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How Thin Coupon Affiliate Sites Post Fake Coupons to Earn Ad Commissions

In preparation for our upcoming series, "An Advertiser's Guide to Working with Coupon Affiliate Sites" - we're looking at a specific spam vector which appears to be gaining momentum in the affiliate industry.

Given the ease with which specific website operators can spin up "disposable" or throw-away coupon websites, then populate those sites with fake coupon codes - combined with the significant profits these operators can garner by participating in affiliate networks and charging advertisers for clicks on those coupons - we're seeing a growing trend toward more of these spam sites appearing in search results on sites like Google.

Like the fake news problem facing the social media industry, these fake coupon sites are harmful to consumers, to advertisers, and to the affiliate marketing industry at large. They are in large measure the reason why so many people ascribe a negative reputation to coupon websites and to affiliate websites. They misappropriate revenue from valid website operators who invest in thoroughly vetting and verifying their content. Worst of all, many of these spam operators utilize sophisticated search engine techniques to ensure their fake content pages reach many millions of consumers.

Word of caution to affiliate advertisers

This will be covered in our report, but one word of caution to advertisers is that coupon affiliates earn commissions based on soley on clicks and conversions, and regardless of whether their coupons actually work to provide a valid discount. This means that if a coupon site displays a long expired coupon code for your store - if a shopper tries to use it but fails to redeem a discount, you may end up paying the coupon website a commission anyway, based on the last click. Our theory is that this is the reason that an increasing number of coupon websites are starting to display more expired coupon codes. This can provide an competitive advantage vs coupon sites that remove all non-working codes - just providing a perception that coupons exist for a particular store may lead to increased consumer interest, more clicks, greater revenues, and even search engine ranking benefits.

When working with coupon affiliate websites, we recommend that advertisers ask each potential partner to describe their systems and processes for verifying, publishing, and updating coupons. If a coupon site cannot offer a compelling answer for this (its hard to do), there's a good chance that they may (intentionally or inadvertently) have a website full of expired coupons.

As we conduct our analysis, we'll be compiling documentation on our blog for specific websites that engage is spammy tactics to provide details and examples so that advertisers can see real-world examples to better guard themselves against these sites that won't add value to the marketing mix.

PromoCodeWatch.com: Of 1,051 promo codes displayed, 90% were fake, expired, or invalid

Across March and April 2018, we examined 1,051 coupon codes advertised on promocodewatch.com, testing each one and documenting our test with screenshots. Of these, 956 were either expired, invalid, or not usable on the store's website. This equates to over a 90% failure rate.

Interestingly, promocodewatch.com also promotes coupon codes for 28 affiliate advertisers that do not offer a promo code box on their website, so they do not support coupon codes at all. We are checking with these advertisers to try to determine the source of these codes.

Our test included 106 mainstream e-commerce stores that participate in one of the major affiliate networks, including Commission Junction, Flex Offers, Shareasale, eBay Pepperjam and Rakuten Linkshare.

Promoting promo codes for retailers that do not offer promo codes:
Promoting primarily invalid, expired, and fake promo codes:

Below are screenshots captured during our March 2018 test of affiliate coupons promoted on promocodewatch.com.

99designs

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 2 promo codes for 99designs (99designs.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the 99designs website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 3/23/18: we checked with 99Designs customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Sun Jewelry

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for Sun Jewelry (sunjewelry.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 4 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the Sun Jewelry website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 3/23/18: we checked with Cameta Camera customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Cameta Camera

As of March 12, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for Cameta Camera (cameta.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 4 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the Cameta Camera website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 3/23/18: we checked with Cameta Camera customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Gemvara

As of March 12, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for Gemvara (gemvara.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 7 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the Gemvara website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 3/23/18: we checked with Gemvara customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

VRBO

As of March 12, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 10 promo codes for VRBO (vrbo.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the VRBO website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with VRBO customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Hostelworld

As of March 12, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 4 promo codes for Hostelworld (hostelworld.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 15 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Hostelworld website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with Hostelworld customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Homebase

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 2 promo codes for Homebase (homebase.co.uk) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 12 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Homebase website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with Homebase customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

JDate

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 6 promo codes for JDate (jdate.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 days prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the JDate website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/26/18: we checked with JDate customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Smilebox

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 6 promo codes for Smilebox (smilebox.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 15 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Smilebox website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/26/18: we checked with Smilebox customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

