Theory about ClickBank

15 years ago

I use php redirects to all my cb products and while I have had some very dubious paches of sales over the last few months I am making a living.

Steve

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UnmaskingCPA Banned 15 years ago

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Platinum Matt

15 years ago

Clickbank ROCK... I love them.

Yes, they have rough patches but overall, there's nobody out there that touches them.

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Stephon "Phon" Rudd Banned 15 years ago

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nadavs

15 years ago

I have a bad sale period (AKA one sale per week) and I'm using PHP redirects.

nadavs

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ArthurRose

Banned 15 years ago

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Chris Lockwood 15 years ago

Originally Posted by ArthurRose

Some people have bought a product but it never shows up as a sale.

If it didn't show up as a sale, how do you know somebody bought the product?
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hittjw

15 years ago

Clickbank is great for getting that initial sale, then you can follow up with an up-sell to make the second sale. They have a strong affiliate network, but don't like physical products (or very high priced products.)

Not sure why Clickbank would scam someone, they will make more money properly recording affiliate sales. The reason sales come through in groups is because they are batching the transactions.

Batch transactions give them a lower merchant rate, they make money on the split between what they charge the merchant and what processing charges them. Sales group up because it takes time to get the data over to reporting.

If you are worried about scamming then use multiple merchant accounts, see if sales trends are similar or different across providers. You'll likely find that Clickbank transactions take a 6 to 12 hours to record. Not a big deal.

Best,

Justin

Ps. If you are really concerned about scamming, then track conversion independent of your merchant providers (or clickbank.)

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IMamy

15 years ago

and another reason could be that the person who purchased the product changed the affiliate over to themselves . . . depending on the niche, you might be selling to someone who already has a clickbank account and who doesn't care about crediting the person who brought him to the product . . .

sad, but true . . .

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Steven Craig 15 years ago

I am in 4 separate niches promoting 6 clickbank products. All my links use a php redirect. Throughout 2007 and up until July 08, I was making at least 1 sale a day, with the average being 3 per day. I rarely saw a day go by where I didn't make a sale. Since then, I have had many stretches in which I've made nothing (2-5 days at a time). In 2 years, I've never had dry spells like this.

I was converting sales at approx 80 hops/sale. Now it's several hundred

Steven
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Andy Fletcher

15 years ago

For all the Clickbank conspiracy theorists. What on Earth do they have to gain by failing to pay affiliates properly?

Its not like they can keep a bigger fee even. They'd make exactly the same money in the short term and annoy a load of affiliates who then leave to go somewhere else.

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GeorgR.

15 years ago

well they wouldnt have anything to gain, i was just trying to collect "data" assuming that the rumors about those "clickbank doesnt make sales" are true.

I myself occasionally am going through those phases where i have ZERO sales in a row, and its just too many people reporting the same.

Yes, there are many possible reasons, from cookie stuffing (IMHO rather unlikely) to browser security setting to antivirus programs which COULD prevent sales.

But that can all be checked by trying to buy from your own links and checking whether the ID is shown at the bottom of the page.
(Also, clear cookies in your browsers before)

If you then go on your own pages and then see the affiliate name right everything SHOULD work.

I just had a theory in mind since i heard from CB that they have "measures" to prevent fraud or something...which COULD be related to browser referers or whatever checks they do...so i was wondering whether the reported problems might be more apparent for people who use redirects (which should actually be, yes, the "recommended" method since even clickbank shows how to properly redirect links)

Working with CB myself (also in conjunction with my product "affiliate site quick") and knowing several methods of acquiring affiliate cookies (some of them not even 100% clickbank TOS conform), i just observe certain behavior.
I can tell you that the "not 100% clickbank TOS conform way" to get the cookie works 100% (as opposed to what CB actually says!) which makes me wonder whether the "recommended" method (the clean redirects) then cause problems, i wouldnt be surprised actually.

G.

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DonDavis

15 years ago

Pad- Why are you spamming the forum with your PM's?

