Identifying potential compliance risks
2.1 Common compliance breaches
Typical issues observed across affiliate programs include:
- Brand bidding (unauthorised paid search activity)
- Misuse of coupon codes
- Cookie stuffing or tracking manipulation
- Misleading or deceptive advertising
- Fraudulent transactions
What is cookie stuffing?
Cookie stuffing (also called cookie dropping) is when an affiliate places a tracking cookie on a user's browser without a genuine click or interaction. The affiliate then claims commission for any subsequent purchase, even though they played no real role in driving the sale.
How to detect it:
- Conversion rates from a specific affiliate are unusually high, especially with little or no referral traffic
- Transactions appear with no corresponding click data
- The referring URL shows no logical connection to your product or audience
What to do:
- Cross-check affiliate transaction data against click reports in the platform
- If you identify a pattern, gather evidence and submit a violation via the Compliance Violation Tool
- Contact Commission Factory support or your account manager immediately if you suspect systematic fraud
2.2 Indicators of suspicious activity
The following signals should trigger an investigation:
- Unusually high conversion rates
- Sudden performance spikes
- Multiple identical transaction values
- High transaction volume from a single IP or timestamp
- Significant deviation from historical trends
Not all anomalies indicate fraud, but all should be reviewed.
2.3 Paid search and brand bidding risk
Paid search remains one of the most common compliance risks.
What happens: Affiliates bid on your brand terms and redirect traffic via affiliate tracking links.
In practice:
- Searching your brand shows ads promoting discounts or offers
- Affiliate ads appear above your official listings
- Traffic is routed through affiliate links before reaching your site
Impact:
- Increased paid search costs
- Loss of brand control
- Commission paid on existing demand
Recommended actions:
- Define a clear paid search policy in your T&Cs
- Regularly check branded search results
- Escalate unauthorised activity immediately
Brand bidding is often low-visibility but high-impact.
Note: Commission Factory uses automated monitoring tools to identify brand bidding activity across selected programs, particularly for high-risk or actively managed clients. Additional advertiser-side monitoring is recommended to ensure full visibility across all markets. This includes regularly searching core brand terms (including "brand + coupon/discount" variations), reviewing paid search results in your key markets, and checking whether ads redirect via affiliate tracking links. Monitoring tools can automate this process and flag violations for review.
Monitoring tools for brand bidding detection
Commission Factory's automated monitoring covers a range of programs. For additional coverage, especially across multiple markets, third-party tools can help you detect unauthorised paid search activity faster.
What to look for in a monitoring tool:
- Ability to monitor branded search terms across Google, Bing, and other engines
- Alerts for ads that redirect via affiliate tracking links
- Coverage across multiple geographic markets
- Scheduled or automated checks (daily or more frequently during peak periods)
When you identify a breach through monitoring:
- Capture a screenshot of the ad, including the visible URL
- Check whether the destination URL routes through an affiliate tracking link
- Note the search term, device, and market where the ad appeared
- Submit the evidence via the Compliance Violation Tool
Your Commission Factory account manager can advise on monitoring options suited to your program size and markets.
2.4 Subnetwork and transparency risks
Subnetworks can introduce scale but also reduce visibility.
Key risks:
- Limited insight into sub-affiliate activity
- Delayed response to compliance issues
- Difficulty tracing traffic sources
In practice:
- Strong performance with no clear attribution is a signal worth investigating
- Inability to identify which sub-affiliate drove a conversion
Recommended actions:
- Require transparency before approval
- Monitor subnetwork affiliates closely
- Remove affiliates that can't provide sufficient visibility