit that article and amend some of the partners i am promoting based on their cookie policy.

[justbookies]

I trust it works the other way around when operators defraud affiliates? No I didn't think so.

[universal4]

A few programs have addressed cookie stuffing.

I agree that an over-writeable cookie can still be stuffed, but it doesn't make it right and still is evidence that they should be over-writeable and shows why it might be important for the programs to cover it in their policies.

Yes Hodgey, those numbers are VERY telling, especially if you consider how hard affiliates work to make so very little and that the vast majority of affiliates fall into the "small affiliate" category and how important it is for the terms of service of ANY affiliate program be "small affiliate friendly".

Rick
Universal4

[edgarf76]

i cannot believe that they were arrested for cookie stuffing. I know its a violation of terms of services for sites, but jail! There seems to be a bit of envy regarding there lifestyles. @universal4, I have a question and suggestion for a poll. Can the forum do an anonymous poll for the average net monthly revenue an affiliate earns?

[theGman]

i cannot believe that they were arrested for cookie stuffing. I know its a violation of terms of services for sites, but jail! There seems to be a bit of envy regarding there lifestyles. @universal4, I have a question and suggestion for a poll. Can the forum do an anonymous poll for the average net monthly revenue an affiliate earns?

This is not about lifestyle - this is about earning from traffic by a very devious method, i consider it to be theft and fraudulent behaviour. I guess the FBI and Ebay ( who are making the most of the situation ) seem to think this is worth looking at as well.

[Moonlight Cat]

A pretty interesting article and no doubt that this type of thing is happening within the gaming industry. How could it not. Check it out

xhttp://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-the-fbi-shawn-hogan-and-brian-dunning-2013-4?op=1

As i know, this is owner of Digital Point forum. And as i know this is old story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Hogan

i cannot believe that they were arrested for cookie stuffing. I know its a violation of terms of services for sites, but jail!

They don't arrested for "cookie stuffing". "cookie stuffing" - this is not a crime. They arrested, because they stolen ebay money.
"Cookie stuffing" - in this case - this is "modus operandi".

[Simmo!]

They don't arrested for "cookie stuffing". "cookie stuffing" - this is not a crime. They arrested, because they stolen ebay money. "

Absolutely right IMO. The illegal bit is breaking Ebay's TOS, not the actual cookie stuffing itself. We have a cross-over area in this industry: free games. Many of the games that affiliates embed set tracking cookies but this falls within the program's terms of service because they supply the game to the affiliate. You can debate if that method is right or wrong of course but irrespective of the pros and cons, it is done with permission of the people paying you the commission.