An Experiment for the CB problem? Or am I out of my tree?
If I'm off my rocker, just say so, cause I spent an hour and a half on the phone with a fellow IM'r tonight who has products on CB and isnt' getting sales and didnt' even know about these threads. After 90 minutes, we both agreed that this was 'possible' based on the facts.
* Sales are still going through with other affiliate manager programs, this seems to be 'isolated' to Clickbank.
* Therefore we can rule out the economy and the season
* Recently, Clickband added a currency converter
* Some people are still getting sales with CB products while others are not.
I've been following this 'Clickbank Problem' for about a week and a half and I have two 'thoughts' on the issue.
This is purely speculation as I'm not a programmer and certainly no hacker so whether or not this is possible or even plausible I couldn't say. I could just be buying into the 'conspiracy theory' here, but I haven't seen anyone else voice this, so I'll be the guinea pig.
The first is to separate the types of products that are selling from the types that aren't. Look for a common factor. Is it only IM products that aren't selling while the 'niche' products do fine? Vice versa?
More so, I think the problem is somewhere at the point of sale. Could it be possible that someone has 'hacked' Clickbank and interrupted the point of sale with some kind of 'mask' to make it look like the sale never went through even though it did and the money is just being redirected through a different payment processor and routed to somewhere else?
One way to test the theory is to separate those who use squeeze pages. If the prospect had to opt-in just to see the sales letter, then the vendor has his list. He can contact that list and ask them if they've made a purchase.
LIST BUILDERS??? Anyone up to give this a shot?
If not, another option is again, separate the sellers from the non-sellers, find a common denominator in the types of products that are part of the 'no sale mystery.'
Once you've established the 'type' of product that isn't selling, you can then have someone test the purchase process for you. If they make the purchase, but the sale never shows to CB or the vendor, then it's most likely some kind of interruption at the point of sale.
It's important to first separate what IS selling from what isn't so that you don't go in and try to purchase something that IS selling since that's not what you're looking for.
If someone did hack the site and they've only hacked 'one type of product' than that can help to narrow down the problem.
Then there's an experimental group and a control group.
Since no one wants to 'give away their niches' it would probably be best to choose ONE person (one person everyone trusts, that is), to submit your list of CB products to, and let them sort out the what's selling and what isn't factor.
Once the control group and experimental group are identified, either e-mail your lists, or ask someone you know to make a purchase. If their purchase goes through and you never see it and CB has no record of it, it's a point of sale problem. My first thought goes to hacking, but then again, it could be something that happened when they switched to the currency converter. There might just be a 'flaw' in the code or in the security measures.
So who wants to be the first to have me hauled off by the men in the white lab coats for being a conspiracy theorist?
-Marcus
P.S. as a side note, CB has made a lot of people a lot of money. I would hate to see people just turn tail and head for the hills on something or someone who has done so much for them as CB has done for vendors and affiliates alike. Let's try to help them solve the problem before abandoning the ship that has kept so many afloat for so long.
* Sales are still going through with other affiliate manager programs, this seems to be 'isolated' to Clickbank.
* Therefore we can rule out the economy and the season
* Recently, Clickband added a currency converter
* Some people are still getting sales with CB products while others are not.
I've been following this 'Clickbank Problem' for about a week and a half and I have two 'thoughts' on the issue.
This is purely speculation as I'm not a programmer and certainly no hacker so whether or not this is possible or even plausible I couldn't say. I could just be buying into the 'conspiracy theory' here, but I haven't seen anyone else voice this, so I'll be the guinea pig.
The first is to separate the types of products that are selling from the types that aren't. Look for a common factor. Is it only IM products that aren't selling while the 'niche' products do fine? Vice versa?
More so, I think the problem is somewhere at the point of sale. Could it be possible that someone has 'hacked' Clickbank and interrupted the point of sale with some kind of 'mask' to make it look like the sale never went through even though it did and the money is just being redirected through a different payment processor and routed to somewhere else?
One way to test the theory is to separate those who use squeeze pages. If the prospect had to opt-in just to see the sales letter, then the vendor has his list. He can contact that list and ask them if they've made a purchase.
LIST BUILDERS??? Anyone up to give this a shot?
If not, another option is again, separate the sellers from the non-sellers, find a common denominator in the types of products that are part of the 'no sale mystery.'
Once you've established the 'type' of product that isn't selling, you can then have someone test the purchase process for you. If they make the purchase, but the sale never shows to CB or the vendor, then it's most likely some kind of interruption at the point of sale.
It's important to first separate what IS selling from what isn't so that you don't go in and try to purchase something that IS selling since that's not what you're looking for.
If someone did hack the site and they've only hacked 'one type of product' than that can help to narrow down the problem.
Then there's an experimental group and a control group.
Since no one wants to 'give away their niches' it would probably be best to choose ONE person (one person everyone trusts, that is), to submit your list of CB products to, and let them sort out the what's selling and what isn't factor.
Once the control group and experimental group are identified, either e-mail your lists, or ask someone you know to make a purchase. If their purchase goes through and you never see it and CB has no record of it, it's a point of sale problem. My first thought goes to hacking, but then again, it could be something that happened when they switched to the currency converter. There might just be a 'flaw' in the code or in the security measures.
So who wants to be the first to have me hauled off by the men in the white lab coats for being a conspiracy theorist?
-Marcus
P.S. as a side note, CB has made a lot of people a lot of money. I would hate to see people just turn tail and head for the hills on something or someone who has done so much for them as CB has done for vendors and affiliates alike. Let's try to help them solve the problem before abandoning the ship that has kept so many afloat for so long.