Comments on: Class Action Against ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc.

By: Jean

Jean — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:34:07 +0000

I recieved it, but the link appears to go to an unrelated site, so I didn’t click on it. If it’s a scam, I’m puzzled as to what they might get out of it. Your CJ login details? Does it ask for those when you click on the link?

By: gwilym

gwilym — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:39:35 +0000

Yes…did CJ become tradedoubler? memory not good - prefered CJ’s website!
Whats this all about? pinch of salt required?
G

By: James Patterson

James Patterson — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:20:58 +0000

I make $30,000 per month with CJ as an affiliate, but on occassions I have went without any commission. It was always hard to understand if I was earning that ammount of commission that for 3 or 4 days in a month it could be virtually nothing. I have made repeated requests for information about why this is and have never been properly informed. On payment day I always have delayed tracking and this day usually the 17th of the month is always the lowest day of the month for commission and I have always suspected that the commission for these days were not being paid.

By: i.am.using.fake.email.address

i.am.using.fake.email.address — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:00:59 +0000

I received one as well.

By: swollenpickles

swollenpickles — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:09:11 +0000

I received that email today. Not clear on what it actually mean though.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:27:41 +0000

@Jean - they’re not asking for any login details and as far as I can see it’s an actual Class Action suit brought against CJ and ValueClick by two publishers who are claiming that the defendants didn’t police their network for hijacked commissions.

@James Patterson - I’ve noticed similar issues with CJ when eBay affiliate was still in the network but I never really had much success with CJ except for the eBay program. Honestly, I can’t say things are much different with eBay using EPN or PJN because clicks+earning seems to be all over the place.

I think this must have something to do with “cookie stuffing” which has been a relative evil in the “traffic exchange” and PPC industry.

How it works - some CJ affiliate places a page with a hidden Iframe containing a valid CJ affiliate link. When a visitor lands on the stuffed page, the IFrame calls the affiliate page (ie: an eBay listing or GoDaddy page) that sets the tracking cookie to the stuffer’s affiliate ID. I know a lot of PTS (paid to surf) and PTR (paid to read email) scammers have been using this technique and I’ve even seen a few shady forums pulling this stunt to steal commissions.

A lot of watchdogs in the GPT (Get Paid To) industry are very adamant about weeding out sites that engage in click-fraud (entcing people to click PPC ads) and cookie stuffing with IFrames.

I was under the impression that most affiliate programs had dealt with framed landing pages and such. I’m assuming CJ didn’t track this properly and the plaintiffs have evidence that proves CJ’s TOS states that these actions violate their acceptable use policies but they have done nothing to enforce it, thereby causing publishers and advertisers significant losses.

By: swollenpickles

swollenpickles — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:32:38 +0000

From what I understand from that site, you don’t need to do anything unless you wanted to exclude yourself from the settlement?

By: Ralyn Speerly Schraceo

Ralyn Speerly Schraceo — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:17:19 +0000

I KNOW I wasn’t getting most of my commissions - because I placed orders for people many times. Commission Junctions would keep closing my account saying I hadn’t made anything when I knew different. I finally gave up after the 3rd time they pulled that stunt and never renewed my account.

I never got this e-mail or any notice but was notified by a friend that knew I’d had trouble with Commission Junction & Be Free so refused to ever use them again. Does anybody know how I can find out more to make sure I’m included in this? I doubt that I still have the records, it was a few years ago.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:42:40 +0000

@Ralyn - The site for more info on the CJ class action is :

http://www.CJSettlement.com

I just received a notice via snail mail yesterday regarding the lawsuit. I also dropped CJ about four years ago because of lackluter conversions but only started using them again a few years later because of the eBay program.

I think they’re still having issues with tracking, especially the GoDaddy program because I’ve had clients click through my site to GoDaddy and buy domains right in front of me and I never received the commissions.

By: Shawn Hogan of DigitalPoint Caught With Hand in the eBay Cookie Jar - Affiliate Best Programs

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:21:30 +0000

[…] was under Commission Junction’s watch. Is it possible there is a link between the recent class action lawsuit against Commission Junction? Could it be that a band of rouge black hat webmasters and […]

By: G.Raghul

G.Raghul — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:28:01 +0000

Hi Dave…

I hope only you can help me.your statement is clear and good. actually i’m from india. i recieved a notice via post on 13 september. i dont know what should i do now?please reply me through my mail id which is *edited to prevent spam*. i thank you very much.
Raghul.G

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:08:37 +0000

@Raghul - I don’t think we’re supposed to respond to the notice unless we want to be excluded from the class action. I assume that since they have a snail mail address or email address they will use that as a means to contact us if/when there is a settlement.

If anybody has any better informatio, please chime in.

By: Websites tagged "blockquote" on Postsaver

Websites tagged "blockquote" on Postsaver — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:17:15 +0000

[…] - Class Action Against ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc. saved by YuryKiselev2008-09-16 - Here’sa Blockquote saved by vemihaylov2008-09-16 - Later she […]

By: concerned

concerned — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:28:25 +0000

I had signed on with CJ but never put actually went beyond registration… I received the snailmail notice and want nothing to do with any of this… should I just ignore it or bother to write and request removal?