CLICKBANK - How's This for Strange?

[stevaxx]

I've been having some real problems. Sales every day then stopped, nothing for 2 weeks despite a huge increase in traffic. I contacted Clickbank and received the reply below. I don't know what to think.

Hello John,

Thank you for your inquiry! I have checked your account and confirmed that it is active and working properly. Please rest assured that ClickBank is not currently experiencing any issues in tracking your referrals. Our technical team is constantly checking our system to ensure that every aspect of ClickBank is functioning correctly.

It is normal to experience fluctuations in sales. Even our most successful publishers and affiliates go through periods of seemingly unusual activity. In order to understand the inconsistency of sales it is important to recognize your success as a ClickBank client is dependent upon your consumers. Several factors, such as market demand, customer interest, holidays and seasons all affect the volume of sales that your account receives. Sometimes these factors combine favorably with your marketing campaign, but sometimes they do not.

Also, please keep in mind that the current distress of the American economy is having large impact on not only Internet sales, but all sales in general.

If you are concerned that there is indeed an issue, I would recommend that you double check your advertising campaigns to make sure that everything is functioning correctly. You can verify that your links are functioning correctly by following the steps outlined below:

1. Enter your hoplink into your Internet address bar.

2. Click through the publisher's ordering process until you reach the ClickBank order form.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the ClickBank order form. You should see your account nickname listed as the affiliate.

This proves that your link is set up correctly and ensures your account will be credited with any commissions earned by referring paying customers to this publisher.

Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance!

Thank you.

Kylee G.
ClickBank Client Service
jaj@clickbank.com@clickbank.com

[eikliw]

what I don't like is every time I want to start leaning away form clickbank, I have a good $100+ day squeeze in, making me want to stick around.

I'd like to have my own affiliate system set up, but theres just so many affiliates already using clickbank...

[Dixiebelle]

You all need to check the other threads about the Clickbank problem. It seems that sales are being made, but affiliates aren't getting credit for them.

Check your hop links on your affiliate products. When you go to the checkout page, and scroll to the bottom of the page, a lot of people are finding that it says "affiliate=none". People are buying, but the affiliate links are missing.

I haven't made a single sale on my 2 Clickbank products in the last 2 months, because my affiliate link is missing. I have sent them an email, but haven't heard back as yet.

Dixie

[TheNightOwl]

Originally Posted by stevaxx

Hello John,

Thank you for your inquiry! I have checked your account and confirmed that it is active and working properly. Please rest assured that ClickBank is not currently experiencing any issues in tracking your referrals. Our technical team is constantly checking our system to ensure that every aspect of ClickBank is functioning correctly.

It is normal to experience fluctuations in sales. Even our most successful publishers and affiliates go through periods of seemingly unusual activity. In order to understand the inconsistency of sales it is important to recognize your success as a ClickBank client is dependent upon your consumers. Several factors, such as market demand, customer interest, holidays and seasons all affect the volume of sales that your account receives. Sometimes these factors combine favorably with your marketing campaign, but sometimes they do not.

Also, please keep in mind that the current distress of the American economy is having large impact on not only Internet sales, but all sales in general.

If you are concerned that there is indeed an issue, I would recommend that you double check your advertising campaigns to make sure that everything is functioning correctly.

etceteraaaaaaaa......

Man, if that don't sound like regurgitated, copy'n'paste spin-doctoring, I dunno what is.

Hey? Am I being cynical again?

[Nicola Lane]

I think this is becoming an excellent reason to use something like DLguard.

Clickbank will have to process sales correctly in order for people to get thier products - and if merchants can then match up thier non-affiliate sales with the affiliates then there will be some concrete evidence.

It will also mean that no-one can simply hijack the whole sale (affiliate and merchant).

[kwaldron]

Is there only one alternative (PDC) to Clickbank as a supplier of digital products ?
If there was true competition in this area, that would be best incentive for them to sort out their problems.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by TheNightOwl

etceteraaaaaaaa......

Man, if that don't sound like regurgitated, copy'n'paste spin-doctoring, I dunno what is.

Hey? Am I being cynical again?

Unfortunately, everybody is getting the same response. I find that at little
sad, but yet it's understandable. They must be getting hundreds if not
thousands of complaints. Since they're basically going to stick to the same
story, what's the point of writing a person response.

So while it is kind of sad, it's understandable.

The flip side is this...if there was a problem and they gave you a copy
and paste response detailing it, I don't think you'd be as upset.

[zerofill]

Gee wonder who gets the affiliate commission when the affiliate ID isn't there...{sarcasm intended}

I just went through and tested a bunch of mine too...but I didn't have any issues.

[TheNightOwl]

Originally Posted by Nicola Lane

if merchants can then match up thier non-affiliate sales with the affiliates then there will be some concrete evidence.

Didn't markph say he'd already done that and they denied it was true?

[Stallion]

I hate being lied too. I feel like answering their replies with "Okay. That's enough. Close my account. I can't do business with people that have no intention of being honest with me."

