This brings up a very good point. The TRX Suspension Trainer is probably the finest product that I sell, but I don't spend a lot of time trying to sell it because of the one time cookie.
Honestly, I could drive tons of traffic to the TRX site if I had an extended cookie.
All the other affiliate programs that I'm associated with for various products related to triathlon offer at least a 60 day cookie. Affiliates work hard to make a sale and should be rewarded for this.
For those new to the affiliate business, here is a good explanation:
A cookie
refers to a small piece of code that is placed in a visitor's web
browser from your affiliate marketing software. It stores information
about the visitor for tracking purposes or for customizing the web
experience. In the case of affiliate programs, a cookie is responsible
for determining whether or not an affiliate will be credited with a
referral upon the visitor's return to a website after their initial
visit, and how long after their initial visit they will be credited.
Cookie duration generally ranges from 1-365 days. There are arguments
both for shorter cookie durations and longer cookie durations. Through
experience, however, the arguments for a longer cookie duration seem to
outweigh those for a shorter duration. Some merchants choose a shorter
cookie duration because they view an affiliate program as a means to
obtain dirt-cheap traffic, and traffic is especially cheap if the
affiliate does not get credited when there is a sale. However, one must
understand that reliable, quality affiliates are well aware of this, so
merchants who have shorter cookie durations generally cannot maintain a
base of experienced super affiliates. To keep affiliates happy, and to
recruit affiliates who will produce reliable results, one must look at
their affiliate program as a way to maintain win-win partnerships, and
not as a way of taking advantage of novice webmasters. For this reason,
it is highly recommended that merchants set their affiliate marketing
software cookie to 365 days or longer to attract more experienced
affiliates who can produce results. Remember that without the affiliate
that traffic does not exist, so it is vital to do everything in one's
power to maintain a somewhat egalitarian relationship with the
affiliate.