Cash Incentive + large retail CPS affiliate programs

I know everyone (especially large affiliate programs) are skeptical with all the issues involved...yet I still see large websites (e bates, big crumbs etc) and even some small ones (bucks bee dot com) utilizing popular retailers affiliate programs.

My guess is that large sites like e bates get a free pass due to volume, but how are the smaller ones doing it and promoting large brands?
They could just be using meta refresh to send them to affiliate links... but wouldn't affiliate managers eventually catch on to this???

Asking for a friend