Why does clickbank allow vendor to use thirdparty payment method?

[SunCraft]

I was checking out this product on clickbank. I always click through to the payment page to make sure everything is working and I noticed the vendor is not using clickbank as the payment processor.

I always thought that for clickbank products the customer pays the clickbank then clickbank pays the vendor.

I asked clickbank about this the reply I get says it's allowed for vendor to have other payment methods. Affiliate does not get commission if the customer does not pay via clickbank. In fact I don't see payment using clickbank for this particular product so the affiliate will never get paid.

I don't promote clickbank that much but this seems open a lot of doors for the vendor to cheat clickbank and affiliates.

Does this seem right to you?

[Alexa Smith]

Obviously "somewhat less than ideal" (to put it very politely), but it's just one of the many different varieties of "sales page leaks" there can be with Clickbank sales pages. You have to be pretty careful in deciding for which products to become an affiliate! If you want to get paid for the work you do ...

(The vendor, in such circumstances, isn't actually cheating Clickbank at all, if they don't make the sale. It's just his affiliates who might not be so keen on the idea).

Originally Posted by SunCraft

I always thought that for clickbank products the customer pays the clickbank then clickbank pays the vendor.

Strictly speaking, there's no such thing as a "Clickbank product". There are just "products". Many products are in fact sold exclusively on Clickbank, but Clickbank can't prevent vendors from selling them in other ways, too. Obviously, one wouldn't want to be an affiliate for a product which has alternative payment methods mentioned on its Clickbank sales page, though.

But to answer your original question, some vendors want to be able to sell their products themselves, without affiliates, in addition to having affiliates, and you can't altogether blame them for not wanting to pay Clickbank's enormous transaction-costs on those sales, can you?

[SuzanneR]

hmmmm...your question may have partly answered my question (which is still waiting for responses).

I sell a variety of one kind of product--and clickbank--as far as I know--doesn't accommodate a buyer making multiple purchases. So we'll probably be forced to use a 3rd party checkout.

[SunCraft]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Obviously "somewhat less than ideal" (to put it very politely), but it's just one of the many different varieties of "sales page leaks" there can be with Clickbank sales pages. You have to be pretty careful in deciding for which products to become an affiliate! If you want to get paid for the work you do ...

Maybe it's just me but I thought this method of leak is more shadowy than say a big 1800 number on the page. I would think a lot of affiliates would not guess that they won't get commission just because the customer paid using another method.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

But to answer your original question, some vendors want to be able to sell their products themselves, without affiliates, in addition to having affiliates, and you can't altogether blame them for not wanting to pay Clickbank's enormous transaction-costs on those sales, can you?

I actually don't mind that vendor want to do that but it's misleading on
CB's part especially in this case customer cannot pay with Clickbank so there is no point putting the product on Clickbank except to lure unknowing affiliates.

[Derek S]

Hey suncraft,

Make sure your looking at their affiliates landing page is they might use a seperate landing page for clickbank products.

For example I have a my main site (mainsite.com) use paypal and collect email addresses...

I have a different landing page (mainsite.com/clickbank) that I use the clickbank check out and removed opt-in forms for affiliates.

If this is the case simply buy a domain name similar to the product and have it forwarded to the affiliate link.


cheers

[Eric Lorence]

You have to remember that the single best criteria for choosing a CB product to promote is the reputation of the publisher.

There are just too many caveats when promoting stuff thru CB, and this will not change because frankly, the publishers are their "bread and butter".

You can try to evaluate the landing page, popularity, gravity, etc ... but it all means squat if you never get paid. This is especially true for those that use PPC to drive traffic.

The good news is that many of those publishers are here on the forum, and many of the honest ones have their own affiliate solutions, and you don't need CB and all their problems.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by SunCraft

I would think a lot of affiliates would not guess that they won't get commission just because the customer paid using another method.

They'd have to be pretty dumb not to work it out, though, surely? How do they expect to get paid a commission by Clickbank if Clickbank don't make the sale?!

But maybe you're right: after all, there are some affiliates who promote Clickbank products with all sorts of other sales page leaks, too.

Originally Posted by SunCraft

there is no point putting the product on Clickbank except to lure unknowing affiliates.

Well, those affiliates will still get paid commissions on the sales made to customers who choose to pay by Clickbank. (Hardly a satisfactory arrangement, I do appreciate!)

I'm not defending these vendors at all - and wouldn't dream of becoming an affiliate for them, obviously - I was just making the point that it's unfair to blame Clickbank for something totally outside their control.

I do sometimes criticise Clickbank here over some of their idiocies, so I just wanted to be similarly open and direct in pointing out that some well-known "vendor/affiliate problems" aren't actually their fault, or within their control, at all.