Anyone heard of barefruit?

[drivetowin]

Just trying to go to Dixons website but mistyped the url, and typed www.dixons.co.u.k rather than the correct url - to my surprise it went via an affiliate future link (or tried to, the link failed to resolve) - so then I tried www.currys.co.u.k which went to currys but via an Affiliate Window link, and www.pcworld.co.u.k which went via an affiliate future link and then via an Affiliate Window link to pcworld.

Doing a bit of digging it looks like barefruit work with isps to pick up domain typos.

[Chris Clarkson]

They made the news quite recently,

barefruit security - Google Search

not for good reasons!

Chris C

[drivetowin]

Be interested to hear the networks position on this - part of me is leaning towards it being a forced click

[Jemma-AW]

Hi drivetowin,

Thanks for highlighting this issue.

Affiliate Window do not condone forcing clicks, we will therefore be thoroughly investigating this issue.

Kind Regards,
Jemma Allanson

[fionah]

They have agreements with various ISP's in the US and are working with Tiscali over here.

Interesting article in Wired about their recent Javacript security hole: ISPs' Error Page Ads Let Hackers Hijack Entire Web, Researcher Discloses | Threat Level from Wired.com

[QualityNonsense]

Interesting idea, like OpenDNS.com, but I think Open DNS only monetize with CPC ads.

How on earth can that constitute a forced click if, er, you have to click the link to visit a merchant?

[ukaffiliates_barefruit]

At Barefruit we work with Tier 1 ISPS in the UK and US to replace error pages with highly relevant useful results. Barefruit does not touch valid domains and only navigates the user to the brand site when the user spells the brand name exactly. For example if a user mistypes: www.currys.co.u would generate an error. If the user were a customer of a major ISP who works with Barefruit, this syntax error is corrected. Where the user mistypes a web address e.g. www.currgys.co.uk we show a banner ad for that brand and pay-per-click listings.

Brands that are part of our affiliate programmes protect traffic that would otherwise be lost – either to a dead end (an error page), or via a competitor advertising on the pay-per-click listings.

We bring advertisers high volume, highly qualified traffic which converts well. As affiliate relationships are CPA arrangements, the advertiser only pays when the user transacts - quality risk-free traffic. Barefruit works with over 5,000 worldwide and we pride ourselves on strong relationships with advertisers and affiliate partnerships.

Hani Armstrong
Marketing Director, Barefruit

[scifind]

Use of misspelt domain names is against Currys T&C through Awin

If affiliates wish to direct traffic through to their own site then their domains must not include the word 'Currys'. This restriction includes mis-spellings of the brand.
Examples: www.currrys.co.uk, www.curryoffers.com, www.curriesfridges.co.uk etc.

[Donk]

Scifind beat me to it. I was about to make the same point.

What I would like to know is how you get round RIPA do you not need a court order to intercept telecommunications.

In my opinion this is just another example of "parasiteware".

[hpops]

In my opinion this is just another example of "parasiteware".

Yup, not on my programs please.

a) There is no value added in that chain to the advertiser, the error page would have signalled to the user that they had made a mistake and then they would have corrected it and found the merchants page.

b) Other affiliates cookies are being wiped out by your actions, due to an unfair and potentially (in my limited opinion) not particularly legal loophole.

c) Its not a forced click, but its not a legitimate method of generating traffic (imho)

I do however, applaud the fact that you've entered into a dialogue (although it isn't that yet!) within these forums - most companies involved in similar activities in the past have stayed well clear.

[tbp]

Unfortunately, I think this is just the beginning, and we are going to see more and more of this happening in the future.

With people using more and more bandwidth, especially downloading streaming video from software such as the BBC's IPlayer, ISP's profits are being heavily cut into. The BBC have said they aren't going to contribute a penny towards the extra bandwidth, so ISP's are either going to put up their subscription prices, or try and monetize their traffic as much as possible using companies such as Barefruit.

Obviously ISP's face a lot of competition, so raising subscription costs is going to the be the second option, and instead they are going to be turning to advertising instead. Already people are complaining about Phorm and Barefruit, but I think theres going to be many more companies springing up, and having adverts changed and forced on the user is going be commonplace. I can't see the government complaining about it, as they aren't prepared to contribute to ISP's costs or upgrading the UK's decidedly ropey phone system architecture.

[ukaffiliates_barefruit]

A few points to clear up misunderstanding.

We only handle error traffic - if a brand name registers a misspelling of a domain brandname, and there is no syntax error (i.e. the 'www' and 'co.uk' are correct as in www.brandnamemisspell.co.uk) then this site would resolve and would not be handled by Barefruit. For misspellings such as those in the example,as they do not match the brand name exactly (e.g. www.curriesfridges.co.uk) they would only be presented with a banner and relevant pay-per-click listings if curriesfridges were known to be a common misspelling for that brand.

There is vast added value for the advertiser - evidence shows that when users experience an error they frequently abort the search process altogether, or in the case of misspellings may click on a competitor pay-per-click listing if the advertiser has chosen not to advertise with Barefruit. In this case they will be lost completely.

Hani Armstrong

[Barry]

Hi Hani

I don't think there is anything you could say to explain the mechanism in a 'bright' light. Though its nice to have dialog.

Its not something new though, when I was using TalkTalk a few years ago at my mums place it used to have something similar if I spelt a domain name wrong, not sure if they still employ that mechanism.

Also from the stories I have read online could you clarify how you handle 404 when using a subdomain.

IE. 404subdomain.mysite.com ?

Ta

[scifind]

A few points to clear up misunderstanding.

We only handle error traffic - if a brand name registers a misspelling of a domain brandname, and there is no syntax error (i.e. the 'www' and 'co.uk' are correct as in www.brandnamemisspell.co.uk) then this site would resolve and would not be handled by Barefruit. For misspellings such as those in the example,as they do not match the brand name exactly (e.g. www.curriesfridges.co.uk) they would only be presented with a banner and relevant pay-per-click listings if curriesfridges were known to be a common misspelling for that brand.

There is vast added value for the advertiser - evidence shows that when users experience an error they frequently abort the search process altogether, or in the case of misspellings may click on a competitor pay-per-click listing if the advertiser has chosen not to advertise with Barefruit. In this case they will be lost completely.

Hani Armstrong

their domains must not include the word 'Currys'. www.currys.co.u.k contains the word 'currys' whether it is a valid domain or not.

[scifind]

quick addition to my last post http://anysubdomainnotalreadyregiste...s.currys.co.uk goes via barefruit. SO valid domains also are redirected.

If affiliatewindow / currys are happy with this it is a case of one rule for barefruit and one rule for other affiliates.