operations

Coupon poaching

Definition

When a coupon or deals site claims commission by capturing a shopper's click at the last moment before checkout, often through browser extensions or pop-ups, even though the shopper had already decided to buy without needing a discount code. It shifts commission away from the publisher who genuinely influenced the purchase.

How does Coupon poaching work in practice?

A shopper adds items to cart after reading a product review, then a browser extension opens a coupon site tab at checkout, overwriting the review site's tracking cookie and stealing the commission for a sale it had no real part in.

How can advertisers reduce coupon poaching without banning coupon publishers entirely?

Many advertisers restrict coupon and deals publishers to program terms that require a genuinely valid, currently listed code, monitor for browser extensions that auto-apply cookies at checkout, and use multi-touch attribution instead of pure last-click, so the publisher who first influenced the sale keeps a fairer share of commission.

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