Patent ID: 7818214

Claim:
A method for operating an automated affiliate manipulation system comprising: receiving a request for preexisting data from a first computer, identifying the requested preexisting data at an intermediary computer, the intermediary computer being separate from the first computer, analyzing the requested preexisting data at the intermediary computer to automatically identify at least one data element corresponding to an affiliate-capable merchant, determining that the at least one data element comprises an existing affiliate code determining that the existing affiliate code does not comprise the preferred affiliate code, creating modified data at the intermediary computer by automatically associating the preferred affiliate code with the data element, and removing any existing affiliate code associated with the data element, the modified data comprising at least one affiliate link, wherein the affiliate link comprises a URL associated with the affiliate-capable merchant, delivering the modified data to the first computer, and communicating the affiliate code to the affiliate-capable merchant upon selection of the affiliate link.