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I have this affiliate link on my site:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486292576/?tag=bookclubz-20

But, when I send this link out in an email via mandrill, it gets changed to:

http://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30374859/www.amazon.com?p=eyJzIjoiVVR4ZlN2S1p1SE5QNEZIZFhBVi1KTGtjOFpjIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDM3NDg1OSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvd3d3LmFtYXpvbi5jb21cXFwvZHBcXFwvMDQ4NjI5MjU3NlxcXC8_dGFnPWJvb2tjbHViei0yMFwiLFwiaWRcIjpcIjI1NDIzMTkyYTBkMDRkYTZiOWRlOWI5MDgwZTdmMTQwXCIsXCJ1cmxfaWRzXCI6W1wiODVkMzM1MTE4NWUzZDM5Nzc3OWZhNDViMGVlZjc2OWI3NTNjMWZlMFwiXX0ifQ

Does this shortened version still place the affiliate cookie? I see an Amazon cookie on my machine but it doesn't contain my tracking information anywhere that I can see (bookclubz-20). If it strips the cookie, is there a way to make the affiliate link work correctly?

Also, to teach me how to fish, how would I tell that the cookie is getting set correctly?

Thanks!

YPCrumble
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1 Answers1

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Yes, your affiliate cookie is still created by amazon.com because your link wasn't changed.

http://mandrillapp.com/track/click/[...] is simply a redirection (of type 302) used by Mandrill to track your clicks (and some other things). If you click on this link, you can see that you are redirected to http://www.amazon.com/dp/0486292576/?tag=bookclubz-20.

About your cookie, you don't see bookclubz-20 anywhere, because it's probably encrypted or hashed. But the only thing to check is your url: if ?tag=bookclubz-20 is at the end of it, it will work.

Note: a good way to check if all is working as expected and if your links are clicked by your email recipients is to look at your amazon affiliates account.

PJ Bergeron
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