It is confirmed, the cookie stays active for 10 days. Anything you purchase through an affiliate link will bring money to the visited site owner and Simlinks/Viglink, regardless if you buy or not a product/service through the original affiliate link they posted in their site. I have no idea why they allow this in other countries, users should be informed they are putting money into someone else's pocket without knowing.
Ok, how many times have you used comparison websites - how do you think they make their money or clicked on an affiliate link without knowing it - its transparent and at the end of the day,
costs you nothing. You don't pay extra because you clicked on an affiliate link. Ever bought a hotel or a hire car off an email shot by an airline (Ryanair are masters at this) - it will be an affiliate link.
Affiliate programs are so widespread, I seriously doubt you could avoid every single one if you tried. Its simply a way of thanking someone for sending a customer their way - its common place in business.
I remember once that I went to buy some airline tickets and the price was $40 more than the linked price. Once I deleted my cookies, the price was proper. Yes, I call this theft.
There could be a whole plethora of reasons for this as others have noted, the airline system does seem to have a mind of its own when it comes to prices though.
That is nice, I did not see this anywhere on sites that use the system. Feel free to show me few examples. I'm pretty sure that option is very well hidden, not clear like the UK cookie system is.
Simples:
http://skimlinks.com/opt-out (linked from their privacy policy)
It is your choice to accept those type of programs, the same way I see them as
a bunch of scammers and thiefs that take advantage of the legal system. I bet 99% of people who click on links like that have no idea how the system works. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect your choice, the same way I'm sure you respect mines.
Well, I see them as a way to earn money from my website, without begging the users for money, if they click on a link and buy something off eBay, that's fine. As I said, they don't pay any extra from doing so and it helps keep my site running.
Whilst I respect your right to have an opinion, I can't help it if its wrong
Its not a scam and its not theft - those are two very strong words which imply criminal intent and are probably libellous (in the extreme).
But I'd agree, yes, if a site detected that you were coming in from an affiliate link and upped the prices accordingly, I would be seriously annoyed!
(btw mods, if you wish, it may be worth splitting these related posts off into their own thread rather than clogging this one up.)