[TheNightOwl]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

So while it is kind of sad, it's understandable.

I agree. I don't know if it was in this thread or the other, related one (or whether it was just in the chasms of my mind) that I said it's a bit of a double-bind for the old ClickBank.

I mean, if they say "There's no problem", people like me don't believe 'em. [Qualifier: Not just as a matter of course, incidentally; because people have run their tests and they still say all A-OK].

On the other hand, they say "Yep, there's a problem", they go out of business before next weekend.

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

The flip side is this...if there was a problem and they gave you a copy
and paste response detailing it, I don't think you'd be as upset.

Actually. Steven, I'm not particularly upset at all. I'm just cynical. There are several people who've posted recently saying they've done empirical tests and presented ClickBank with evidence that suggests something is out of order only to be told that everything's hunky-dory.

Clearly this is for the double-bind-a-licious mentioned a moment ago.

I'm not upset. Just doubting.

And, on the contrary, if they said, yes, there's a problem (cut'n'paste or no) and we've been denying it all along, I'd be much more upset. Thieves and liars.

But what can they do? If they come out and say "Hey, affiliates... hey merchants... we're currently experiencing a problem which may mean you don't get paid correctly...uh... hang about a bit while we look into, eh?" then we both know the result.

[TheNightOwl]

Just found this thread, hot off the press...

This is the kind of thing that makes me cynical Mr Wagenheim.

[malik92]

why don't you buy from your affiliate link to test it , then ask for a refund and ask some of your friends to do this too , then see if the commission show up .

I once had this problem but with a cpa network , then i sent 7 leads (all friends) to a cpa offer but only 3 leads recorded they were basically shaving my leads, i changed them and it's all good now .

I don't know if it's clickbank's fault or yours but you can always test .

Malik

[Stallion]

I don't know if it's clickbank's fault or yours but you can always test .

It's being tested. You look at the bottom of the order page and see [affiliate = none]. You're not getting commission.

[ecdavis]

Aside from the issue of sales, I track my clickthroughs to Clickbank by TID, and I'd say that at the time of this writing, only about 1 in 7 are being recorded by their Analyzer tool. As I mentioned earlier, I have sent four inquiry emails but received no replies. I'm not sure what the correct course of action is. I will send another report in tomorrow, but after that I'll start considering other channels of communication, though I'm not sure what my options are.

[prodozoan]

Originally Posted by JayXtreme

We have all we need to know... regardless of the reasons or problems.. our stats and figures are what counts here.. and my stats tell me that CB has issues..

I keep using this example..

Over 15 conduit method sites... guess which one under performs when the rest remain consistent?... yup.. the one with CB products.

I did a split test on a list:

Autoresponder messages fail miserably with a CB product.. the same message, same product but with an independent link... hits a home run.

I have too much of my own evidence to ignore this... I don't care what CB has to say about the issues.. I don't need them to be skimming off the top of my checks.... I allowed them to take a cut for a long time, and I put plenty on the table with them, i'm no half assed affiliate..

But now....I have successfully found replacement products/programs for my whole business, plenty of the products on RAP and independents which works even better for me... it's just a matter of slowly making the switch bit by bit

Peace

Jay

Jay,

What are the other networks that you would recommend if I am looking for products to sell to the non IM niche?

Ajith

[ecdavis]

Jay,

Hi. If you are willing to divulge some of your affiliate resources, I'm sure many here could benefit from that information. I've also been looking for other programs to switch to that can accomodate my niche areas. Clickbank is just so potentially convenient that it is incredibly frustrating to have to drop them because of something so transparently absurd. I still tend to think that this is a tech issue that will, at some point, stabilize, but waiting it out may not be an option.

Evan

[anomaly]

Originally Posted by ecdavis

Aside from the issue of sales, I track my clickthroughs to Clickbank by TID, and I'd say that at the time of this writing, only about 1 in 7 are being recorded by their Analyzer tool. As I mentioned earlier, I have sent four inquiry emails but received no replies. I'm not sure what the correct course of action is. I will send another report in tomorrow, but after that I'll start considering other channels of communication, though I'm not sure what my options are.

i've noticed about 2 - 3 in 10 of my TIDS are coming through as no tid, even though they definitely have tids ... most annoying!

[vikramd]

Well. I had problems with my affiliate sales with CB a year ago. They denied anything was wrong so i created a new account and changed my hop links.

Voila!! I started making sales again.

[James Blair]

Just another reason I primarily like to stick to creating my own products. It just seems like when major aspects or even your entire business is not entirely in your control, then things start going wrong and you have a lot less control over figuring out what the problem is and fixing it.

I'm not downing affiliate marketing or anything like that at all, for me it's place is a supplemental income from time to time..

I just like knowing that if something DOES go wrong, then it's my fault, and I can figure out exactly what it is right then and work on fixing it.

Clickbank is generally reputable and they've paid me on time every time and they have their good uses, but you just never know what may happen or what's going on. Their tracking could be all jacked up, could be anything.

Maybe I'm just a control freak or something lol but that's how I feel about it.


James