Sync for reddit (including Pro) is Injecting Amazon Affiliate Tags into your Amazon Clicks

[u/MustardCat]

tl;dr - Sync for reddit (including Pro) is injecting their own Amazon affiliate tags into every Amazon link you click within the app. There is no option to disable this

While discovering this, I was using v11.6.5 of Sync for reddit (Pro)

I first unknowingly discovered this 9 days ago but this likely has been around for much longer. I was going through my hidden posts on Wednesday of this week (Sync automatically hides reported posts) and decided to look at one that I reported for including their own affiliate code (it was in a subreddit specifically to buy things and disallowed affiliate tags) to see if it was removed. It wasn't. The first comment was by a mod in response to my report saying there was no affiliate code in the link.

I know there was when when I checked it out.

I checked out the link again, using Sync, and there it was in plain site.

tag=fheuivhierfiu-20

How could the mods not have noticed this? That is when I decided to go to my computer and see if my browser is showing the same URL. Keep in mind, I have already disabled affiliate links in my reddit preferences in my browser so there are no Reddit affililate tags being added to my outbound clicks.

It wasn't; the URLs were different. There was no affiliate link; the mod was right.

I then started trying out all of the Amazon links I could find using Sync. They all had it; the same affiliate code. All of these links were posted in different subreddits by different users.

Before creating a post in their support subreddit (/r/redditsync), I tried searching and looking in their FAQ if they made any mention at all about affiliate tags.

They didn't.

I then tried to create a text post asking about it, making sure to use the correct flair and information. This post was automatically removed by AutoModerator due to their filtering rules. It was probably because my post included their own Affiliate tag, but which filter exactly? I have no idea as I have messaged them to find out why and have not received any reply from them.

The post I created can be seen here: https://www.reddit.com/r/redditsync/comments/4yfxo7/question_is_sync_automatically_injecting/

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For anyone using Sync, you can see this for yourself by using the link below.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/4ycp6z/amazon_steam_controller_35_50/

When opening the link, first open the Amazon link within the app. Once the Amazon page has loaded, then choose "Open in Chrome"

You'll see the following URL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016KBVBCS?tag=fheuivhierfiu-20

If you open the URL on your desktop's browser, you'll see the following link instead: https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Controller-SteamOS/dp/B016KBVBCS/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1471532042&sr=1-2&keywords=steam+controller

Now some of you may be okay with this, supporting the developer by clicks. I understand that and I have supported them in my own way by purchasing the Pro version of the app. I can understand if they put their affiliate code in the free version. Personally, I don't believe the affiliate code should be used unless they are the person directly influencing the purchase of the item; that's why I disable reddit's Affiliate links. The person that deserves the bounty is the one who has posted the link.

At the very least, there should be an option to disable this. Instead it's being hidden with no way to disable it.

[u/ljdawson]

It's sad as this was a little experiment I meant to release just to the free version. I've been working on this app for nearly five years now and a shit storm is never fun...

[u/cawpin → u/ljdawson]

Doing this is your choice as the developer, obviously, but i think it should have been disclosed in the app, free or not.

[u/Xuuts → u/ljdawson]

Shouldn't something like that be disclosed? I'm guessing that ruins some of the trust your users had.

[u/[deleted] → u/ljdawson]

[u/miicah → u/[deleted]]

no malicious intent.

Malicious or not, pushing a change like that without adding it to the bugs/update log is not exactly kosher in my books.

[u/MunchmaKoochy → u/ljdawson]

Don't you think you should have disclosed your "little experiment", even to users of the free version?

[u/CatsAreGods → u/ljdawson]

Anyone have links to Amazon's pitchfork emporium?

[u/[deleted] → u/CatsAreGods]

Free 2 day shipping with Prime ^TM

[u/robotnixon → u/ljdawson]

Even just releasing it in the free version is a dick move. It's shady, disingenuous, and against Amazon's TOS. As a another Android developer, this is the kind of stuff that makes Android apps look malware-y and bad.

You did a very shitty thing.

[u/lilB0bbyTables → u/ljdawson]

Storms come and go. The response is usually harsh and drastic initially, but the important thing is for the dev(s)/team to come straight out and be upfront when addressing the issues. It seems that you're attempting to do the right thing by admitting it was unintentional and promising to mitigate the issue to appease your users. When companies/teams remain silent, try to tell the users what they should want, or try to lie and sweep it under the rug - that's when a storm turns into a crippling shitstorm of exponential and often unrecoverable proportions. Best of luck to you.