Library · Traffic · How to run this
Spot cookie stuffing before you pay the CPA
Cookie stuffing plants an affiliate cookie without a real referral click. Last-touch attribution then pays a CPA on a sale the partner never earned. The operator job is not a thriller — it is matching credit to a session trail.
Pair: Cookie stuffing signal checklist on Traffic. Not the same abuse as fake clicks: click fraud vs cookie stuffing.
The tell
A real referral leaves a landing page, referrer, and usually a browse or cart trail in your logs. A stuffed cookie often leaves a commission claim with no matching session. That mismatch, read per partner, is the first check.
Other public signals: the partner closes every journey but never appears on first touch; affiliate-reported clicks never hit your server; click-to-purchase times that are impossible for this SKU; spikes from one browser/extension pattern if you capture it.
New partners also need a probation sheet before full CPA.
How to use the checklist
Name the partner and the window. Tick a signal only when you verified it in your data — affiliate export, session analytics, and server click logs. Unchecked means you have not checked it. Hold payout on that partner until the trail exists or you decline the claim in writing.
This is not a clawback clause for insertion orders. It is the detection sheet before finance wires the CPA.
Related: Traffic (where affiliate CPA sits in the mix).
Procedure
- Name the partner and the window.
- Match credited orders to your session and click logs.
- Tick only what you verified.
- Hold payout until the trail exists or you decline the claim.
Failure modes
- Paying on last-touch with no landing session.
- Treating high convert alone as proof of stuffing.
- Wiring CPA while the investigation is open.
Worked example
None on this page yet. When one lands it will be a real case: what broke, the number, and what changed. Not a composite.
Glossary
- Cookie stuffing
- Planting an affiliate cookie without a real referral click so last-touch pays an unearned CPA.
Work with us — We run this job on your accounts. Services
FAQ
- Is a high-converting affiliate automatically stuffing?
- No. High convert with a real landing session and browse trail can be clean. High convert with no session is the red flag.
- Do I need a fraud vendor to start?
- No. Compare affiliate-attributed orders to your own landing sessions and click logs first. That mismatch is the strongest public signal.
- Should I pay while I investigate?
- Hold the payout on the suspicious partner until a session trail exists or you write off the claim. Paying first trains the behavior.