Anybody Know What Happened To The Diet Solution on Clickbank?

38 replies
I got an email from Clickbank, part of which says:

"This message is being sent as a courtesy to inform you that products from ClickBank vendor 'thedsp' are no longer available for affiliate promotions through ClickBank, effective immediately."

The Diet Solution (which is a good seller, by the way) is now on a website as Beyond Diet's Gluten Free Weight Loss Diet and Healthy Meal Plans | Beyond Diet - virtually the same info.

It even still talks about Clickbank in its terms, etc. There are no links I can find re an affiliate program, and they are closed today (Saturday), so I can't get anyone on the phone.

Any idea what happened?
#clickbank #diet #happened #solution
  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    No clue, but it may have been removed for violation of terms. I think products can get removed for various reasons. Maybe it had a high refund rate?
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    • Profile picture of the author terryrayburn
      For what it's worth, here's the rest of the email:

      "Due to recent changes that the vendor has made to their sales page, ClickBank affiliates can no longer be credited for sales related to this product. You are receiving this email because you have received Hops for this product within the last 90 days.

      Please discontinue all advertising campaigns and promotions for this account that use ClickBank HopLinks. We recommend that you browse our wide variety of high quality Health & Fitness products listed in the ClickBank Marketplace and consider promoting a comparable product through ClickBank instead.

      We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
      If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Client Support.

      Thank you,

      ClickBank"
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      • Profile picture of the author terryrayburn
        What's extra weird is that DSP was huge on Clickbank, with a big gravity. They're losing a lot more money than I am right now.

        I can't see Clickbank just cutting them off without some ongoing discussions or something.

        Weird. And costly.
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        • Profile picture of the author veekay31
          Is this product listed on any other affiliate network like click2sell or any other?
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          • Profile picture of the author terryrayburn
            They have changed their website URL from thedietsolution.com to beyonddiet.com and if it's on any other affiliate network, I can't find it.

            I have a "Contact Us" email into them, so maybe I'll hear from them tomorrow (Monday).
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        • Profile picture of the author Marc Rodill
          Originally Posted by terryrayburn View Post

          What's extra weird is that DSP was huge on Clickbank, with a big gravity. They're losing a lot more money than I am right now.

          I can't see Clickbank just cutting them off without some ongoing discussions or something.

          Weird. And costly.
          Hell... they probably made a whole bunch more than you did on their product, too! This is just another good reason to have your own product, so you can't shut yourself down.

          I agree that this product was KILLING it on Clickbank, and I've almost promoted it TONS of times. Now I'm pretty glad that I didn't. Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield.

          Think about how many incomes they just cut off at the knees? Ridiculous.

          Marc

          PS. By the way, for all of your articles and such, hopefully you were sending them to a domain name that you own, or something you controlled you were redirecting from?

          Time to switch out your redirects!
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    If you go through the pages, you'll notice you can still buy it. And even though the checkout page looks like Clickbank's- it's not.

    So... I'm guessing either 1 of 2 things happened:

    1) Clickbank kicked them off for some reason, or
    2) They were tired of Clickbank's high fees and decided to go it alone

    I don't see a link to sign up as an affiliate either, so it could be they got tired of using affiliates? I know a few vendors that don't use affiliates anymore, due to CC fraud issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
    Probably another crummy workout/diet program that doesn't work effectively... or it's just info you could get from BB.com or any other fitness site for free in just as little time.

    Either that or they've been doing naughties somehow.
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    • Profile picture of the author terryrayburn
      The diet itself is a good one -- sort of a low-carb paleo combination which has been very effective.

      Don't doubt that they may have done something "dodgy", but have no idea what it was. Man, they had so much to lose!

      As to being a headache, tell me about it! I've got articles, blog posts, etc. that now feed to a dead end.

      They've been around for years, and looked like a long-term deal. Lots of good affiliate tools, tips, contacts, etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by terryrayburn View Post

        As to being a headache, tell me about it! I've got articles, blog posts, etc. that now feed to a dead end.
        Best you learnt this lesson sooner rather than later.

        Affiliate products always come and go -- nothing is for certain in this industry.

