Its rather unfortunate but like other cashback sites, we also see some transactions that don't automatically track on Vantage Circle i.e. go missing (though they are not 100s!).
Transactions go missing sometimes due to the following reasons:
a) For retailers like Amazon, Flipkart etc, they have strict T&Cs like if you add a product to your cart and then visit their site via Vantage Circle, we wont get commission for it. Hence your Cashback will go ‘missing’. This is the most common reason why most of the Cashback does not track sometimes
b) At times even though you may not realize, you might click out from Vantage Circle and then while paying on the retailer’s site, also check another coupon site or might visit a price comparison site. In this case our cookie gets replaced and even though you think you went via us, the other site actually gets the commission. Hence, since we didn’t get paid we cant pay you and your Cashback goes missing
c) Cashback fails to track automatically because of slow internet speed, when a browsing session expires unexpectedly or when cookies and temporary files are not cleared regularly
d) Sometimes if you use coupon codes which are emailed or SMS’ed to you directly by retailers, we don’t get paid commission for that transaction and hence cannot pass Cashback to you. In this case, the retailer believes this sale was theirs anyway!
e) Its also possible that sometimes we don’t get the right information from retailers. So we are constantly chasing them to ensure you get your Cashback as promised and they are transparent with us
f) The tracking happens basically after the ‘Thank you for your order’ page has come on the retailer’s site. Due to slow internet, sometimes even though the page has not fully loaded people close the page. In this case the pixel does not get fired and the sale does not get attributed to any affiliate. There are also probably a very small percentage of cases (<5%) where the pixel just does not fire on the retailer’s end and the tracking mechanism misses attribution
If you join any of the other affiliate programs, you’ll find the above to be absolutely true.
As the affiliate marketing and e-commerce industry develops and matures in India, we expect a lot of these issues to start ironing out and both tracking and transparency to improve in the ecosystem.