Monday, February 11, 2019
You’ve stumbled upon a great coupon for our products online, and like anyone who enjoys saving money, you’ve rushed over to Panfishpro.com. You’ve added your favorite items to your cart and entered that enticing coupon code, only to find… no discount! What happened?
The coupon you found is fake. That’s right, a fake coupon. You might wonder why anyone would offer such a thing, and the reasons are often complex and not always obvious. We’ll try to explain without getting too technical.
On Sunday, February 10, 2019, a coupon website displayed eight discount codes purportedly from Panfishpro.com. All of these codes were either expired or fraudulent. On the same day, the website also showed 61 offers from Walmart; we attempted to use three of them, and none were functional.
Lets explore why someone would offer fraudulent coupons.
Fake coupons can be an effective way to increase website traffic. Higher traffic, in turn, boosts a website’s value due to its advertising revenue potential. We frequently see this on news sites, entertainment platforms, and blogs, where advertisements are interspersed with content. These ads, sometimes for products or services of interest, can lead to compensation for the website or blog owner if a user clicks and makes a purchase. This common practice is known as affiliate marketing.
Increasing website traffic often depends on offering products and services that align with consumer interest. Search engines are a primary tool for people to find desired items. A 2017 study of 1,000 online shoppers showed that 56% searched for coupons before making a purchase. This suggests that websites and blogs offering coupons are likely to attract a higher volume of visitors.
But why the fake coupons?
Affiliate marketing operates on a simple principle: when you click an ad or coupon on a website or blog and subsequently make a purchase, the site owners are compensated. This mechanism, however, can be exploited.
Consider this scenario: You find a coupon website offering numerous deals for a store you intend to shop at. One offer promises free shipping, which you eagerly try to use. You enter the code on the merchant’s website, but it fails. Despite your frustration and the non-working code, you proceed with the purchase. Surprisingly, the coupon website still receives a commission.
Why does this happen? The coupon website likely garnered your attention and appeared relevant to search engines due to its extensive list of offers. Search engines don’t currently verify the validity of coupon codes; they simply return results based on your query. It’s probable that the coupon website is an affiliate for the selling company. When you visited their site, a web cookie was placed on your device. This cookie then identified you as a referral from the coupon website when you made your purchase. The coupon website might have had one legitimate coupon, just not the one you were interested in. This strategy of offering many codes, even invalid ones, is a tactic to attract users and set referral cookies.
In our view, this is a deceptive practice that should be more easily punishable by law.
Who uses affiliate marketing?
Major retailers like Amazon and Walmart leverage affiliate marketing to boost sales. Soon, Panfishpro.com will launch its own affiliate marketing program. While companies can’t control the content affiliates publish, our smaller size allows for a thorough vetting process, ensuring we partner with entities of honorable virtue.
What are some other reasons for fake coupons?
It’s unfortunate, but some fake coupon websites are designed to harvest personal information, like email addresses, for spam. In the worst-case scenario, these websites can infect your device with viruses. Search engines attempt to filter or warn about infected sites, but it’s crucial to pay attention before clicking browser links. Always have activated and up-to-date antivirus software installed on your devices.
On the day this article was published, we found 11 websites offering fake or expired coupons for our website. We do make special offers from time to time. The best ways to find these are by following us on social media or visiting our website, where special offers will be prominently displayed.
If you would like to read more in depth non-technical information about affiliate marketing, Wikipedia has an interesting article here. Wikipedia also has a great article on web cookies here. Do you have any questions or suggestions for us? We would very much enjoy hearing from you. Please contact us here.
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