        For that reason if you are going to promote affiliate products you should always just use redirect links on one of your own domain. Had you setup a redirect link for this product all you would have to do is go in and update the destination url of the link to a new product and all would be done.
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        • Profile picture of the author KenJ
          Originally Posted by WillR View Post

          Best you learnt this lesson sooner rather than later.

          Affiliate products always come and go -- nothing is for certain in this industry.

          For that reason if you are going to promote affiliate products you should always just use redirect links on one of your own domain. Had you setup a redirect link for this product all you would have to do is go in and update the destination url of the link to a new product and all would be done.
          Hi Will

          You are absolutely correct in your statement here. But for people like me who can barely set up a standard link to an affiliate offer, you offer no help whatsoever. Don't preach at me. show me how!

          OK. I'm cool now. I just get wound up by not knowing the right way to do things.

          KenJ

          BTW. I sold DSP quite successfully and now am in the quagmire of not knowing what to do with all those affiliate links.
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          • Profile picture of the author W Wattles Fan
            Originally Posted by KenJ View Post

            Hi Will

            You are absolutely correct in your statement here. But for people like me who can barely set up a standard link to an affiliate offer, you offer no help whatsoever. Don't preach at me. show me how!

            OK. I'm cool now. I just get wound up by not knowing the right way to do things.

            KenJ

            BTW. I sold DSP quite successfully and now am in the quagmire of not knowing what to do with all those affiliate links.
            It's easy Ken if you got a domain and your own hosting.

            I have used XSitePro for basic html websites and they have a redirect feature. All you need to do is create a new page which you will send your traffic to. This page will need to be redirected to the vendors sales page (the http:// address you get from clickbank.

            I often change the products I promote by doing this.

            I have only started out with WP so not sure about this but it should be easy enough.
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        • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
          Originally Posted by WillR View Post

          Best you learnt this lesson sooner rather than later.

          Affiliate products always come and go -- nothing is for certain in this industry.

          For that reason if you are going to promote affiliate products you should always just use redirect links on one of your own domain. Had you setup a redirect link for this product all you would have to do is go in and update the destination url of the link to a new product and all would be done.
          That's exactly right. I have all of my links set up so I can change them individually and in bulk within a minute if I need to, and sometimes I do.

          Good advice as usual, Will!
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      • Profile picture of the author nycqns983
        [DELETED]
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        • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
          Can vouch that Old School New Body is a decent product (I haven't promoted as an affiliate, but have seen the product itself and was very impressed)
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      • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
        Originally Posted by terryrayburn View Post

        As to being a headache, tell me about it! I've got articles, blog posts, etc. that now feed to a dead end
        I always use link shorteners or redirects to point to affiliate offers.. Then you can simply point to another offer if the original offer is no longer available.

        Cheers,

        Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author dadamson
    Not sure exactly but one of my clients was promoting this system. Apparently they received an email telling them that the hoplinks will be transferred to a similar offer but as of now the links are just giving errors.

    This means we now need to find a new program to promote and change all links to the new program. She also has about 50 blog posts in which the links are scattered randomly.

    What a headache :-/
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  • Profile picture of the author hiphil
    The affiliate page for the The Diet Solution has warned against advertising on the Google network (i.e Adwords etc.) for at least 6 months.

    This suggests that The Diet Solution is dodgy in some way, and that Clickbank has now dropped it.
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    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Originally Posted by hiphil View Post

      The affiliate page for the The Diet Solution has warned against advertising on the Google network (i.e Adwords etc.) for at least 6 months.

      This suggests that The Diet Solution is dodgy in some way, and that Clickbank has now dropped it.
      No, that is not what it suggests. Google will ban you from AdWords for advertising any ClickBank listed products. DSP was a popular product and at least they cared enough to warn affiliates so they could protect their AdWords accounts. You didn't see that from other sellers.

      .
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      • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
        Didn't realize that. It would have been nice if they had emailed affiliates. Thanks for the heads up.
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        Pen Name + 8 eBooks + social media sites 4 SALE - PM me (evergreen beauty niche)

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        • Profile picture of the author terryrayburn
          Well, here's the scoop, after speaking with them on the phone:

          They do not have a new affiliate program.

          "We are not accepting new affiliates", he said.

          "I am already an affiliate through Clickbank", I said. "What happened with that?"

          "You would have to speak to our affiliate manager", he said.

