Tracking and Transactions

An Overview

In order for you to get credited to your iGain balance, the merchant has to track your transaction as a referral that originated from the iGain site. If anything causes the referral to come from any other source, the iGain transaction won't track. This means the merchant won't pay iGain, and so iGain can't pay you.

Most tracking is done by cookies, often in combination with a small image embedded into the checkout page (sometimes called a web beacon), although technology varies from affiliate network to affiliate network.

As a very generic example, let's say you want to buy a widget from Widgets-R-Us, so you log in to the iGain site and click through to the Widgets-R-Us website. You find the widget of your dreams, put it into your shopping cart, enter your payment details, and click to confirm the purchase. You get a confirmation page showing the amount of your purchase and thanking you for shopping with Widgets-R-Us. Your dream widget ships and your transaction tracks through iGain. A few weeks later your transaction validates, and a few weeks after that, you see the transaction listed as "Received" in your iGain earnings. You are paid the credit in iGain's next monthly payment. You will see this show up in the "My Account" section.

There are several factors that can affect each of these steps, and we'll show you how to avoid the most common pitfalls and make sure your computer is set up in the most optimum configuration for tracking. As with any technology, there is always the chance that glitches beyond your control or ours may make a purchase fail to track, but if you follow the advice given in these sections, you can eliminate most tracking problems and missing transactions.

Please note that after you make a transaction it may take a few days, or longer, to track into your account. This depends on both the merchant and the affiliate network. Financial programs, gambling programs and contract mobile purchases are especially slow to track, as they must verify that you are a genuine user. They may take a month or two, depending on the merchant.

Here are some best practices for consistent tracking.

• 1. Make sure your computer & browser are configured properly.
• 2. Clear cookies & cache, disable pop-up, ad, & image-blockers.
• 3. Log into iGain and click on the merchant link on the iGain site.

Don't type anything in the address window of your browser after logging into iGain.

Don't open any other tabs or windows in the same browser, or click on any links in tabs or windows that may already be open.

If you must visit another site before completing your purchase, please use a different browser to do so. Interrupting the browser session that started from IGain can affect tracking.

4. Don't use voucher or other discount codes unless they came from the iGain site.

Doing so may cause the referral to come from the code issuer rather than iGain.

5. Don't use "refer a friend" programs or promotional links from other sites.

Remember, if the referral isn't seen as coming from iGain, you won't receive your credit.

6. Complete your purchase online, all in one session.

If you decide after check out that you want to purchase something else, close the merchant site window and start the process over from the iGain site.

Don't retrieve previously-saved items in your shopping cart; start completely from scratch.

If you're buying insurance, make sure you start from a completely new quote; don't retrieve a saved one or use a renewal offer if you're already a policy-holder.

Adding items to the sale at the point of checkout, or using discount cards or vouchers can override the iGain referral.

Telephoning the merchant to complete or modify your order will likely over-ride the iGain referral (and therefore your credit).

We cannot support enquiries in these cases, as the original tracking is irretrievably lost. If you need to change something minor, it may be best to completely cancel the first transaction and start a new one from scratch.

Tracking Times for your Earnings

Transactions, on average, can take from a few hours to a few days to appear in your earnings area, as iGain has to wait for them to reported back from the affiliate network. For a more specific guide, log in to your account and visit the page for the merchant that you have earnings with. There, in the right column, you will find average statistics for tracking times with that merchant.