Q: Coupon affiliates were stealing credit. How did you stop it?

Q: Coupon affiliates were stealing credit. How did you stop it?

Classic last-click leak. We found coupon and deal sites intercepting nearly-complete purchases at checkout, claiming commission on sales we'd already earned through other channels.

What we did:
— Audited attribution and found coupon partners were credited on 18% of orders, but post-purchase surveys showed most of those buyers came from our own ads or email
— Moved coupon-type partners to a reduced 8% rate instead of the standard 25%
— Blocked commission entirely when the click-to-conversion time was under 90 seconds (a sign the buyer was already at checkout)

Result: we cut coupon payouts by about $11k a quarter with no measurable drop in actual sales, those buyers were converting anyway.

The caveat: legitimate coupon partners do drive new customers, so don't ban the whole category. Segment them with their own rate and rules rather than treating them like your content partners.

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