I finally got a response from Yahoo. In my view they brushed it under the carpet as I know there was a problem and the activity was abnormal. The whole affair lost me a couple of grand but what can you do. Roll on when the msn software takes over but that wont be for a year at least. Anyway, here is their ‘standard’ reply:
After carefully analysing the click trail for your account, our Loss Prevention Team has determined that there were no unqualified clicks for the period of 11/03/2010 – 15/03/2010.
You may be interested to know that we have a dedicated team of Loss Prevention specialists and a Click Protection System that vigilantly monitor click activity. Comprised of very sophisticated click review software, the Click Protection System prevents unqualified clicks from being charged to our advertisers by using a variety of proprietary techniques to review clicks on a near real-time basis. Indeed you can have access to a report via your interface “Manage my Account” showing you which clicks were not charged and what percentage it represents of the overall clicks. (See attached screenshot). To view this report please follows the below steps:
– Click on “Reports” tab
– Click on “Click Filter”
– Select a date range
– On “Metric 1” select “Invalid click”#
– Update graph
We developed the Click Protection System to assist us in identifying click fraud and creating a better user experience for our advertisers. While the Advertiser Terms and Conditions agreement provides that you will be charged for all clicks on your listings, we realize that our customers are concerned about click fraud and maintaining customer satisfaction is a top priority. Therefore, even though we are not obligated to, we voluntarily designed the Click Protection System and enhance it.