Single Items Shared to Twitter now have 'an extra line of code re View' | Does referral still work?

[CreativeLeahG]

This is a new development

Single items shared to Twitter, now have an extra bit of code ie

https://www.zazzle.com/diamond_personalized_60th_anniversary_gifts_brand-256772623856772974?view=117687458928344444&rf=238065638413579200

Q: Does this insertion of code interfere with the referral code?

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Note this 'view code' wasn't present previously, here is a link I shared previously to twitterX

https://twitter.com/100xGifts/status/1733074708214538400

and as you can see the link back is normal.

https://www.zazzle.com/ornament_exchange_party_watercolor_gold_green_invitation-256307687862793723?r...

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Thank you

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ps. checked Pinterest and this isn't a me only issue, this link is one of mine:

https://www.zazzle.com/diamond_personalized_60th_anniversary_gifts_brand-256779142588789377?view=117...  (this is how one of my links looks on the route back to Zazzle)

This is another seller

https://www.zazzle.com/gold_black_diamond_floral_swirl_50th_anniversary_invitation-25658943289623434...?view=113469114630142774&rf=238551110236848457&epik=dj0yJnU9MllEVkVObWhmbF9hSDRfdmpHUTF3MHg1bUlkTVdEV2EmcD0wJm49dnNMdndNYTdwdVhUMVd4dnhXcndQZyZ0PUFBQUFBR1dqVE9J

I noted re other sellers,  some had this 'view code' feature and some did not. 

I just need to know if these extra effect the referral thank you

[Cat]

I'm not an authority on what Zazzle's doing with those codes, but I don't think it should have any impact.

Basically what that code is doing is taking the associate referrer number and putting it into a variable (also sometimes called a parameter) named rf. So, when the customer comes to Zazzle via a link that includes "rf=238065638413579200" Zazzle's web page looks at the URL and asks "Is there anything in the rf variable?" and if there is, it executes code on its end to handle the referral. When you see other stuff in the URL (like your example of view=113469114630142774) it means that another variable named "view" is also being passed. So there's undoubtedly another hunk of code that looks at the URL and asks "Is there anything in the view variable?" and if there is, it executes a different hunk of code to handle whatever that variable is supposed to control. My guess is that it tells Zazzle which view of the product to default to (like the front, back, cover etc.).

So, I took one of my products, and switched to various views and then copied the link from the share dialogue and here's what I ended up with:

https://www.zazzle.com/the_perfect_match_elegant_pale_peach_rose_wedding-256958462316588377?view=113...
https://www.zazzle.com/the_perfect_match_elegant_pale_peach_rose_wedding-256958462316588377?view=113...
https://www.zazzle.com/the_perfect_match_elegant_pale_peach_rose_wedding-256958462316588377?view=113...
https://www.zazzle.com/the_perfect_match_elegant_pale_peach_rose_wedding-256958462316588377?view=113...

If you follow those links you'll see that the product gets pulled up in a different view depending on how the view parameter (or variable) is set. I tried it with some products that had cover images and it still changed views, but the results got a bit wonky. Not sure what that means, but I'd guess that the system was written before covers were a thing and now some of the results are messed up.

Anyhow, I can't say for sure that having something in the view parameter isn't going to somehow interfere with the referral, but I would sincerely doubt it.  

[Cat]

p.s. when I said I got some "wonky results" I meant that it didn't always display the view that I was showing when I generated the share link, there were no issues with it going to the wrong product or anything like that.

[CreativeLeahG]

Thank you Cat for this detailed reply. I appreciate it. I’m baffled by it all … especially as these links only seem to have these additions in relation to social media shares. I don’t know what it all means.

[LFL]

I've seen it around for a while. From experimenting over time, it appears to correspond to the different thumbnails (images) of the product on the left side bar. At first I liked it and then I become a bit ambivalent because when you make changes to your cover photos, it can erase the image of the product on some social media. On FB I've had blanks. I don't do much on Twitter.

Same product, different views (thumbnails):

https://www.zazzle.com/faux_green_gold_marble_office_desk_mat-256497705340404524?rf=2389867061532849...

https://www.zazzle.com/faux_green_gold_marble_office_desk_mat-256497705340404524?view=11340345712786...

https://www.zazzle.com/faux_green_gold_marble_office_desk_mat-256497705340404524?view=11331106895802...

[CreativeLeahG]

That’s very interesting. I was also experiencing blanks for a while. Sort of an overnight thing. 

[Scott · Accepted solution]

The view parameter (view=) and referral parameter (rf=) are two very different things, and can appear together without causing any issues. The view parameter will determine which view of the product is shown when the product page is loaded. There's some known complications with this view parameter when Cover Photo or other media are present, but nothing that would impact the referral being awarded.

[CreativeLeahG]

Thank you Scott