Do Catalogs Steal Affiliate Commissions?

We have one of those big “country” type mailboxes that sit out at the street in front of our property. I happened to be watching my husband when he opened the mailbox and Christmas catalogs literally jumped out of the box and fell all over the ground… that’s how stuffed out mailbox has been with catalogs from all different kinds of companies trying to cash in on the Christmas season.

In a strange sort of coincidence, I got an email from a newsletter subscriber who wanted to know if all those catalogs were stealing her affiliate commissions.

She went on to explain that she was an affiliate for several of the companies that regularly send out catalogs.  If people typed the URL for those companies in directly to their computers and then bought something, wouldn’t she be out her commission?

The short answer is - Absolutely not.

Now here’s the explanation:   Anyone who has been directly referred to one of those catalog companies by you will have the affiliate’s cookie on their computer.

Depending on the company and affiliate program, the cookie is good for 30, 60, 90, or more days.  That cookie works no matter how the customer accesses the catalog company’s website from that computer, which means that the affiliate that originally referred that customer to the company will get a commission.

Affiliating with companies that do catalog marketing can be both a blessing and a curse.

On the one hand, the company that sends out catalogs regularly keeps their name in front of customers and ultimately gets more sales than online retailers that don’t.  If you’re the first affiliate to introduce that customer to the company, then the retailer is helping you earn more money.

The downside of affiliating with companies that market with catalogs is that most of their customers aren’t acquired through affiliates.  They purchase customer lists from other retailers and brokers to send catalogs out to.  If you’ve ever gotten a catalog out of the blue from a company that you’ve never heard of, then you know what I mean.

Catalogs sell products for online retailers, so it makes sense that they would use them extensively.

As an affiliate, however, the chances of you being the first to refer a customer to a high powered catalog company is slim.  Some companies send out their own cookies and don’t allow affiliate cookies to over-ride them… making it impossible to earn affiliate commissions.  It really depends on the company you’re working with and how they handle this.

Although some online retailers that market extensively with catalogs may deny that they do this, I’ve tested it out myself several times.  I’ve cleaned out all my cookies and typed in the direct URL of several of the big name catalog companies.  Then I’ve set up an affiliate account through my business name (different name, address, and email), clicked through an affiliate link, and made a purchase under my husband’s name on the same computer.  More often than not, the affiliate(in this case my company) didn’t get credit for the sale.

It’s an unofficial test, so take it for what it’s worth.

My advice is to stick with smaller, less known catalog companies to increase your chances of being the first affiliate on the scene, or to arrange a pay per click or pay per lead situation with the big online retailers that use catalogs if you want to work with these types of companies.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, there are much better ways to earn a living than working with the super-sized online retailers… especially if they earn most of their revenue through catalog marketing.

But that’s just my opinion.

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