Hi ausgold,
There are various ways for affiliates to steal commission ranging from cookie tampering, to adware, to simply swapping out your affiliate link with their own when they purchase a product.
One of the easiest programs for affiliates to steal commission with is ClickBank because of their hoplink structure. It's a double-edged sword - easy for affiliates to create their affiliate links, but it's just as easy for an affiliate to use his own affiliate link to purchase a product.
Also, sometimes an affiliate will sign up for an affiliate program simply to purchase the product through his own link and get credit for the sale.
Cookie tampering is a bit more difficult, but some affiliates will drop a cookie for an a product on the visitors machine that overwrites the original affiliate cookie. AdWare and malware do basically the same thing. Often, this is unnoticed by the user and the original affiliate will lose out on any sales.
All of this is frowned upon. In my opinion, it's far better in the long run to be a good honest affiliate than to go for the quick buck.
Hope that makes sense and if you need me to clarify something, just let me know.
~ Teli
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