BizSugar.com › Online Marketing › Affiliate Commission Drops: Why Not Take Cookie Life into Account?

I must admit, I just love the reasoning here. I also see how affiliate networks would, actually, be quite happy to entertain the proposed "cookie life" idea (as many networks earn their money based on the affiliate payouts). However, (a) I do not know of any affiliate network that supports something like this, and (b) How would you then handle situations with affiliate commission increases (which also does happen)?

Also, what if the merchant's profit margins have really changed? What if the merchant has dropped their prices to become more competitive than everyone else in their niche? This would only result in higher conversions; and even with lower commissions, affiliates would be able to earn more, not less.

And, finally, how do you handle situations with long or lifetime cookies?