          "Okay, how do I reach them?", I replied.

          "All of our current affiliates have their number", he said.

          "Well I don't have their number", I replied. "Could you give it to me."

          "Sorry, no. Our current affiliates have their number."

          "But I am an affiliate."

          "Sorry."

          I'm thinking Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Marx Brothers, idiocy.

          Oh, well. On we go.

          Like I said...weird.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Seems to me that this product has violated Clickbank's terms.

    It can also be that they had a high refund rate and Clickbank was just sick of it.

    There are a few products that I have been promoting and some of them have got the same issue.
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  • Profile picture of the author Money on the Side
    I wasn't aware of this until today. Jeff Siegel (the marketer behind Isabel) is like the darling of CB, so I can't imagine they did something to get dropped. They have showered him with CB awards, use him to speak at their events, etc.

    This is interesting news for those of us that have products in that niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
      I introduced her to pizza and she turned fat.

      Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author KenJ
    And therein lies the problem. I didn't understand the explanation. But I appreciate you trying.
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    • Profile picture of the author rimam1
      To be honest, they're razor sharp marketers with a KILLER product.

      So here's what I think happened:

      Rather than making $7 per sale from Clickbank affiliates ($47 product - 75% commission plus Clickbank fees), they got smart and figured out how to sell themselves.

      They're now on Google AdWords with a new domain name (BeyondDiet.com). They're selling themselves like a "legit" company that Google loves. Not some ebook authors promoting themselves on Clickbank.

      I mean, they're buying traffic and getting high conversions so they don't really need affiliates.

      Not to mention the fact that affiliates could potentially tarnish their reputation. Even Mike Geary and Vic Magary/Justin Goff told their affiliates not to illegally use copyrighted images to promote their products. So fly-by-night affiliates make vendor's lives a real pain.

      So, good for the guys at The Diet Solution. They've gotten to a point where they can go and get their own traffic. I can't really blame them.

      Raza
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
        Originally Posted by rimam1 View Post

        Not to mention the fact that affiliates could potentially tarnish their reputation. Even Mike Geary and Vic Magary/Justin Goff told their affiliates not to illegally use copyrighted images to promote their products. So fly-by-night affiliates make vendor's lives a real pain.
        This. Putting a product on Clickbank leads to a nightmare of problems for vendor's. You're going to see more and more vendors leave the CB marketplace because affiliates are making it difficult to remain legitimate in Google's eyes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    The most possible two reasons products get banned on Clickbank is the refund rate of the product or if Clickbank's TOS is violated by any means.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chiayee
    Few suggest that this product might have high refund rate.

    I promoted this product and sold few dozen copies. Granted, my data is small, but I never had a single refund.
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    • Profile picture of the author jrackham
      I had a well developed business relationship with company for a while. I can confirm rimam1 assumptions.

      The product was doing well, and rather than continuing with CB they re-branded as Beyond Diet and get in good standing with Google. Now using their own resources, select affiliates, and organic traffic they average far higher earnings per sale.

      They also have built a community site, keeping buyers engage and resulting in huge amounts of back-end sales.
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      • Profile picture of the author An Al
        Originally Posted by jrackham View Post

        I had a well developed business relationship with company for a while. I can confirm rimam1 assumptions.

        The product was doing well, and rather than continuing with CB they re-branded as Beyond Diet and get in good standing with Google. Now using their own resources, select affiliates, and organic traffic they average far higher earnings per sale.

        They also have built a community site, keeping buyers engage and resulting in huge amounts of back-end sales.
        Pretty dumb if you ask me. None of that required killing their Clickbank relationship. They could be doing both.
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        • Profile picture of the author Cool Hand Luke
          Originally Posted by An Al View Post

          Pretty dumb if you ask me. None of that required killing their Clickbank relationship. They could be doing both.
          They're making MORE money now and you say their move was "pretty dumb"?!

          The logic in this forum baffles me sometimes.
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          • Profile picture of the author thailanddave
            seems to me that all they would have to do is see which affiliates they are paying the most money, copy their landing pages, ads etc and then cut off all affiliates and make 100% instead of 25%.

