clickbank or paydotcom ?

32 replies
I going to launch my 1st product soon, considering clickbank or paydotcom to handle my affiliate commissions and activities. Which one is better, any experience one out there care to share ?

tx
#clickbank #paydotcom
  • Profile picture of the author Ian Middleton
    Well I think you might find that Click Bank is the first name that people learn when it comes to internet marketing and it is certainly easy to use as an affiliate or product owner.

    They are also extremely good and quick if you ever need to get a refund.

    Hope that is of some value
    Ian Middleton
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  • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
    USE BOTH

    There will be affiliates you'll attract in CB that don't use PDC and affiliates you'll attract
    in PDC that don't use CB.

    Just make 2 versions of the salespage and affiliate page and maybe even the download page.

    Cheers,
    Jason
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    • Profile picture of the author Franck Silvestre
      Yes, just make 2 versions of your sales page, and see what happens. test this instead of trying to guess. In IM, guessing = losing money (a LOT)

      Originally Posted by jasondinner View Post

      USE BOTH

      There will be affiliates you'll attract in CB that don't use PDC and affiliates you'll attract
      in PDC that don't use CB.

      Just make 2 versions of the salespage and affiliate page and maybe even the download page.

      Cheers,
      Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    A couple of differences that you might take into consideration:

    1 - PayDotCom allows you to list your first product for free and have a one-time fee for subsequent products. ClickBank will charge you a fee for every product.

    2 - ClickBank has a refund period that you need to wait out before you get paid. PayDotCom has no such policy.

    I have also been trying to decide between the two for a membership site. ClickBanks refund policy makes no sense for a membership site (someone joins for a month, quits and then still has another month to ask for a refund?).

    Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Based on my experience, Clickbank is the hands-down winner.

      Clickbank automatically takes care of affiliates. Paydotcom does not.

      Clickbank handles payments and can offer additional options such as Paypal. Paydotcom does not have its own payment processor but can work with Paypal..

      Clickbank has significantly more affiliates.

      Clickbank is faster.

      Clickbank continues to upgrade and improve its services. Which is ironic, given that Paydotcom was supposed to have been developed to address Clickbank's indifference to the market.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeAmbrosio
        Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

        Based on my experience, Clickbank is the hands-down winner.

        Clickbank automatically takes care of affiliates. Paydotcom does not.

        Clickbank handles payments and can offer additional options such as Paypal. Paydotcom does not have its own payment processor but can work with Paypal..

        Clickbank has significantly more affiliates.

        Clickbank is faster.

        Clickbank continues to upgrade and improve its services. Which is ironic, given that Paydotcom was supposed to have been developed to address Clickbank's indifference to the market.
        Haven't been to PDC recently, have you ...

        The speed issue PDC had has been addressed and resolved for over a year now.

        As well, features get added all the time - and are being developed. In fact, in the near future there are some new developments that will blow people away.

        Here's an example of a new feature...

        Let's say you have three products that are in a related niche, but each have their own sales pages, etc. In PDC, you can add all three to a "Group" - which means that if an affiliate promotes Product 'A', then you want to offer Products 'B' and 'C' in the download area, your affiliate will get credit for those sales too using just one affiliate link.

        The same with Products 'B' and 'C' - affiliates of THOSE products will also get credit for any sales of Product 'A'.

        Now, as I recall - and correct me if I am wrong, cause it's been a while - CB does not do this without a 3rd party CB affiliate program.

        In any case, I think both CB and PDC offer their own unique variables and I agree with Jason - use both.

        Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author tim_buchalka
      Originally Posted by mywebwork View Post

      A couple of differences that you might take into consideration:

      1 - PayDotCom allows you to list your first product for free and have a one-time fee for subsequent products. ClickBank will charge you a fee for every product.

      2 - ClickBank has a refund period that you need to wait out before you get paid. PayDotCom has no such policy.

      I have also been trying to decide between the two for a membership site. ClickBanks refund policy makes no sense for a membership site (someone joins for a month, quits and then still has another month to ask for a refund?).

      Bill
      You don't have to wait for the refund period to elapse before getting paid with clickbank. We have many products on clickbank and this has never been the case.

      Clickbank do withhold a percentage of sales from a product owner for refunds, but the vast majority of funds is released quickly.

      See

      https://www.clickbank.com/accounting.html#RWP

      (under Return allowance). Usually 10%. We've never paid more than that, but I understand if your refunds start mounting up, etc they may raise this.

      I always recommend you don't focus on people trying to rip you off (asking for a refund, etc). The vast majority of people out there are honest, and if you have a good product the percentage of refunds will be low.

      If you focus on refunds, and other "negative" stuff, you would never put up a membership site! We offer a 60 day guarantee on our membership accounts and virtually never have to refund. Yes some people will take "advantage" of it, but they are in the minority by far.

      My vote is with clickbank for ease of use, and weekly payments. We get payments direct to our bank in Australia each week.

      Cheers



      Tim
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        If you are in the U.S., keep tax issues in mind!

        If you use Clickbank, "your" affiliates are really Clickbank's affiliates. Clickbank pays them. If they earn over $600, Clickbank will have them fill out W-9's, Clickbank will send them 1099's, and Clickbank will send the 1096 to the IRS.

        With PayDotCom, you pay your affiliates. If any of them earn more than $600 in a year, you will need to track them down and get them to fill out a W-9 so that you can send them 1099's come tax season. And, you will be responsible for sending the 1096 form to the IRS.

        And, for the disclaimer part, I'm not an accountant, but these are issues you should definitely talk to your accountant about!
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        • Profile picture of the author jasondinner
          Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

          If you are in the U.S., keep tax issues in mind!

