thanks for shedding light onto this kellie..
going on 3 hours sleep i had to read your example twice..
the term "affiliate" being applied to both parties (merchants original referrer and 180solution's ppc advertiser who buys the impression) had me going in circles.. lol
if what you say is true then indeed 180solutions should be drawn and quartered cause their statement that "they don't rewrite cookies" as interpreted by any lay person means "they don't do anything unscrupulous"... indeed misleading.. a more accurate statement would be "they don't rewrite client side referral info.. BUT alls fair if we send in our cookie 2 seconds after yours..."
i see how this is the tip of the gray region.. most people can see overwriting referral info client side is criminal and clearly illegal.. but this problem is in the ethical gray region of "well, how long do i wait before i chase your cookie?".. (on an related issue, similar issue as sponsors setting 1 day cookies..
).. seems like they're exploiting the merchants simplistic referrer tracking technology/algorithm - ie imprecise tracking of a session... eg. if a surfer arrives at merchant.com via affiliate 1.. affiliate 1 should get credit for any purchases made by said surfer for the entire duration that they're on merchant.com, IRREGARDLESS of any subsequent tracking info sent in to merchant.com by affiliate 2, affiliate 3, etc...
a more nefarious, grayer area (perhaps unanswerable) question is... what if it was affiliate1 who generated the lead but couldn't close the deal cause the surfer wasn't ready to buy.. but a few days later re-introduced to the same merchant by affiliate2? this time around the surfer has had enough time mull over merchant.com and decides now to produce his visa after he's had a few days thought... (like when someone opens a jar after you try..'i loosened it for you'...lol)
anyways, i'll be contacting my zango rep to see what his response is to my new information.. (after i get some sleep!)..
seems to me that if enough noise is made, an answer will surface... either legally (class action law suit) or the industry evolves an answer... (ie NATS to shaving)...
hopefully the industry is listening..
ok time for bed