ALL SALES FINAL

Your strategy is quit smart.
I suggest you attach a pdf & notes file to the zip file.
Inside pdf/notes, you could tell them the indication.

Using a video course as a lead generate is a smart move. Create an introductory video about he course. and explain what the course is about, pros and cons, etc.


Manie

You can set your refund policy to whatever you want

You just need to give them a notice before they start watching the first.

My question is: What happens if they don't realize they want a refund until Video 10?

You could...

1. Offer no refunds at all.

2. Allow for refunds after X videos (1, 5, etc.)

3. Give the 1st X videos away and then offer the rest for sale with no refunds.

Personally, I like option 3. This allows people to see a few videos to get an idea of what they're about; you will have them (hopefully) hooked and wanting more; and you can build an awesome list to boot.

All the best,
Michael

If you are using clickbank you have to follow their refund policy!

Thanks for the responses. I had the site set up to use eMember and Paypal.

I had wondered if there was some kind of disclaimer they could click on -you know - when signing up for sites, sometimes you have to click a little box saying something to the effect of "I agree to the site usage terms". As part of the "usage site terms", could it say "ALL SALES FINAL"?

The original idea was to list the portions of the session/class individually - so - if someone wanted to say "I already know that", then they would not have to look at that particular video.

The first one would be on Youtube - no registration required (like you guys said: just give background). The second one on the website - registration required to access it (to get the email address for a list), and from #3 on, there would be charges for the videos.

Also, does PP recognize (or at least allow you to dispute) if the person buys all 50 and then turns around and says that they want a refund for all (or some) of the videos?

If Clickbank allows 60 days for a refund, then suppose - hypothetically (and I mean hypothetically) the class is less than 60 days (ex: you have 4 classes and drip-feed 1 class per week). At the end of 4 weeks, the guy wants all his money back. Does Clickbank / Paypal make some kind of allowance for this behavior. By using the drip-feed concept, is something like this less likely to happen?

I would count on having some sort of refund policy. With PayPal, anyone who wants a refund can file a dispute and PayPal will often side with them. If not, your customers may try to get a chargeback. I can understand your strategy any why you don't want a refund policy, but it is probably best to set one up and work around that.

A money back guarantee will probably get you many more sales compared to the small number of refunds for a quality product anyway.

just like weavingthoughts said above, I personally think that you will lose more sales due to having "All Sales are Final" on your page, than you would from the small percentage of refunds.

But this is something that you can test, and should test. Even if you do end up having "All Sales Final" test it and see if it is actually working.

Also, if you don't want to make 50 videos and have someone refund and get all 50 videos for free then break it down into smaller packages.

You could have a set of 10 videos in each package which would give you 5 sets total.

This way if someone refunds the blow is less because they are only getting 10 videos instead of 50.

My only other thought is who will sit through a 50-part video series?

I certainly wouldn't.

I would if it was 5-10, maybe 20 if the content was really great. But 50?

Don't automatically discount offering your buyers a refund. Your refund rate on an item that is less than $100 should probably be 5 or less per hundred transactions anyway. If you got more than that would indicate either a problem with your product or your sales page (did you describe your offer and content accurately). A lot of refunds can be avoided by making sure that your customers have an accurate expectation of your product.

So, that being said, there are a few serial refunders out there, but they are a minority and there are always ways of getting around them. Chalk them up to the cost of doing business.

Hope this helps

Your refund policy is your refund policy...
There's nothing wrong with setting a "NO REFUNDS" policy, it basically scares away a lot of freeloaders who are looking for a free product.

Another trick I've seen done is to overwhelm them with free videos and content that takes weeks to read but offer a 7 day refund policy with no questions asked or even a free trial. They'll more than likely forget about it after the 7 days and you'll have them as a customer.

People look far too much into refunds and people sharing their products. Those are not the people who are paying customers or the people you want to deal with anyways, believe me. They're an absolute nightmare. I used to deal with cheap people on a daily basis.

Corey

most companies that handle credit card payments require that you offer some type of refund, but what do i know.

Let me start with the ONLY example where "No Refunds" worked in favor of the Vendor (of course, I was the buyer :-).

A year or two ago, I purchased a cool-looking theme from ThemeForest. The sales page looked very convincing, features looked great, all well and good. But once I purchased it and tried using it, turned out to be a really crappy theme, with CSS coding issues, lousy graphics, poor customizability, and on and on.

So, next thing is I ask ThemeForest for a refund. Didn't know until after I did, that ThemeForest actually does not give you refunds - EVER! "No Refunds" on any thing, unless there was a problem with the actual file delivered, or missing files, etc. In which case, of course, they will try to replace the files - but still probably won't give you a refund.

They cleverly worded their policy (good for them) such that you couldn't get a refund EVEN if the product didn't do what it was supposed to do, or because it just turned out to be much worse than advertised. Or because you hated it. Or because it didn't work for you the way you had hoped for.

I was, of course, upset that they would force this crappy theme down my throat. So I opened a dispute with Paypal. No luck. Paypal never took any action because ThemeForest says it in their policy that they wouldn't offer any refunds.

Anyway, that's the only time I've EVER seen a "No Refunds" policy work in favor of the vendor, and against the buyer.

The tens of thousands of other times I've sold stuff as a vendor, those disputes - even fraudulent ones - somehow never worked in my favor - not once.

Bottom-line: Visa/Master/Amex/Paypal/CB - ALL of them offer a 60-day money-back guarantee. Does NOT matter what you say on your site (ThemeForest example not withstanding). Not unless you're a big merchant with a lot of clout, or unless you've specifically had your contract written such that you don't have to offer refunds (like, say, if you're a car dealer, or provider of a service).

In almost all cases, if someone wants a refund, they can get it - one way or the other. If you refuse a refund, they can dispute it, or go for a chargeback. Disputes and Chargebacks work against your reputation with all payment processors, not to forget the amount of time and money involved in fighting it out. Just not worth it.

Like someone said above, chalk it up to the cost of doing business. Get rid of the tire-kickers as soon as you can by giving them the refund right away. Some may even appreciate your ethics, and come back and do business with you down the line - has happened to me a few times for sure.

Don't focus on the serial refunders or tirekickers. That's too much negative energy to do you any good. Focus on the good guys, the ones who pay you, keep paying you, are nice to you even in the face of "technical glitches", forgive your "bugs", and then go on and recommend you to others.

Those are the 95% of the people out there who you should focus on non-stop, and try to "delight" them with your product and customer service.

And those are the people who will pay your bills, for your children's college education, and quite possibly fund your retirement too.

Hope this helps.

- Ravi Jayagopal

refund poilicy versus chargebacks are a different story though.