I mailed my list about this product and got more comments from other affiliate software vendors than from all my postings and emails combined to date :)

Here are their comments and my answer to both of them at the bottom: 

Lyle at AllAffiliatePro said this:

Hi Peter,
This is the most unreliable tracking possible. We offered this years ago but quickly cancelled it. It relys on the HTTP_REFERER variable which is HUGELY innaccurate, all modern security packages block the HTTP_REFERER as well as modern browsers. What's the point in a naked link if you only get 1/4 the commissions you would be getting.

Vlad at AffiliateTracking.com had this to say: 

hi Peter,

read your post and wanted to add a note - another name for this feature is "clean links" - we offer it is as part of our solution.

@Lyle - While I agree with you on this point, if you read carefully how AffPayPro works it's using a different method, which relies on the customer wanting a discount. Also not bulletproof but unless you have a membership-based tracking system there's no 100% reliable method to track affiliate commissions.

@Vlad - Yes "clean links" is what I'm talking about, but it's combined with coupons tied back to the affiliate.

I will admit there are other solutions that use coupons, including AllAffiliatePro,  and others, but wanted to focus on this one concept which might fit well with businesses wanting to develop coupon-based afffiliate tracking, which would also allow you to have offline affiliates e.g. handing out cards your site url with a coupon code on the back...

One of my readers asked:

thought this was link connector type naked link typescript ..but no it just lets you enter a coupon code

Do you know of any aff scripts that do mimic the naked link tech of linkconnector?

Cheers
Mick 

To clarify things... "Naked/clean links" and coupons are not the same. Several affiliate tracking systems support both, only one, or neither of these features. 

To discover which affiliate tracking systems support coupons and/or naked links, invest in a Gold membership at Affiliate-Software-Review.com here and use the powerful search feature or compare up to 10 products side-by-side.

--- (Edited on 4/25/2008 10:17 am [GMT-0500] by Peter) ---

just to clarify more precisely what I was looking for..

I don't thinks its this coupon thing as I don't want traffic from other sources seeing a big enter your coupon code on the buy page as that only encourages buyers to ask for cheaper than full price.

 I don't know if "naked link" is the right term or not..but what I was seeking was a script ( not a hosted solution ) that had in addition to standard :affID =xxx type links ..the power to identify traffic from pre registered partner sites.

eg picture making a join my aff program pitch to a site that ran forums. By registering for my aff program the site owner could earn when forum users talked about my product. No need for him personally to add aff links. His traffic / community does his selling for him. ( or me if he permits me to post there with a sig tag )

It's an issue of winning partner favor and showing potential partners you do more than most to ensure they get tracked and paid. That which of course is good long term strategy in my book despite wathching many others whose master plan appears to be to shaft partners to earn a slightly increased quick buck.

 From what i can see http: referer may be ropy for tracking ..but still  when applied to forum talk not generated by the webmaster himself..it must be an advantage to get 25% rather than nothing.

1 - Are there such non hosted scripts in your db that offer this?

2 - what criteria in your records describes the above functionality?

3 - are there any other readers who use similar..got recommendations or advice?

All help appreciated.

best wishes

Mick

www.football-bets.co.uk

--- (Edited on 4/25/2008 6:26 pm [GMT+0100] by frak) ---

--- (Edited on 4/25/2008 6:31 pm [GMT+0100] by frak) ---

Hi Mick - yes there are some that have offer "affiliate looking" links without "?" in them, and are not hosted.

To discover which ones you'll need to get a Gold membership and use the Search function as below. (click on the picture to be taken to the Gold order page).

Then you remove the hosted solutions from the pick list and check the remainder individually to screen out the ones using coupons. What's left are a few scripts that give cleaner looking links and don't use coupons and are not hosted...

Another alternative is to suggest they get a domain that's similar to yours which does a "frame redirect" to your site via the affiliate link - then they just advertise that domain which looks "naked" but still get all the affiliate commissions as you're using a regular tracking system

If you get a Gold membership I'll explain it further (and include a method where they don't even need to get a domain) and send send you the code for a framed redirect - got to pay for my beer money this weekend :)  Just mention in the paypal comments you want the framed redirect code or send in a support ticket to the address you get in the package.

--- (Edited on 4/25/2008 1:13 pm [GMT-0500] by Peter) ---