What Affiliate Networks Can't Do
I've been working in affiliate marketing for 29 years. Over that time, the question of whether a company should run its affiliate program through a network or in-house has changed fundamentally.
In the past, it was a question of cost. Today, it's a question of control - over data, over relationships, and over the program itself.
Conflicts of interest that are rarely discussed openly
Affiliate networks today are often no longer purely platforms. Many engage in publisher activities themselves or, as agencies, manage multiple merchants simultaneously - including competitors.
This creates structural conflicts of interest: Publishers may be encouraged to promote other affiliate programs and competitors - where the margins for the network are higher.
This is not a criticism of individual providers. It is the logical consequence of a business model based on volume and network effects.
Data sovereignty: Who is actually responsible?
Legally, an affiliate network is not a neutral service provider. It's a joint controller under Art. 26 GDPR. It pursues its own purposes with your data. On its own infrastructure.
Your publisher data is stored on third-party servers. Your conversion data runs through third-party systems. And structurally, the network sees the data of all its merchants - not out of malice, but because of the system itself.
Anyone who runs an affiliate program within a network isn't just handing over technical control. They're relinquishing data sovereignty.
Tracking: The question isn't whether to use cookies or not
In recent years, the major networks have switched to server-to-server tracking and are pushing their merchants to implement it. ClickID transmission and return upon sale via S2S is now standard.
Technically, yes - the cookie problem is solved. The structural one isn't. Tracking still runs through third-party infrastructure, under shared GDPR responsibility, on a domain that isn't yours.
Cookieless tracking isn't one thing.
Depending on the shop, product, and partner, different methods are needed. And you need the freedom to combine them:
Pass ClickID and Partner ID to the shop via URL - the merchant decides for themselves what happens with them. Server-to-server return upon sale directly from the shop system. Coupon code tracking with encoded Partner ID or resolution via alias table - completely without clicks and without pixels.
Those who run the program themselves choose the combination that fits their shop, their partners, and their data protection strategy.
In-house means: your program, your rules
I founded NetSlave GmbH 26 years ago and developed QUALITYCLICK - software for companies that want to run their affiliate program on their own domain, under their own GDPR responsibility, and without dependence on network structures.
As a data processor under Art. 28 GDPR, we process data exclusively on behalf of our clients. We have never acted as a publisher ourselves - for not a single program, with not a single client. No conflict of interest, no hidden incentives.
Companies that successfully run affiliate programs over the long term do not want to relinquish this control. That was true 26 years ago. Still is.