Loss of Commision?

When I get the HTML links from CJ it says this next to them:

Copy and paste the following HTML code into your web pages.
You must include all the above html in your links. Any missing html, including the image source, will prevent the link from tracking properly and result in a loss of commissions.

But I have been taking the link out and using the image url they provide seperately.

Although the warning is very large and visible I have missed it so far because I just saw the tracking ID and Image urls and thought that would be good enough. I also had a few sales coming through so I didn't get supsicious but now I am worried. I really have to use their exact HTML? Or just the image source that is supplied with that exact ID link?

Would appreciate your thoughts on how they track this.

You are fine by taking the link out because CJ tracks though a 3rd party then sends to CJ tracking the traffic. What you see after the link is the 1x1 pixel which is used for tracking impressions. So If you are leaving that out of your links you may not be getting accurate data so you might want to check your links if you are looking on building some solid data. I just did a quick search on google and gathered some more information for you.

You can read it here:

Having good data would be a + but the thing worrying me most is my sales wouldn't track correctly.

I had already read the FAQ on CJ but it wasn't clear to me. Your source helped. I think I'm fine taking the link out and using the image they supply seperately. They just don't guarantee me tracking.

you are not understanding correctly. Let me help you out by doing a little copying and pasting for you (spoon feeding)

1. Impression Tracking

Impression tracking is a seperate system from transaction tracking. The two use different tracking systems and two different reporting systems. When you create a link in the CJ interface, CJ generates a 1x1 pixel code into your link. The information contained in the tracking pixel is the PID and LINKID. Every time the link loads, the tracking pixel contacts the IMPRESSION TRACKING SERVERS and inputs your PID and LINKID allowing CJ to add an impression of a specific link to your account. If you leave the tracking pixel out of your links if for example you use a datafeed or use use server side link redirects, it WILL NOT AFFECT ANYTHING OTHER THAN IMPRESSION TRACKING.