Pinnacle tracking not working

[Sherlock]

We are going through deep analysis of tracking. Issues almost everywhere, usually hard to prove.

At pinnacle it is obvious. Good for them that they probably start solving it, but the problem was obviously there for ages.

Their affiliate link does drop cookie only for the first time.

Even they admit this crazy thing:

However, (if) you clicked on this link: https://www.pinnacle.com/en/?aup=True
Since you already clicked on the link before, the aup=true part gets added which actually says that all cookies have already been dropped. That's why they don't drop again.

So the cookies can be irreversibly overwritten to 0 by clicking on the magic link. Awesome.

However even worse thing is happening: even without clicking on that magic link the browsers simply stop dropping cookies after next click on affiliate link. This happens even if you delete all cookies.

My wild guess is that there are some cookies of second generation used for this (LSO, flash, html5 storage - hidden timebomb for affiliates for long time). Even if my guess is wrong, this is bad. I think they still use some adjusted IA software. I am curious whether this can be the reason why IA is so much poo.

Again: this is not ranting against Pinnacle. They have decent book, must have for affiliates with big players, I never felt intention to steal from them, even when their conversions were below average. They responded swiftly. Normally I would not post this. But the problem is maybe wider so please, while checking cookies, always check how they behave after reloading the page or after deleting the cookies.

There are videoscreenshot programs that are easy to prove the point (thank god).

[TheGooner]

Am not surprised. Getting sign-ups to established sites is like finding hens teeth these days.

[vardan]

Am not surprised. Getting sign-ups to established sites is like finding hens teeth these days.

Agreed. It's getting even worse if tracking is provided by Income Access.

[Malikbhai]

Two words: Income Access.

[Sherlock]

At SportsInterAction I never saw a problem with IA and their data are ok. However Richard told me they use some backup tracking and they somehow merge/correct the data. I have seen Mexos doing almost the same ****.

In the good old times just one cookie was being used and it simply worked. Now I see many, even tens of cookies being loaded, for different domains and it is just ****. With http/https it is even more complicated, because as I was told the cookies for https://domain.com and http://domain.com is not always the same.

The affiliate managers themselves usually have no clue how system works, they do not believe me the bug reports, so I have to exchange many emails until we got somewhere. But the "somewhere" is: I will forward the problem to the IT guys. But the IT nerd is just "fixing" something that even he does not understand, because he does not know what exactly visitors are doing. So then the next round is around the corner.

It is not (always) intentional. I have seen cookies with duration for years instead of month. I have seen even banners dropping affiliate cookies (instead of clicks). But as everywhere, no one gives a ****.

[Sherlock]

Can you guys promoting Pinnacle test your links and cookies?

They claim everything is ok, but clearly Chrome does not drop the cookie and Firefox does not drop it after reload. Safari is ok.

The software is really crazy. Why it drops this ****? No wonder browsers do not like this.

[bigdogsportspicks]

Soon we'll need to revert back to the Asia Agent system - Get alotted credit handle the processing yourself and settle with the brand at the end of the month

[Sherlock]

Excellent. Another ******* with quotas, I just got email. And this used to be the best bookie. Their affiliate team was always below average, now they are totally incompetent. Solving some formal problem in Catch XXII style for ages. On the top I got email with quotas and another email to promote them more with NBA. The tracking was not fixed.

[TheGooner]

I also received this retro-active quota email with possible zero level payments.

My position is that a company can decide to change rules going forward - and I can choose whether to send players according to new rules - I accept that.
But that existing referrals should retain the contract conditions at the time of joining.

I am attempting to discuss this with them now.

[Sherlock]

They are complete joke. I complained to one AM who is also on IA about Pinnacle tracking. Since they are now considering switch out of IA, he asked them about it.

Quote from him:

I have been told that the issues with Pinnacle were completely unique to them due to some customizations that they had, requiring Income Access to create a fix solely for them to sort it out. So, it had no impact on us or any other program for that matter.

So in fact Pinnacle lied to me and made idiot of me, telling me there is no problem. and secretly they were solving it with IA. At least it seems so.

[Sherlock]

The tracking is not working anyways. They sent us new links, one of them even does not drop cookie at all, even 1st time.