          If you use Clickbank, "your" affiliates are really Clickbank's affiliates. Clickbank pays them. If they earn over $600, Clickbank will have them fill out W-9's, Clickbank will send them 1099's, and Clickbank will send the 1096 to the IRS.

          With PayDotCom, you pay your affiliates. If any of them earn more than $600 in a year, you will need to track them down and get them to fill out a W-9 so that you can send them 1099's come tax season. And, you will be responsible for sending the 1096 form to the IRS.

          And, for the disclaimer part, I'm not an accountant, but these are issues you should definitely talk to your accountant about!
          I found the trick to that is not paying affiliates UNTIL they provide you with that info.

          Also, keep in mind that PDC and CB are not the only affiliate programs available and most
          others require YOU to get the tax info from your affiliates.

          I'd say CB is the exception when it comes to that.

          Jason
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          • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
            Originally Posted by jasondinner View Post

            I found the trick to that is not paying affiliates UNTIL they provide you with that info.

            Also, keep in mind that PDC and CB are not the only affiliate programs available and most
            others require YOU to get the tax info from your affiliates.

            I'd say CB is the exception when it comes to that.
            And that's why ClickBank gets my vote. ;-)

            I hate additional paperwork. I have enough to do with freelancers to whom I outsource. Keeping track of who knows how many affiliates is just one more thing I'd prefer not to have to do. It's not as if the IRS pays me or reimburses me for doing their job as a tax collector. So, with CB handling all that, they get the thumbs-up in my book.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Mayhew
    100% ClickBank
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  • Profile picture of the author WizzyWizh
    I'd rather go with maxbounty or marketleverage.
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    I tried to use Paydotcom but soon realized they have terrible customer service. I needed help with my button code and one guy over there ignored me for weeks so I had to move on. I'm using e-junkie now.

    I should have known PDC might not be the best company with all the grammatical errors all over their website.
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  • Profile picture of the author majidmaskat
    when i first time was introduced i was amazed. I mean is a fishing pond for resale products.. But this striked me the more sales you are making the richer the product owner right??
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  • Profile picture of the author macleod000
    I'd go for Clickbank .
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  • Profile picture of the author dsmpublishing
    i had two products that i put both on clickbank and paydotcom. All my affiliates wanted to use clickbank so i dont bother with paydotcom now and i like the service i get from clickbank. On the other hand if you want affiliate cash quick use paydotcom as its done through paypal.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rajaie
    I was waiting for someone to mention e-Junkie. Although I haven't used Clickbank or PayDotCom, I have used e-Junkie and it's pretty awesome. You only have to pay a monthly fee to host your files, that's all their is to it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Dodson
    I've always started my own custom affiliate programs where I can manually screen each affiliate before signing them up and view their activity afterwards.

    Call me paranoid but there are people out there that could potentially represent your business the wrong way when selling. (i.e. spammers)

    Totally worth the extra effort.
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  • Profile picture of the author ADAMw3
    I know with paydotcom you are allowed to have squeeze page in front of your main sales page, but does clickbank allow this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Trieu
    Clickbank seems to have a better rep than Paydotcom, but with PDT, you get paid via paypal and customers asking for refunds is not so easy
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  • Profile picture of the author Yskho
    look like most favour CB. i had some bad experiences with Mike F. their customer service is always my concern, so i never try PDC. For myself, CB is still the best choice around
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  • Profile picture of the author interval
    I will vote for ClickBank. If your product is digital type, you should do the same.
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    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Mike:

      I checked out PDC today, considered your comments and the 'feature' you mention, and after further consideration.... Clickbank IMHO is still a far superior service, both from the perspective of an affiliate and a merchant.

      Years ago Clickbank was just loathed and a lot of us had such high hopes for PDC. Clickbank may not be perfect for everyone, but it has certainly made a huge effort to improve itself.

      When PDC has made that effort, and we're not talking about future features, but stuff that actually works, then a re-evaluation can be made.

      But this isn't just my opinion. I think the marketplace speaks for itself as far as which is the preferred service.

      Personally, I would like to see PDC make a better effort, because true competition encourages even more innovation, which only benefits us.
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      • Profile picture of the author philbowman
        Every time I asked the question, or a discussion came up...ClickBank always
        got the vote.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joel Gray
    Both have their pro's and con's, but I believe that Clickbank has a more dependable structure for paying affiliates and the U.S. Tax thing is big if you are from here. PDC is a good choice for high priced items that will net less overall sales...this is due to the payment method of PDC. But for the majority of the product producers and affiliates Clickbank is the better choice.

    Joel
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  • Profile picture of the author cassidywilliams
    PayDotCom has much less people on it.. so less chance to find affiliates
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenneth L
    PayDotCom is a good option for people who want to sell Physical Products. No-one has mentioned that yet but it is a really good thing about it.

    I think CB and PDC are different and you should decide carefully for each different project what the best solution is going to be. Too many people are too quick to discount PDC and I think Mike is doing a good job with it.

    However, keep in mind there is and never will be a perfect system. The goal isn't perfection - it is simply to make money.

    Kenneth
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  • Profile picture of the author P1R4T3
    Clickbank > Paydotcom IMHO

    Although paydotcom charge a lower rate and can give you instant cash in paypal - clickbank have a lot more products and cover a wider niche base.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ivan Correces
    How about you use both
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  • Profile picture of the author pay2ran
    I have products on both networks. Well.. used to before I stopped using PDC.
    Clickbank has 3 major advantages over PDC:

    1. more affiliates
    2. ppc affiliates can track conversions (no subid on PDC)
    3. clickbank pays affiliates - not you. that means more trust.

    If you plan on marketing digital / info product using clickbank, I'd do with clickbank - no doubt about it.
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