{
  "id": 4563585,
  "title": "Flat-fee affiliate tracking without third-party cookies",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/flat-fee-affiliate-tracking-without-third-party-cookies",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-31T03:31:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/swiftapps/flat-fee-affiliate-tracking-without-third-party-cookies-1b1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the world of affiliate marketing, merchants often face challenges with percentage-based apps, as costs increase as sales grow. To address this issue, a new app called ZeroCut has been developed. This app offers a flat-fee model, with pricing options starting from free, $19, or $39 per month, and no commission on tracked sales. The commission is enforced server-side and is reversed automatically for cancelled or refunded orders, with partial refunds also reversed proportionally.\n\nZeroCut uses three signals in order to attribute sales: a _zc_ref cart attribute from the theme, a real Shopify discount code per affiliate, and the landing_site query parameter. To protect user privacy, the app does not store any customer Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and does not rely on third-party cookies, as these are increasingly being blocked by browsers. Instead, it uses first-party cookies, localStorage, and does not load any external scripts on the storefront.\n\nIn case of a cancelled or refunded order, the commission is automatically reversed. However, once an order has been marked as paid, the commission cannot be rewritten, even if a later refund occurs. This feature ensures that merchants are not penalized for refunds, which can be a concern with percentage-based apps. For very small affiliate programs, a percentage-based app's free tier might sometimes cost less than any flat fee, including ZeroCut.",
  "summary": "A merchant running a small programme finds that percentage-based apps charge more as sales grow, while flat-fee tools often rely on third-party cookies that browsers increasingly block. I build ZeroCut. The app charges a fixed monthly fee — Free, $19, or $39 — with 0% commission on tracked sales, enforced server-side. Attribution follows three signals in order: a _zc_ref cart attribute from the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}