JibJab

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for JibJab (jibjab.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 7 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the JibJab website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with JibJab customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Malwarebytes

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 4 promo codes for Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 6 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Malwarebytes website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with Malwarebtes customer service, and let us know that the codes PromoCodeWatch is displaying expired in 2016 (2 years ago).

eVoice

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for eVoice (evoice.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 15 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the eVoice website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

WhiteSmoke

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for WhiteSmoke (whitesmoke.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 6 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the WhiteSmoke website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Park Inn

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 4 promo codes for Park Inn (parkinn.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 9 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Park Inn website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

TeeSpring

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 3 promo codes for TeeSpring (teespring.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 3 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the TeeSpring website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/28/18: we checked with TeeSpring customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Flipkey

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for Flipkey (flipkey.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 20 minutes prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the Flipkey website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Water.com

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 5 promo codes for Water.com (water.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 days prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Water.com website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Spiegel

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 7 promo codes for Spiegel (spiegel.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 6 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Spiegel website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

TheHairStyler

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 5 promo codes for TheHairStyler (thehairstyler.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 days prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the TheHairStyler website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 5/9/18: we checked with TheHairStyler customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Leaf Filter

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 2 promo codes for Leaf Filter (leaffilter.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 4 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Leaf Filter website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

A-1 Appliance Parts

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for A-1 Appliance Parts (a-1appliance.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 14 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the A-1 Appliance Parts website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Krudmart

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 7 promo codes for Krudmart (krudmart.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 15 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Krudmart website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

myFICO

As of March 28, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 3 promo codes for myFICO (myfico.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 15 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the myFICO website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Liftopia

As of March 29, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for Liftopia (liftopia.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 7 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the Liftopia website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 4/25/18: we checked with Liftopia customer service, and they let us know that the code PromoCodeWatch is displaying expired in 2014 (4 years ago).

Lexington Law

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 2 promo codes for Lexington Law (lexingtonlaw.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 5 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Lexington Law website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 5/14/18: we checked with Lexington Law customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

GetResponse

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for GetResponse (getresponse.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 14 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the GetResponse website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 5/9/18: we checked with GetResponse customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

zZounds

As of April 26, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 1 promo code for zZounds (zzounds.com) in their main coupon section. These coupon was presented as a working code, and promocodewatch.com claimed that this coupon has been updated 12 hours prior to our test. This coupon code was not redeemable on the zZounds website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Update on 5/9/18: we checked with zZounds customer service, and confirmed that they do not support coupon codes at all.

Century Martial Arts

As of April 27, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 12 promo codes for Century Martial Arts (centurymartialarts.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 12 hours prior to our test. These coupon codes were not redeemable on the Century Martial Arts website because this website does not offer a coupon code entry box.

Sprint

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 4 promo codes for Sprint (sprint.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 4 hours prior to our test. When tested, all 4 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Depositphotos

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 25 promo codes for Depositphotos (depositphotos.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 2 days ago prior to our test. When tested, all 25 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Kole Imports

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 26 promo codes for Kole Imports (koleimports.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 12 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 21 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Brookstone

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 26 promo codes for Brookstone (brookstone.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 5 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 21 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Tervis

As of March 13, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 23 promo codes for Tervis (tervis.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 7 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 19 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

LightInTheBox

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 16 promo codes for LightInTheBox (lightinthebox.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 12 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, all 16 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

DL1961

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 19 promo codes for DL1961 (dl1961.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 13 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 16 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

PsPrint

As of March 12, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 19 promo codes for PsPrint (psprint.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 5 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 16 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Life Extension

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 20 promo codes for Life Extension (lifeextension.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 13 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, 16 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Invite Health

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 16 promo codes for Invite Health (invitehealth.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 14 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, all 16 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

AutoAnything

As of March 10, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 15 promo codes for AutoAnything (autoanything.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 11 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, all 15 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

Newark

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 17 promo codes for Newark (newark.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated an hour ago prior to our test. When tested, 15 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

NJOY

As of March 11, 2018, Promocodewatch.com displayed 15 promo codes for NJOY (njoy.com) in their main coupon section. These coupons were presented as working codes, and promocodewatch.com claimed that these coupons had been updated 15 hours ago prior to our test. When tested, all 15 codes returned error messages and did not provide a working discount.

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