Comments on: Reveal all discounts and visit site - ethical?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:24:58 +0000

Definitely looks sneeky to me, but I have seen a fair amount of discount voucher sites using this method! They tend to get the visitors through the SERPS so if they can get them that way then I guess they have the right to benefit from dropping the cookie. I wonder how affiliate networks feel about this method,:D

By: non ethical affiliates | Fish and Clicks

non ethical affiliates | Fish and Clicks — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:43:25 +0000

[...] Is this ethical? [...]

By: Click here to reveal discount codes - why I will probably adopt this practice on my discount code site

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 08:15:55 +0000

[...] post is a follow up to the one I wrote last November about discount code sites that “forced” users to click on a link to see [...]

By: 2007 at Here.org.uk. The year in review

2007 at Here.org.uk. The year in review — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:06:46 +0000

[...] Lewis, Toys R Us and a certain discount code site get affiliate marketing all [...]

By: David Fiske

David Fiske — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:40:44 +0000

In my opinion, it’s not ethical. A banner is ethical. A text clink that says ‘Click here for xyz.com’ is ethical. ‘Click here for codes and to visit the site’ is a mix of two things - something that isn’t possible without dropping a cookie through a new window or an iframe.

I can’t see a problem with ‘Click here to use this discount’ or ‘Click here to activate your discount’ if the discount is displayed before the user clicks.

As it stands, the example you have given is unethical.

By: Nadeem azam

Nadeem azam — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:15:59 +0000

It’s completely unethical as there are often no voucher codes when you click, and it also leads to a poor user experience; in the long term, this will hinder the growth of sites who work in this way.

As a consumer, I’d rather use a website which did force you to make a click to see if they have a voucher code for a merchant or not.

Visit nadeemsmillionpoundgiveawayperhaps.com to see if I’m giving away £1,000,000 this month or not.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:22:33 +0000

I personally have a problem is it. I watched my friend, just now, searching for “high school musical” dvd. She clicked on a ppc hmv advert (that could of been an affiliate running it, or hmv). Got to the checkout. Saw the “enter voucher here” and went straight to google, searched “voucher” clicked on myvouchercodes and clicked on the hmv link, which showed no discount, but put myvouchercodes cookie on her computer.

I found that quite interesting, since I read about this only the other day! and she did what many people must be doing.. only i made her clear her cookies before she purchased.

Someone else has put in the hardwork / money to get the sale, then someone steals it with little expense and a gauranteed sale.

By: mark

mark — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:45:29 +0000

Lee - what do you mean by “brand name bidders” will steal the cookie pls?

By: zoran

zoran — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:11:07 +0000

User is driven to the site, and then he belongs to retailer and his creativity and skill to keep him on his site “window is opened!” you got your chance. 1×1 px iframe is not the case and that is main problem… doing that is stealing from retailer their own traffic or/and branding.

If you ask me, I would not do it because it is too sleazy for my taste but it is just a bit above bottom line because main purpose is fulfilled USER IS DRIVEN TO THE SITE.

By: Steve Browne

Steve Browne — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:48:17 +0000

It’s all solevd very easily anyway. Two buttons. One as above for sites where he knows there are codes. A second button that simply says “Don’t know if codes currently exist. Click here to check the site”. With a short paragraph stating that stores update code on a regular basis and it’s always worth checking, it would probably still have a similar click through rate.