The cloaking mistake that voids your commissions

The cloaking mistake that voids your commissions

Failure: cloaking links for networks that forbid it. Many programs — especially direct/SaaS programs and some networks (parts of Amazon's TOS, certain finance programs) — require the raw tracking URL or ban redirect cloaking outright. Cloak those and the network can't attribute the click, or flags you for 'link manipulation', and reverses commissions. You did everything to look clean and broke attribution.

The fix:
— Per-network policy check: cloak only where allowed; for restricted programs, link directly or use the network's own short link
— For Amazon specifically: you may use a redirect, but the link must carry your tag and you can't mask it deceptively — read the current operating agreement, it shifts
— Keep a column in your link sheet: 'cloak: yes/no' per program

Gotcha nobody mentions: some cloakers strip or fail to pass through sub-IDs/SIDs in the redirect, so even where cloaking is allowed, your click-level tracking (which placement converted) is silently lost. Test that your subID survives the hop.

Bottom line: cloaking is per-program, not a global setting — check each network's TOS and verify subIDs survive the redirect.