Cookie window

When a visitor clicks your affiliate link, the network sets a cookie in their browser. If they buy something within the cookie window, you get credit. After the window expires, the cookie is no longer honoured. Any subsequent purchase goes uncredited unless the visitor clicks your link again.

Window length varies enormously by network. Amazon Associates gives 24 hours by default, extended to 90 days only if the visitor adds the item to cart before the 24 hours expire. Awin defaults to 30 days per merchant. ShareASale ranges from 30 to 90 days. CJ varies per merchant from 1 to 120 days. Impact often runs 30 to 60 days for direct-brand programmes. Some direct SaaS programmes give 90 days, 12 months, or even recurring lifetime attribution (you keep earning as long as the customer keeps paying).

The 24-hour problem. Amazon's 24-hour window is the shortest in the industry by a wide margin. For impulse buys ("I want to watch this movie now") the window is fine. For high-consideration purchases (laptops, headphones, kitchen appliances) where buyers research for days before committing, the window structurally underpays creators whose content drives the research phase. The buyer reads your review, decides three days later, returns directly to Amazon, and earns you nothing. This is the core economic argument for direct-brand affiliate programmes over Amazon Associates on big-ticket niches.

Add-to-cart extensions. Amazon's 90-day extension applies only if the buyer clicks Add to Cart on the linked product before the 24 hours run out. Once added, the cookie is upgraded and the buyer has 89 more days to complete the purchase. This is why review-style content with a clear "add to cart now to decide later" call to action tends to outperform pure "click to read more" content on Amazon.

Cookie window versus <a href="/glossary/attribution-window" class="font-medium text-ab-violet underline decoration-ab-violet/30 underline-offset-4 transition-colors hover:decoration-ab-violet">attribution window</a>. Not the same thing. The cookie window is the lifespan of the browser cookie; the attribution window is how far back the network is willing to look for an attributable click when matching a conversion. For browser-only tracking they are identical. For networks with server-side identity matching (Amazon for logged-in users, Impact with click-ID postbacks), the attribution window can be longer than the cookie window because the network can still match the user even after the cookie has expired.

What happens at window expiry. The cookie itself usually persists in the browser for longer (Amazon's cookie has a longer technical lifespan than its 24-hour attribution window). But once the window closes, the network ignores the cookie for attribution purposes. A purchase on day 25 goes through the system but earns no commission. The buyer is not warned; they have no idea your earlier click ever existed.

Cookie blocking and the post-cookie world. Safari, Firefox, and Chrome have progressively restricted third-party cookies. Networks have responded with server-to-server (S2S) attribution via click IDs, which sidesteps the browser cookie entirely. For creators, the practical consequence is that networks with mature S2S support preserve attribution better than networks that rely primarily on browser cookies. This shifts where revenue leakage happens but does not change the underlying window length the network is willing to honour.

Best content formats per window length. Short-window networks (Amazon 24h, some grocery affiliates) reward urgency and add-to-cart language. Long-window networks (Awin 30+, Impact 60+, direct SaaS) reward considered review content where the buyer takes weeks to decide. Lifetime-attribution programmes reward newsletter and community placements where the same audience returns repeatedly.