Glossary

Cookie window

The time after a click during which a sale still counts as yours. The program sets it: 24 hours at Amazon Associates, 30 days for web sales at Etsy. It only works while the cookie or tracking record survives.

Also called: cookie duration, cookie life, cookie lifetime, attribution window, referral period.

The click stores your ID and a timestamp in a cookie or a server-side record; a purchase inside the window with no later affiliate click is credited to you. Amazon adds a twist: items added to the cart within those 24 hours still count if the order is placed within 89 days of the click. When 2 offers pay the same, the longer window tends to pay more on products people think over.

The number on the offer page is a maximum, not a promise. Safari blocks third-party cookies and caps cookies set by page scripts at 7 days, buyers switch from phone to laptop, and people clear their browsers. That is why networks push merchants toward first-party and server-to-server tracking. A long window also does not protect you from a later click: under last-click rules, the newest affiliate cookie wins.