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coreytucker 15 years ago

Theres a problem with Clickbank right now! Its to the point where I feel like im builing new sites for nothing. Im really strongly considering only promoting products outside of Clickbank now.

Im getting more traffic to some of my best converting products then I have ever had yet im not making nearly as much. The traffic is coming from the same ezinearticles and yet they are not converting. This has been going on for months now.

And also when I get a $0 day now its followed by a string of them. My best products use to convert like clockwork at about 1 sale in 70 hoplink clicks. Now I can get 150 hoplink clicks with no sales, I know theres something going on. I don't trust clickbanks tracking at all, I just hate to stop promoting one of the products im promoting because its actually a quality product. Its hard to find a product I feel good about promoting, this is the only reason I have not dropped clickbank yet.
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Bruce NewMedia

15 years ago

This Clickbank sales discussion is interesting.

Have any of you suffering big sales declines considered it could be the markets you're in?...Are they the type of market(s) that could be negatively affected by the economy or NEWS about the economy?

While I can see some markets and products doing better during a recession, (IM for instance) many can be assumed to do worse. I could see traffic being the same, maybe even more, but getting fewer sales.

It just seems odd to me that Clickbank is immediately the assumed culprit.
______
Bruce

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kurt naulaerts

15 years ago

Delicate subject. I'm sure CB itself doesn't interfere but when I see my CTRs and sales then I really believe that somewhere things go wrong.

I'm now promoting Commission Junction products. Awesome!

Kurt

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mfo

15 years ago

Originally Posted by kurt naulaerts

Delicate subject. I'm sure CB itself doesn't interfere but when I see my CTRs and sales then I really believe that somewhere things go wrong.

I'm now promoting Commission Junction products. Awesome!

Kurt

Yep, I agree with you about CJ. I was having the same problems with CB then switched to a very similar product in CJ and now my sales are back to normal once again.

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Haltingpoint

15 years ago

Originally Posted by brucerby

This Clickbank sales discussion is interesting.

Have any of you suffering big sales declines considered it could be the markets you're in?...Are they the type of market(s) that could be negatively affected by the economy or NEWS about the economy?

While I can see some markets and products doing better during a recession, (IM for instance) many can be assumed to do worse. I could see traffic being the same, maybe even more, but getting fewer sales.

It just seems odd to me that Clickbank is immediately the assumed culprit.
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Bruce

Indeed an interesting thread and thank you for injecting some logic into this discussion. Without knowing the niches being referenced I can't really make a definitive statement but you might want to start searching around for industry publications that cover the business side of your niche (not the consumer side) and see what they say about the impact of the crappy economy.

You may think you are in a recession proof niche but that doesn't really matter if people just don't have the money to spend. Unfortunately things will likely get worse before they get better too.

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faakhatri

15 years ago

I would be surprised if clickbank did any such thing. They have made a good name and are one of the top players in the market. I think it can be something like google slap to someone who they have found to be doing something untoward

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Stephon "Phon" Rudd

Banned 15 years ago

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Kay King

15 years ago

True, Clickbank has nothing to gain and I don't think they are intentionally causing tracking problems. However, they have nothing to lose either if the sales keep coming as they will get their share.

For at least two months there have been many reports of problems with CB tracking. In the past, CB has been very slow to acknowledge any problems and even slower in correcting them.

I tested several links last month and found about half were not ending up at my affiliate link - even when they were the same type redirect. I cleared cookies, tried again and had similar results.

The problem may not be widespread or affect all products or affiliates - but there does seem to be some problem. My opinion is that whether the problem is at CB itself or in interference at some point - CB should be proactive in investigating the cause so they can advise affiliates how to avoid losing credit for sales.

kay

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Emmanuel Betinis

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

I tested several links last month and found about half were not ending up at my affiliate link - even when they were the same type redirect. I cleared cookies, tried again and had similar results.

THAT is scary.

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GeorgR.

15 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

I tested several links last month and found about half were not ending up at my affiliate link - even when they were the same type redirect. I cleared cookies, tried again and had similar results.

could you give details? did you just go through normal hoplink, used the same browser?

if you say "did not end up on my afflink"...what do you mean? The cookie was not set and you didnt see the [affiliate=name] right at the checkout page? I really want to get "behind" this mystery and collect some data...

