Patent ID: 8600811

Claim:
A method of detecting, by a merchant web server, an affiliate site referring web traffic to a merchant web site, comprising: receiving, by the merchant web server, a user request for a web page, wherein the user request was generated by a user activating, via a web browser, a link on a referring web site, the link comprising a uniform resource locator (URL) of the merchant web site, such that activating the link directs the user's web browser directly to the merchant web site and not via an affiliate manager site; identifying, by the merchant web server, a URL of the referring web site from the user's web browser; transmitting, by the merchant web server, the referring web site URL to a database associated with an affiliate manager site; in response to the transmitting of the referring web site URL to the database associated with the affiliate manager site, receiving, by the merchant web server, an indication that the referring web site is an authorized affiliate; and transmitting, by the merchant web server, to the affiliate manager site, information regarding user activity performed at the merchant web site, to credit the authorized affiliate.