Affiliate cookie windows explained: why you lose commissions you thought you earned

An affiliate cookie window is the length of time after someone clicks your link during which a purchase still earns you commission. Amazon's is 24 hours. Most LTK brand partners run 7 to 30 days, commonly 7 to 14. Software affiliate programs typically run 30 to 90 days. The critical exception is Instagram, where LTK states there is no cookie window at all, so a follower has to buy in-app during that visit or you earn nothing. The window is the single most under-examined number in creator affiliate, and it decides more of your income than the commission rate does.

Rate gets all the attention because it is a big obvious percentage. The window is quiet, buried in retailer terms, and it is what determines whether the rate ever applies to you.

How a cookie window actually works

When a shopper clicks your affiliate link, a tracking cookie is placed in their browser identifying you as the referrer. If they buy from that retailer before the cookie expires, the sale is attributed to you and commission is calculated. If they buy the day after it expires, the sale is attributed to nobody, or to whoever they clicked most recently, and you get nothing.

Nothing about this tracks the person. It tracks a browser. Which means the window is only half the problem: someone who clicks your link on their phone at lunch and then buys on their laptop that evening has, as far as most affiliate systems are concerned, never clicked your link at all. Cross-device purchases quietly vanish. This is normal and it happens constantly.

Cookie windows by platform

Verified against each platform's own documentation in July 2026. Terms change, so check before you build a strategy on any row.

The Instagram trap

This deserves its own section because it catches so many creators, and because it is stated plainly in LTK's own documentation while almost never appearing in the guides creators actually read.

On Instagram there is no cookie window. A follower who taps your link, browses, decides to think about it, and buys tomorrow earns you exactly nothing. The purchase has to happen in-app, in that session. If Instagram is your primary channel, this one rule shapes your income more than any commission rate difference between platforms, and it explains a pattern creators find baffling: strong link clicks, healthy engagement, and earnings that do not match either.

There is no clever fix. What you can do is stop treating a click as the goal. Content that gives someone a reason to act now, rather than a reason to consider later, is worth disproportionately more on a channel with no window. And it is a real argument for driving people to a destination you control, where the link lives permanently and the decision does not have to happen in ninety seconds.

Why long windows matter more for software

Nobody spends three weeks deciding on a $30 top. They absolutely spend three weeks deciding on a $49 per month tool their team will depend on, especially if a trial is involved.

This is why software affiliate programs run 30 to 90 day windows: a 24 hour window on a considered B2B purchase would attribute almost nothing, and vendors know it. Someone reads your post, starts a 14 day trial, uses it, discusses it with a colleague, and subscribes on day 19. Under Amazon's rules that click expired eighteen days earlier. Under a 90 day software window, you are paid, and if the program is lifetime recurring you keep being paid every month that customer stays. We cover which programs those are in which affiliate platforms support recurring revenue share for AI SaaS.

The window and the commission structure compound. A long window means you capture the sale, and recurring means capturing it once was enough.

Cart-wide attribution: the part that works in your favor

Not all attribution news is bad. LTK credits the total cart price of a purchase made after clicking your link within the window, per the retailer's terms, not just the item you tagged. Someone taps a link for a $28 candle and checks out with $340 of unrelated things, and the commission is calculated on the cart.

This is genuinely one of the more generous models in creator affiliate and it is why LTK creators in high-basket categories out-earn what their follower count suggests. Amazon works similarly within its 24 hours. The lesson is that the linked product is often not where the money comes from: it is the doorway. What matters is getting the click before a session where someone was going to shop anyway. That is a completely different content strategy from trying to sell one specific item, and it is why seasonal and sale timing pays so well on LTK.

Pending is not the same as the window

These get conflated constantly and they are separate clocks.

The cookie window decides whether you earned the commission. The pending period decides when you can spend it. On ShopMy, commission stays pending for 30 to 120 days while the retailer waits out its return window, verifies the transaction, and actually pays ShopMy, and only then does it lock and get queued for the next Friday payout. LTK deducts returns from your earnings as they come through, which is why a strong week shrinks weeks later, and why apparel creators watch their numbers move constantly.

So a commission has to survive two gauntlets: it has to happen inside the window, and it has to survive the return period. Your dashboard number is a forecast, not a balance. Once several platforms are paying you on different clocks, keeping a clear view of what has actually cleared gets hard fast, and it is worth putting the payouts somewhere that tracks creator income across sources rather than trying to reconcile five dashboards by hand.

Questions creators ask

What is an affiliate cookie window?

It is the period after someone clicks your affiliate link during which a purchase is still credited to you. If they buy inside the window you earn commission, and if they buy after it expires you earn nothing. Windows range from 24 hours on Amazon to 90 days on many software programs, and are set by the retailer or vendor.

What is the Amazon affiliate cookie window?

Twenty four hours, one of the shortest in affiliate marketing. A shopper who clicks your link and buys the next day earns you nothing. In exchange, Amazon credits anything they buy in that day, not just the item you linked, and conversion is unusually high because the buyer already has an account and a saved card.

Does Instagram have an affiliate cookie window?

For LTK links, no. LTK states there is no cookie window on Instagram, so the purchase must be made in-app immediately after the click. This is a meaningful trap for creators whose main channel is Instagram, because clicks and engagement can look strong while earnings do not follow.

Why did I not get commission for a sale I know I drove?

The most common causes are the window expiring before purchase, the buyer switching devices between the click and the checkout, the buyer clicking someone else's link more recently, or the item being returned. On Instagram, an LTK purchase made after leaving the app earns nothing regardless of how obviously you drove it.

How long are software affiliate cookie windows?

Typically 30 to 90 days, considerably longer than retail. Vendors set them that way because B2B software purchases involve trials, evaluation, and often a second person signing off. Many software programs also pay recurring commission, so a click captured inside a long window can pay for years rather than once.

What to do with this

Check the window before the rate. A 20% commission with a 24 hour window on a considered purchase is worth less than a 12% commission with a 90 day one, and no comparison page will tell you that because the rate is the number everyone quotes. If your channel is Instagram, know that the window is zero and build around urgency. And if what you recommend is software, you are in the one corner of affiliate where the windows are long, the returns are rare, and the commission can recur.

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Favly is built for creators who recommend AI tools and software, where cookie windows run long and subscriptions pay recurring commission. Compare what the retail platforms pay in our breakdown of LTK commission rates and ShopMy commission rates, or see how Favly works.