I first heard about this a year or so ago. That Digitalpoint Forum owner (Shawn Hogan), was about to get a knuckle sandwich from eBay on Cookie Stuffing charges. At that time, I think cookie stuffing was really at the forefront of every affiliate marketers mind. Personally, and honestly, I never did it in my life. While there were many people out there that made stacks of cash from it, the overall effect was that companies would start operating at a loss, and the roll on from that would be changes in their affiliate programs. Usually designed to give users less and less Commission. My thoughts about this are fairly well documented.
Fast forward a year and Shawn Hogan and cohorts have been charged with additional charges. You can read straight from the source here : http://www.revenews.com/kelliestevens/affiliates-indicted-for-cookie-stuffing/
While the new charges are an interesting development. I think the numbers from the original (And still pending case) are absolutely extraordinary. And paint a somewhat nieve picture of the affiliate marketing industry.
Between 2006 and June 2007, Shawn Hogan (Digital Point Solutions) earned approximately $15.5 million in commissions from eBay. Hogan was eBay’s number one affiliate.
Ok so we have someone turning over 15 million in a year from commissions from eBay alone. And Hogan was the number one affiliate for eBay. I don’t understand how eBay wouldn’t watch him like a hawk. Surely they would have had direct contact with him almost every single day when you are turning over that much. I am personally not an affiliate manager for a CPA company, but if I was, I would would be looking after someone like this like royalty. It’s like when you go to a casino with thousands to blow, the Casino takes care of you, gives you a free room, free drinks etc. How the (alleged) cookie stuffing could have gone on for so long is a mystery to me.
Between 2006 and June 2007, Dunning (Kessler’s Flying Circus) earned approximately $5.3 million in commissions from eBay. Dunning was eBay’s number two affiliate.
Dunning is supposedly Shawn’s cohort. And really it follows the same line as above. Something interesting to note, is that Dunning is eBay’s number 2 affiliate. But notice the commission amount. He is 10 MILLION behind the number one affiliate. That means that Shawn Hogan was atleast 10million ahead of everyone else in the eBay program.
The news article ends with a very good point.
Regardless of the innocence or guilt of Hogan and Dunning, the fact that the U.S. Attorney deems cookie stuffing criminal should be a wake-up call for our industry.
As Linda Buquet stated when she first talked about the case, “For the blackhatters out there that say, ‘cookie stuffing isn’t illegal and all is fair in love and affiliate marketing’ – I say you better take a very close look at this case!”
As I said at the start of this post. At the time of the original charges, and even still today. People see Cookie Stuffing as “getting their own back”. That it is just part of the game. Affiliate networks screw over publishers, and they in turn do the same. A never ending cat and mouse game. But given the possible repercussions :
- Imprisonment of 20 years
- Maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain/loss (whichever is greater)
- 3 years of supervised release
- $100 special assessment (per count)
I suggest many affiliate marketers will sit down and take note.
Note : The defendants have not been found guilty by a jury. Anything said by me is purely comments on the case, and does not indicate whether the accused are guilty or not guilty. I have no inside information that would point to them being guilty. I will leave it at that 
