What is Affiliate Cookie Duration?

Cookie duration (cookie lifetime, cookie window) is the interval after a click on an affiliate link during which the affiliate cookie (or an equivalent binding) still entitles the partner to commission. If a conversion falls inside the window, the click can be credited; after expiry the same action is usually unpaid to that partner or given to someone else under last-click rules.

English demand is stronger (Amazon, AliExpress, Shopee “affiliate cookie duration”). Russian queries use «срок жизни cookie» and «окно cookie партнёрки». This is not cookie stuffing and not a hold period.

How the window works

On click the network sets a cookie with the partner ID and a timestamp, or stores a click ID server-side. Offer attribution then applies — usually last-click: the latest click whose cookie is still alive wins. User clicks partner A (7-day window), three days later partner B (24-hour window), and buys on day 5 — B earns if B’s cookie is still valid; otherwise credit may return to A, or to nobody if both windows have closed.

The advertiser or network sets the length in offer / program terms: 24 hours, 7, 14, 30 days. “Lifetime cookies” are uncommon and are still overwritten by a new last-click. Marketplaces often keep a short window (a day); CPA and retail affiliate programs go longer when purchase is delayed.

What it is not

Hold period — the pause between an already recorded conversion and payout (quality review, chargeback). Hold is counted from the sale; cookie duration from the click. A 30-day hold with a 24-hour cookie means the click had to convert within a day, and the partner is paid a month later.
Cookie stuffing — fraud: a cookie planted without a click on the link. Window length is irrelevant; stuffing breaks the “there was a click” condition itself.
Ad-account attribution window (click-through / view-through in Meta, Google, an MMP) — pixel or app lookback, not the network’s partner cookie. The numbers can match (both 7 days); the systems differ: the ad account decides which ad click to train on; the network decides who receives payout.

Cookies vs click ID

Safari ITP, blockers, and the end of third-party cookies shorten or kill the client cookie before the offer’s printed term. A formal “30 days” is then shorter in practice. CPA closes the gap with S2S: a click ID in the offer URL plus postback does not depend on the browser cookie still being alive. Classic CPS programs on a merchant domain still lean on the cookie; without it a later “shelf” purchase will not attach.

Why buyers care

A short window cuts delayed purchases: the user clicked, compared prices, came back three days later — with a 24-hour cookie, EPC falls because the tail was clipped, not because same-day CR was “bad.” A long window raises the chance another partner’s last-click steals the sale. The effect on EPC and KPI is the same class of problem as a pending window: read conversions with lag, not only on click day.

The offer card may label the field cookie lifetime, commission duration, or attribution period. If it is missing, read the terms. Do not mix it with cap and hold on the same card: cap limits volume, hold delays payout, cookie decides whose conversion it is. A sub ID split shows which creatives convert at the edge of the window, not only on click day.

Practice

When reconciling with the network, compare click and conversion timestamps against the stated window. A “tracker has it, network does not” dispute is sometimes an expired cookie window, not a broken postback. Keep click time on your side; otherwise you cannot show the purchase fell inside seven days.

View-through (conversion from an impression, no click) usually sits outside the partner cookie: most CPA offers pay a click path only. Exceptions are written into the terms.