Is this impossible? - Tracking problem, just need a idea of solving

[Ghetix]

Hi PHP freaks

I am right now running some affiliates on my site (CPA).
Mostly with the goal that users shall suscribe for newsletters, and competetions which affiliate programs will pay me for.
Now comes the tricky part of it!
As i want to pay my users for generating profit to me, by suscribing to newsletters and competetions. I meet this problem, that i can't track whatever they really suscribe or just shut down the window.
When they click an affiliate advertisment a special address as ex: www.affiliate.com/2574 opens in another window. This "2574" is my identification, on this number the affiliate site which provides the ads now that the user entering the suscribtion site is redirected from my site.
The problem really is that i want to know if the users from my site fill out the suscribtion! As i only get payed if they suscribe. Then i want to be able to register that the users are suscribing so i can pay them correctly.

Someone can help me out with this?

[micah1701]

there is no way that you can create a php script to tell what someone does on another site.

however- check with the affiliate for a good workaround.
some, like commission junction (cj.com) let you add a unique id to the url and report it back to you if that id signs up for their product.

so you would have to generate an id for each user then, when you send them to the third-party link include that id in the url.  www.affiliate.com/2574?id=1234567890

if the affiliate has a program that tracks this for you, they can report back what the user ended up doing.
if they don't have this program, then you are screwed and there is nothing else you can do (short of making your users show you proof that they subscribed)

[Ghetix]

Thanks for reply.

But can i somehow copy the fill-out form from my affiliate into my own site or something like that?
I also heard something mention that i could watch if any traffic was delivered/sent or something, the guy explained it very poorly.

Thanks

[micah1701]

[quote]can i somehow copy the fill-out form from my affiliate into my own site or something like that?[/quote]
This [i][b]may [/b][/i]be possible if you do it right.

look at the HTML source code on their site and make sure you use the same field names. also, how are they forwarding your affiliate id?  does their HTML have a type="hidden" value that _POST[]'s your id to the processing script?  or does the action="" of the form post to a page that has your ID in its URL? 

it might be a bit trickier if the third party site uses a session or cookie but play around with it.  Just make sure you test it somehow - or talk to the affiliate program people and see if they have any ideas or can help you - since its their system!