            Had the same thing happen with a guy who was selling a course on how to refinance your house after the bubble burst. I was making $45 per sign up and then I noticed I wasn't getting any sales because he went off on his own and ended his affiliate offer through CB. Wouldn't even answer my emails.
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            • Profile picture of the author nwpt47
              yea they form their own LLC known as live smart solution and I didn't see any affiliate program looks like they're doing it by themselves
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              • Profile picture of the author josephwilson86
                They probably figured out they can manage their own advertising campaigns without giving up 75% of the revenue. Or they sold the brand/company to someone who came to that conclusion.

                Note: Pure speculation in this post.
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  • Profile picture of the author josephwilson86
    Beachbody seems to have done the same thing. Used to allow ppc on the various cpa netoworks and now they don't. Obviously they've figured out how to manage their own PPC campaigns...
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author ghost209
    it's amazing to me how much speculation and false information is on this forum sometimes.
    Being as how I taught Jeff years ago and know him personally.. let me just put this to rest for you guys.

    (even if this thread got bumped years later.. whatever)

    Years ago, Jeff got into running media buying for his own offer. He was running ads on places like the front page of Msn.com and he was getting UNREAL traffic. Like 50,000+ clicks a day from just 1 of his banners.

    And making several million dollars from that alone.

    And when you're driving your own massive paid traffic.. you realize that affiliates can be a pain in the ass sometimes and and are not all it's cracked up to be.

    Some affiliates are divas. They want you to bend over backwards for them. And MANY affiliates are involved in questionable activities.. Running ads for 'don't buy product x, it's a scam!' , misleading people/making false claims just to try to get the sale.. or making some garbage landing page that says Dr. OZ and Oprah endorse your product..


    Not many affiliates realize how damaging this is to a merchant. Not only is it unethical, but the vendor becomes completely liable for your dumb mistakes and you BOTH could get taken to court for it.

    Not only that, but here's the real clencher.. Getting affiliates is EXPENSIVE. In fact, it's one of the most expensive traffic methods out there..

    And I know you're probably thinking.. what the heck? Affiliates are FREE?! how could it be the most expensive traffic method?

    Most people don't get this point. And that's because many vendors don't know a thing about running their own traffic. But when you're running your own paid traffic.. this becomes painfully clear.

    Let's say for example that I have an offer on Clickbank.. and in order to entice affiliates to promote my offer that I have to give them 65-75% commissions.

    And just for demonstrations purpose, let's say my sales price was for $100.. so hypothetically, I would give affilaites up to $75 per sale..

    So is it free to get an affiliate? No. becuase if he makes a sale, you are paying him $75!
    Sure, you're not paying for it upfront until he makes the sale.. but at the end of the day, you are still paying $75 for each $100 sale that he brings in..

    had I just focused on driving my own paid traffic.. even if I paid $50 in traffic to make 1 sale.. Bigger picture that would be WAY better.. not only do I keep more money but I also don't have to deal with affiliates or any of their bs.. and now I can control the whole sales process.

    And this is why they decided to heck with affilaites and instead just focused on just exploding their own paid traffic. Less headache. More money.

    End of story.

    There's no need for any other conspiracy theories.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrdeflation
    Just wondering why they wouldn't have done this from the beginning??

    Why even bother giving away so much money promoting a program on clickbank if you could just have easily done it yourself?

    Also wonder why none of these fitness programs ever advertise on facebook.. BeyondDiet only does google adwords
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    • Profile picture of the author Gambino
      Originally Posted by mrdeflation View Post

      Just wondering why they wouldn't have done this from the beginning??

      Why even bother giving away so much money promoting a program on clickbank if you could just have easily done it yourself?

      Also wonder why none of these fitness programs ever advertise on facebook.. BeyondDiet only does Facebook ads
      The obvious answer to me is that there are no upfront costs with affiliates. You pay them after you get paid, which leads to a much lower threshold to get started.

      Paid traffic isn't an exact science, takes a bit of trial and error, and has real upfront costs. You know, the old saying "it takes money to make money". That said, it is extremely scaleable and I agree with everything in the post above yours.

      I can only speak for myself but Facebook has not been one of the more profitable revenue streams for our fitness products. In my opinion, this is because people don't go on Facebook to buy. They go to see what their friends are up to. Meanwhile, people are actively browsing other places on the Internet with the intent to buy which makes the funnel a lot shorter and increases the odds of a sale.
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