Customizing ProductCart - Affiliate System problem

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Affiliate System problem

Printed From: ProductCart E-Commerce Solutions
Category: ProductCart
Forum Name: Customizing ProductCart
Forum Description: Exchange messages with other users that are customizing ProductCart.
URL: https://forum.productcart.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=518
Printed Date: 14-July-2025 at 3:39am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Affiliate System problem

Posted By: phil7085
Subject: Affiliate System problem
Date Posted: 09-November-2006 at 5:00am

Hi,

I am trying to customise the affiliate system but am not sure the best way to do so, i'll explain but bare with me it's a long one.

When a user buys something from our store after be directed from an affiliates site the affiliate will receive the commission which is great but then if that same user returns to our site and buys something without coming via the affiliate no commission will be paid, what we want is a way of paying that affiliate each time the user buys from us?

Any ideas?

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Regards,

Philip

Replies:

Posted By: @EFX
Date Posted: 07-April-2008 at 8:38pm

Did you ever get an answer to your question? I am interested in the same feature.

Posted By: Greg Dinger
Date Posted: 07-April-2008 at 8:48pm

It's not too often one has to acknowledge a shortcoming with PC, but this is a weak area. My understanding is that the sale will be recorded in the case where the shopper clicks over from the affiliate and make a purchase during that session, but if they bookmark the site or otherwise return without the affiliate link there will be no linkage back to the original referrer.

This is an area where a future enhancement would be well warranted, or some custom scripting if someone was so inclined.

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GreyBeard Design Group

Certified ProductCart Developer

Web Design/Development/Hosting

http://tinyurl.com/5c8t4t" rel="nofollow - Add-Ons & Custom Code |

Posted By: ProductCart
Date Posted: 08-April-2008 at 5:03am

We are always the first ones to recognize weak areas. So we have already work on enhancements to this feature. Here are some pre-release files (only 2 files change) that you are welcome to test out.

uploaded_files/earlyimp/2008-04-08_050048_ProductCart_Updated_Affiliate_Features_040808.zip - 2008-04-08_050048_ProductCart_Updated_Affiliate_Features_040 808.zip

Requirements
ProductCart version 3.11 is required. If you are an advanced user, you can certainly use previous versions, but make sure to properly file-compare.

Features

set the amount of time (days) for which an affiliate ID will be saved to the customer's computer. When the same customers goes back to the same store to place a new order, the system will remember the referring affiliate ID.
set the amount of orders for which the same affiliate is eligible to earn a commission for referring the same customer. That is: how many orders placed by the same customer should the affiliate earn a commission on? You can set that value to unlimited or to a set number.

In the future you will be able to set the new Affiliate Program Settings directly from the Control Panel. For now, you will have to do so by editing the file "pc/pcStartSession.asp", which is heavily commented and describes the new settings.

For example, change the number 30 in the following line to extend the cookie that stores the affiliate ID over 30 days:

pcInt_SaveAffiliateDays = 30

Change the following line to change the number of orders by the same customer for which the same affiliate can earn commissions:

pcInt_AllowedAffOrders = 1

It is currently set to 1 (the affiliate earns commissions only on the first order). If you set it to 0, then it's unlimited. If you set it 4, then it's for the first 4 orders.

We recommend that you place a couple of test orders to ensure that everything is working properly. uploaded_files/earlyimp/2008-04-08_050048_ProductCart_Updated_Affiliate_Features_040808.zip -

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The ProductCart Team

Home of ProductCart http://www.productcart.com" rel="nofollow - shopping cart software

Posted By: @EFX
Date Posted: 08-April-2008 at 10:13am

Before I saw these replies, I decided to just go ahead and modify the system to accomplish exactly how we needed the system to work. My modification also only required a couple of script changes and one database table change. Here's the solution.

1) Added newe column to the customers table "AffiliateId".
2) Modified login.asp to save AffiliateId in each new customer's proifle. A customer can only be "referred" once, i.e. the first time they register.
3) Each time the new customers return to purchase Product, login.asp checks to see if there is an AffiliateId stored in the Customer profile and if so, sets the session variable for AffiliateId.
4) Once the AffiliateId is stored in a customer's account profile, all future purchases will be linked to that AffiliateId "for life".
5) If a customer is already "re-registered" in the store and at some point in the future, clicks on an Affiliate link or banner Ad link containing the AffiliateId, the Customer Profile WILL not be updated with the AffiliateId since commissions are only paid for "new customer" referrals and future purchases.

I ran several test orders and it appears to work exactly how we need it to work. I also modified modcusta.asp to display the AffiliateId when viewing the customer profile via the Control panel. One additional enhancement I made is to allow an Affiliate to login to their account and view a listing of all available banner ads (graphics) and then "copy and paste" the code to insert on their webpage which will automatically display the banner ad and the associated AffiliteId link.