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Getting Refunds from Traffic Sources (for BAD TRAFFIC) (10)

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Hello ya'll,

This is the official thread (maybe)

on how to get refunds from Traffic sources for bad performing traffic (when the funnel is good) and for bot traffic, or in short very bad traffic, especially in Push, not that the mechanics are probably different so much with other traffic sources.

Couple of questions:

What screenshots do we usually need to provide with what details? What claims & arguments? Is it enough to provide an IP subnet (small) screenshot with IPs filled up with alot of visits, but very little unique visits (relatively) and 0 clicks?

Or how to prove them that Ips are corporate in an effective manner (not checking one by one)?

Because a lot of placements will probably mix their traffic with good and bad one therefore IP data might come in handy, on ISPs I don't see anything like DigitalOcean or AWS or something like that...

But then when a subnet gives me 120 (costly) visits, 10 unique visits, and 0 clicks, is it not a high chance probability of Bot traffic?

* I know Voluum can probably make this thing 100% easier and I'm expecting a long sales pitch coming from one of the Voluum reps below soon, but no, personally I am not planning on switching a tracker anytime soon. Anyone who uses Bemob with experience on this? But the best thing if this thread can stay more universal and be something that applies to all trackers.

Expecting a long reply chain by Monday so that I can blast traffic sources with 5 figures worth of refunds! Yeah! Jk, No i'm not that rich

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Well, it´s not usual to get refunds just because the traffic is bad.

You have better chances when you can prove that it´s bot traffic.

Best would be when you ask the trafficsource directly what info they would need as proof.

Can be IPs that send high volume and don´t click through, unusual UAs, server hosting IPs.

But again, best is when youz ask the source directly, only they can tell you what kind of proof they would accept for it.

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Yeah, I rather meant bot traffic but I pretty much used the terms bad traffic and bot traffic interchangeably here.

The thing is asking probably wouldn't be enough as Traffic sources are not really happy to give refunds, therefore the approach should be proactive and authoritative on your side and knowing what you're doing IMO.

When you're like "uhh, I think those are bots..." chances would most likely be lower

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Screenshots, IP addresses, traffic reports, and any other data you can get your hands on. Send as much info as you can. It’s very obvious if you can show the ip addresses are from untargeted geos when you specifically have those geos only in your camp

For some traffic sources (propeller) it’s like pulling teeth... but they will give in eventually if you bug them enough.

For other traffic sources, (ZeroPark) they will look into it quickly, setup their own honey pots and refund as soon as they notice the traffic is shit. Sometimes, they’ll even refund you and tell you without you noticing you had shit traffic.

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What resources are you guys using for deciding whether IP addresses are good or not? Any system for that instead of going one by one?

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Good old handwork

I wouldn´t check all IPs, that´s too much work.

When you see specific IPs or IP ranges that send high volume of bad traffic you can use sites like this https://www.speedguide.net/ip.php?ip= to check the ISP and when it´s a server or hosting company it´s more or less safe to say it´s bot traffic.

Or you could just check in your tracker directly if you see specific ISPs sending high volume of bad traffic and then check if they are hosting companies or so.

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Hey,
I think there's a major difference between "bad" traffic and bot traffic.
The definition of bad traffic is very selective, what works for one advertiser might work horribly for you, does it mean the traffic is bad?
Unique visits is also not the best way to identify bot traffic because it really depends on a period of time - the longer you run your ad, the less unique visits you'll get, it doesn't mean that the traffic is bot traffic, just that the same user got your ad.

Bot traffic on the other hand is pretty easy to identify - usually you'll see a LOT of clicks from a specific source or IP with no conversions at all.
Easiest way is to send us as detailed reports as possible - ClickID's, sources, IP's - what ever you can share will be good but try to be specific and include only the relevant information.
Hope it helped

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That's a quite funny post @am2015 sicne you're contradicting yourself.

On the other hand:

Unique visits on most trackers are counted per 24 hours by default, that means the same IP will still be counted unique if more than 24 hours have passed since his last visit

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I don't see the contradiction.

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I'll try to explain myself a little bit better.
Lets say you're getting traffic from 100 different sources in one campaign, all spent quite evenly, some converted and some didn't.
It doesn't mean that the un-converting sources are bot or even bad, they just didn't worked for you for this specific campaign and they might work just fine for a different offer.

On the other hand, if you're getting traffic from 100 different sources and one is spending ~30% of your budget with no conversions - that might be bot.

My point is that not every non-converting source = bot and it's usually quite easy to see the difference.


The keyword here is most, not all.
And as mentioned earlier, I didn't say it's not a way to check for bot/bad sources, it's just not the best way in my opinion.

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