Extend Amazon cookie from 24 hrs to 90 days

Hi, let me start by saying that this was emailed to me as a new "WSO" and I am not a member of the warrior forum (although I have bought stuff there in the past, and I don't know if that makes me a member automatically), and these WSO's are emailed to me from people that want to earn commission if i buy it. so this is not my affiliate link, but it is someone's. in any case, I am NOT suggesting that anyone buy it, but I'm interested in the concept, and whether it is a good idea to program it into our Wizzles.

Basically, it's saying that usually Amazon cookies only last 24 hours, but in certain situations, according to Amazon's TOS, the links can be programmed so that the cookie lasts 90 days, if a product is added to the shopping cart.(I'm not sure of the exact details)

I like the idea of an extended cookie, but I'm not sure whether or not it is a good idea to program in the shopping carts- is that likely to encourage or discourage conversions? I'm not sure what is required, and am Interested in hearing the opinions of others, and so I"m putting this out here, because maybe it is a good way to increase conversions for Wizzley and it's authors- either with the module, or with the Viglink option.

what does everyone think?

here is more info (again, i think it has someone's affiliate tag in it, and i'm not suggesting to buy it, but asking if it would be a good idea to program something similar into Wizzley)

http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-offers-forum/566304-boost-amazon-conversions-extended-90-day-affiliate-cookie-duration-works-w-other-plugins.html#1

http://extendazon.com/wso-affiliates/

What does everyone think about this?

Does anyone have any insight on whether this is a good idea, how to implement it, how it works, etc? Do we get the extended cookie whenever a product is added to a shopping cart from any affiliate link? and what exactly are they suggesting? that the link automatically add it to a shopping cart, or put it on the page, or what?

I looked it over again, and basically, I wonder if there is a way to make it so that whenever a reader clicks on a link, something is automatically placed into their shopping cart, but the link should still lead them to the product page so that they can read more about it? That way, they end up on the same page for browsing, but there is now a 90-day cookie, so that we can earn commissions for purchases made within 90 days, instead of just the first 24 hours.

Thoughts?

Here is the "complicated API" that the WSO salesperson is referencing.

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/t1/a10 

from the looks of that it's essentially an added button called "add to cart" and that ads the other days to the cookie (because they want people who "think" they want something but don't buy it, to have ample opportunity to return and buy it and it being int he cart in the first place means when they buy anything else they will be reminded that it's there :)

I think this could easily be added to the amazon widget, it's akin to the buy it now button but an "add to cart" instead- may be something the wizards of Wizzerly place :) should consider...

Thanks sunforged (remember me from HP? some of your hubs were the first ones I read I believe)... for adding that url

Bhthanks- affiliate links that aren't encrypted can be cut at the knees by simply removing everything after .com so if your worried about posting a "spam" link in the forum just trunicate it back to the .com :)

This is interesting...

Jerrico

I don't think this is a good idea if I'm honest. I cannot believe that Amazon would be happy about plugins or programming which basically tries to massively extend cookies in the favor of affiliates (especially on a big site like this where multiple people and thousands of articles are involved) and I think people who do this could end up being in danger of having their affiliate accounts removed.

The Amazon assoc programme is excellent at converting into sales as it is so why tamper with it? Don't bite the hand that feeds us springs to mind! I'm sure the powers that be at Wizzley will know the right thing to do.

Aside from that would the extra programming slow page load times down as well?

If implemented correctly, it is not against Amazon terms for associates. 

I cannot speak for the coding aspect, but there are other things to keep in mind when thinking about this option.

- you cannot mislead someone - they are putting items in their basket and will have to confirm that this is really what they wanted to do with an additional click. I think it would be detrimental to conversions and user experience if your page is anything other than an actual storefront. 

- your cookie could still be overwritten with a newer session cookie. So even if you have a 90-day cookie, if your visitor clicks on any other affiliate link before they buy, it will be replaced. 

- it will likely not work with viglinks due to the redirection.

It's not uninteresting for certain types of sites, but I don't think it's something for us here.

As Nightowl has indicated, the associate encouraging the customer to place something in his or her shopping cart is not against Amazon's TOS.  Amazon actually has a means to do this as was posted by Sunforged.

The cookie does extend to 90 days but only for the item placed in the shopping cart and the customer has to actually purchase the item within that 90 day period.  If the customer purchases that item within the 90 days, you will get credit for commission on that item.  If they add other items to the shopping cart, you will not get credit for those purchases unless the customer went back to the cart through your site.

I concur with both Nightowl and Wendell- it's not in any way a "trick" anymore than putting a "buy it now" button on an eBay ad is a trick- it's an option- nothing more- one that just happens to give the customer, and thus the cookied affiliate, more time.

It's not so much about a cookie being longer lasting, as the cookie won't garnish any more sales but the one that was legitimately earned from the affiliate in the first place- it's about an honest option for them to add the item to their cart and the affiliate being able to rightfully maintain the sale if they purchase. If they purchased the item later from another site/affiliate and the first affiliate got them interested in the first place.

The tragedy would be the first aff not getting the sale... people are fickle like this, they may want it but find they didn't have the money, so they want to wait till payday (I know because I'm such a user who avidly buys from amazon's site), thing is payday may be a month away, or maybe they have bills to pay and they have to wait until a few paydays...

I think it's incredibly fair to let the cart items cookie for 90 days because after all, if they concisely (and they have to as Nightowl stated) clicked the button to "add to cart" then they are/were on the very threshold of purchasing thus the original affiliate did their job in giving them enough data to make that decision- why should another person get that sale?

What I'm confused about is why this isn't right for Wizzley pages. I don't exactly agree that you have to be a store front to ethically use the "add to cart" button. In my eyes it saves me, the buyer, a step.. I may want to continue to read but want to make sure that item is in my cart, I may even add more to my cart with the same button on another page (I'm an amazon affiliates wet dream as I purchase a lot on amazon and usually go through a page I read somewhere that helped me research the book, item etc...)

I think people who shop at Amazon feel like it's a vurtual cart anyway and would like this option- it's like the (that I also use avidly) wish button plugin you can add to firefox, where no matter what page your on you can add that item to your wishlist. The only difference between a wish list and an add to cart button is it only adds it to the cart if amazon carries it (meaning they can buy it there not that it adds it it the cart directly, but it's a hop and a skip from there none the less)

Just my two pennies.

Jerrico

I also didn't look into the programmatic requirements, yet. I think, it could be interesting to have it as an additional option adjacent to the Amazon "buy button". Maybe as a tiny, but still visible link ...

[ Buy now ]     or    Add this to my cart

Or something like: "Remember this product" and add it to the cart, when the user clicks on it. But that could definitively be problematic in the sense as nightowl already suggested!

I guess we - that is our team - will soon talk about it in detail and discuss these options :)

I really enjoy how this site listens to author feedback and implements things that work for the site and community (not all of course would be implementable but the feeback is heard and responded to incredibly fast regardless of it its a good idea, a bad idea, or a probable idea).

In that respect you've beat out all other entities in the realm of crowdsourced writing/profit/page view/sharing.

Kudos, here's a gold star for each of you (you should really think about adding a gold star icon to the smile matrix so when people applaud someone they can attach that star :) just sayin :)

Jerrico