If everyone is afraid of admitting and solving the mistakes then it is a problem.

I can live actually with thieves and liars, it is just a strategy for survival; but what really kills my brain how can companies like IA go on.

[bookmakers2u]

Thank you for this useful post
We have the same problem with Pinnacle tracking for many years too and I have tried to figure out what it's all about. I thought it was on the UK market but obviously not. We have tried to change links many times, without results ...I believe same issues with SBOBET affiliates, so we have downgraded our rating for them too.

[Sherlock]

They asked me for IP addresses now. It implies that tracking from some IPs might be ******. It is just crazy. Cookie drop does not have to be limited to certain IPs.

So we digged even further and we see that from some IPs/Geos even the 1st cookie does not drop. From the rest 1st cookie does drop, but the reloading deletes the affiliate cookie.

Further research: the geo-specific landing pages (like Sweden) drop at least the 1st cookie and the reload deletes.
The generic English landing page does not drop a cookie.

My wild guess which will be probably wrong is following: I trust that for them everything is ok. But for the rest of the world is not. So maybe some part of the page is timeouting for the rest of the world.

Anyways this is crazy. Everyone promoting Pinnacle (for free for long time) pls try to repeat the experiment. The simple experiment it takes just few minutes max. And try to write them.

[TheGooner]

Anyways this is crazy. Everyone promoting Pinnacle (for free for long time) pls try to repeat the experiment. The simple experiment it takes just few minutes max. And try to write them.

I will do so this afternoon - but I am unsure of what I am looking for in the browser afterwards.

Are you able to give some short notes on how I check for the cookie in chrome and/or firefox ?
What text / indicators am I looking for?

[Sherlock]

1. How to check cookies:

Firefox with screenshots (for domain mozilla.org, pinnacle.com is analogous):







For Chrome checking of cookies is more or less the same: Go to settings > advanced > content settings > cookies > see all cookies and site data

2. How to check specific cookies (pinnacle.com in this case)
Your link is not updated
http://wlpinnaclesports.adsrv.eacdn.com/C.ashx?btag=a_376b_7054c_&affid=5639&siteid=376&ad id=7054&c=
should look rather like
https://wlpinnacle.adsrv.eacdn.com/C.ashx?btag=a_376b_7054c_&affid=5639&siteid=376&ad id=7054&c=

(side note and mystery: I ended from your link at olkrmncig.com at Dublin airport now, which is some scam, no idea how is that possible)


Open pinnacle.com cookie (point 1.) and inside there should be dropped btag (content:a_376b_7054c_) and refer (content: xgoonguide) cookies, valid for 30 days (generally at Income Access the btag is always the affiliate cookie to look for).


These cookies should be dropped everytime, after clearing cookies and reentering the link too.

You can delete all cookies, or reload the pages and then check the cookies. You can also use VPNs to see how the site behaves from different countries. Simply emulate the behavior of visitors.

[Sherlock]

Here is your affiliate link Gooner, being checked from Austria. Does not drop.

[Isaiah]

Just checked mine aff links, btag & refer OK, but I see this too :

Created Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Expires Saturday, July 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Is this normal behavior?

-EDIT-

Seems it's ok, thought that both months written was 'June' lol

[vardan]

Just checked mine aff links, btag & refer OK, but I see this too :

Created Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Expires Saturday, July 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Is this normal behavior?

-EDIT-

Seems it's ok, thought that both months written was 'June' lol

I noticed the same yesterday, the dates of cookie creation and expiration were 6 June, but when I cleaned the cookies and tried again, the duration was 1 month.

[Sherlock]

Just checked mine aff links, btag & refer OK, but I see this too :

Created Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Expires Saturday, July 7, 2018 at 11:58:31 AM

Is this normal behavior?

-EDIT-

Seems it's ok, thought that both months written was 'June' lol

Try after reload.

Also try India, Austria, Canada or Belgium for example. From those countries (just an example the list is longer) the cookie does not drop for 1st try even.

[Moonlight Cat]

Anybody may help to me, for checking this link:
http://wlefbet.adsrv.eacdn.com/C.ash...17&adid=319&c=

This links to efbet.com They aff.program using Income Access
At this month i send via my website several players. Real players and test players.
Stats still show "0' registration.

Thank you.