Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic - Are We Losing Out On Referral Credits? Flaw In The System?

PhotoEuphoria · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 4:07 am

I have had referrals join in the past and seen their names listed on my "Referrer Prog" page imediately. But my sister-in-law joined last night and already has three images pending yet still her name is not showing up as one of my referrals.

Is there a delay now that didn't used to be there? How sure are we that the tracking system is accurate? If somehow she was not registered as my referral, can this be fixed?

I contacted support but I'm sorry, 24-36 hours of waiting for an answer will drive me crazy. Thanks to anyone with a similar experience that can give me a quick answer. :) -jaimie

StuartE · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:58 am

My three referrals all got added immediately, that's all I can offer, sorry...

Cheers,
Stuart

PhotoEuphoria · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 9:25 am

Thanks Stuart. That sort of confirms what I was afraid of. Hopefully this can be worked out or I'll beg her to quit and sign up again. LOL -jaimie

PhotoEuphoria · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:40 am

Got my reply from support and I was NOT credited for the referral. At least I was able to catch this one but it sure makes me wonder how many other referrals we have all missed out on. And absolutely without a doubt, she followed my link.

I have had 2 contributors and 1 designer in the past 4 months tell me they joined up from my website but their name was never listed in my referral list and I never got a bonus. I always assumed it was the member who messed up but now I truly believe that we are not getting credited for all of our referrals.

Here is what I think... please correct me if I am wrong. There are three referral links given. One for "designers" one for "contributors" and one to visit our gallery. These links are not interchangeable, and because we cannot control which link a visitor will click through, we are losing out on referral bonuses more often then we know.

Example:
http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=18
http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=18
http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery.mhtml?id=18

And now the mini-gallery too. http://www.shutterstock.com/?rid=18

What appears to be happening is that if a visitor doesn't click on the correct link (corresponding to their needs) then we do not get credit.

In other words, a designer clicks the "submit" link, looks around finds the link to the main site then buys a membership, we get nothing. A photographer clicks the "gallery" link, find the "we buy your images" link at the bottom of the page and signs up, we get nothing. And the same would be true of the Mini-Gallery link. Because it is for designers, if a photographer follows that link and joins, we get nothing.

Is this a bug or a loophole? -jaimie

JTeffects · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 294

yeah I wish there was some way they could use a cookie or something to track where someone came from, I worry about putting up links and about which one I should use since a lot of the places I post things a desiner/buyer or a photographer/submiter could both frequent. It really makes even posting the links seem rather pointless....... why should I refer competitors if I dont even get the $.3?

PhotoEuphoria · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 12:36 pm

humnut · Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 43

Just a thought, since the referal program is based on cookies (isn't it?) if the referal doesn't have cookies enabled you don't get credit for him/her

PhotoEuphoria · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:26 pm

JTeffects · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 294

I dont think its a cookie or it would be remembered....

I think its just a path, if a sign up comes from ___ then accnt associated with ____ gets the refferal type thing.....

but I am not a programmer......

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

It is a cookie -

and currently the sales and photographer referral programs are completely different.

They are 2 different referral programs -- you should pick the one you want to use given the type of traffic you're referring.

each one can be used to direct traffic to different places - from different places. Use each one in the right place to attract the right type of traffic to each site (www and submit)

www and submit are 2 different destinations... right now their cookies are not combined into 1 - currently we don't have plans to do this... We have lots of other stuff on our list.

We have tested the system extensively and it does infact work - there are referrals for sales and referrals for photographers every single day... We have found that people may switch browsers, switch computers, etc.etc. after following the link - and then the cookie isn't there at that same computer.

They can simply sign up again through your link.

Jon

JTeffects · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 294

StuartE · Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 12:38 am

If you're inviting someone, then try telling them the link to your gallery, so they can see what you have online, and a link that they can use to join up and give you a referral, should they choose to... it makes your 'invite' look a lot less like trickery or spam, and the honesty seems to work...

Cheers,
Stuart

AuroraGG · Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Posts: 60 Location: Nova Scotia

Cookies are a toughie! Not only do some people not allow cookies in their browser, but they could also have them set to expire daily, weekly etc. Additionally some spyware also will expire/remove cookies if it flags as a 'tracker' in a scan. All sites running affiliate programs have problems with cookie-based referrals, but it is completely based on the user's browser and spyware settings if the cookie will refer back to you.

I know that info doesn't help unless you know someone is going to join then you can have them follow your link right before they sign up (and hopefully the cookie will still be active on their browser).

~ Aurora

JaZilla · Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 99 Location: Appalachia

I am also very frustrated at the two different links system. There's only so many links you can add to a site or a sig...

Sword Serenity · Joined: 18 Jan 2005 Posts: 237 Location: Cairns, Australia

Same here. It'd be much easier if both referral links were the same, and having a way to have the (combined) referral link on your gallery link. It's rare that people see ShutterStock first from the signup screen, they almost always see it first through my gallery page when I show them some of my pictures.