Difference between first party and third party cookies

[sarahw1979]

Hi everyone,

I am reading that the end of third party cookies is coming. I'm new to affiliate marketing so don't really understand the impact of this. If I sign up to affiliate programms to be given affiliate links that I will post on my own website, will I still be able to receive commissions in the future? I am not sure if this uses first party or third party cookies. Thanks for any info in advance.

 

[Graybeard]

The cookie an offer owner [affiliate program] uses should be a *first party cookie*.
10% to 40% of cookies do not work right --there will be some 'slippage loss' because cookies are being used.

I tested a 15% loss on an adult cams affiliate site I had in 2007. The repeat sales were based on a 14 day expiring cookie.
I set my own cookie, the checked for it on returning users, 15% of the time that cookie was gone.
Today, 15+ years later, the loss would be higher (by projection of the current state).

• First time referrals will 'usually' accept a cookie as at the least; session only.
• If they buy or make some other CPA action on their first referral;
  
  • If the transaction is cookie dependent;
  • you should get paid

The fallacy of a return cookie is 50% hype. Cookies can be rejected, accepted session only, or deleted by the browser user setting --at the browser user's discretion --that is a fact. Sometimes the return cookie *works* as specified but sometimes it will be gone.

A first party cookie is one that is set by the same domain.

Third party cookies examples are; google-analytics cookies, Facebook pixel cookies, ad network cookies from the publisher site, these are cross-domain. There are workarounds under development or being used.

Set-Cookie - HTTP | MDN

The Set-Cookie HTTP response header is used to send a cookie from the server to the user agent, so that the user agent can send it back to the server later. To send multiple cookies, multiple Set-Cookie headers should be sent in the same response.

developer.mozilla.org

Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Domain=<domain-value>
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Expires=<date>
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; HttpOnly
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Max-Age=<number>
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Partitioned
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Path=<path-value>
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Secure

Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; SameSite=Strict
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; SameSite=Lax
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; SameSite=None; Secure

// Multiple attributes are also possible, for example:
Set-Cookie: <cookie-name>=<cookie-value>; Domain=<domain-value>; Secure; HttpOnly

 

[Graybeard]

***WARNING: Cookie Armageddon is coming --3rd party cookies

https://www.reuters.com/technology/google-test-new-feature-limiting-advertisers-use-browser-tracking-cookies-2023-12-14/

Quote``
Advertisers have said the loss of cookies in the world's most popular browser will limit their ability to collect information for personalizing ads and make them dependent on Google's user databases.
Brokerage BofA Global Research said in a note on Thursday that phasing out of cookies will give more power to media agencies, especially those that are capable of providing proprietary insights at scale to advertisers.

1st party Cookies are not excluded by Chrome (yet) ...