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Kay King 15 years ago

I thought afterward I should have made notes of the results - I was doing it just from curiosity.

I had an email from someone requesting my affiliate link for a product they were going to buy. I sent the standard hoplink and didn't get any credit for a sale so just assumed they ordered elsewhere or didn't buy. But then heard from them about the purchase and that they were please with it (I had recommended the product to them).

Checking CB I found another purchase I thought had been made wasn't listed.

I clicked hoplinks I had sent in the emails to them - and they did not give my aff id but were affiliate=none - but the links were right. If I entered the links into my browser bar they showed correctly as my aff links.

Then I checked several links on some of my websites - and these are very simple redirects through a subdomain or folder labeled "best" or "recommends". What was odd was that sometimes my affiliate link was properly displayed - but going back to the redirect again that link ended at affiliate=none.

At that point I threw up my hands - and had to leave for an appointment. I have removed some of the products (wasn't doing a lot of CB promotion anyway) and thought I'd check links again soon to see if there any improvement.

If I get a chance I will try to document what I find - at the time I thought it might just be a temporary glitch so didn't sweat it. However, since then I've seen the problem mentioned several places online.

When I find a problem like this (that isn't critical to my sites) my reaction is usually to give it some time to resolve and then try it again. So often, you can waste time and energy getting upset over what might be a simple site problem that is only temporary.

kay
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coco28

15 years ago

RevenueWire and Clickbank have some of the same products - if you think there is a problem with clickbank, just register with RevenueWire, change your links, and see if the sales pattern continues. Don't know how many products are featured on both networks, but one I promote is...

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netbizop

15 years ago

I don't know, but surely clickbank would realize that if they were doing anything shady, it would be found out very quickly. They know how quickly word gets around.

Probably worth discussing though.

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snidge

15 years ago

I'm not sure they are trying to scam their affiliates. I use Clickbank a bit and I must say that it is one of the most confusing websites to use that I have ever come across. Everything from reporting, down to setting things up to sell a product. I'm not even sure how to find how much they currently owe me, I also spent a good 2 hours trying to figure out how to add my own product without any luck. Very confusing.

That being said, it could just be issues with their system as it seems very poorly developed.

I see what you mean about days without any sales. I start to think there is something wrong and I'll login to see that I have multiple sales that day. Who knows!

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GeorgR.

15 years ago

i think its super easy to work with CB, although thats my personal opinion

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Thomas Wilkinson

15 years ago

In my "real world" business last year my conversion was about
one customer for every five contacts. This year its about one
in nine. My average sale amount is off too. People are being
much more careful with their money. Just the nature of the
economy. People who are say under thirty haven't seen as many
ups and downs as those of us who are older than dirt. This is
going to be a tough year but it'll pass. Just keep your head down
and tough it out.

Tom

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GeorgR.

15 years ago

i am constantly testing my links, either simple PHP redirects, or "generated" sites or hoplinks. They all go "through".

One theory is that it has to do with browser security settings. But i *just* tested and even set security settings in Internet Explorer to "medium high", and i still get the cookies. (Which i actually didn't expect). So, on this end i never see a problem because everything "looks" allright to me.

The other theory would revolve about a number of WIDELY used virus apps like kaspersky or norton. MANY run them. If they have some "default" settings which would block those cookies.

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Emmanuel Betinis

15 years ago

Interesting. I was just considering going to "Rapid Action Profits" system only because it's really the only sure-fire way of tackling both the alleged "Clickbank cookie/affiliate payment" AND the "publishers not always paying on Commission Junction" problems at once VS. CJ...

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GB2008

15 years ago

Does this whole debate just reinforce the "multiple streams of income" approach? Seems like we're all entrepreneurs here - so it makes sense to not be reliant on a single source... So promote some products from one, some from another then you can quickly see if there's a market downturn or a problem with one particular setup.