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Clickbank Sales - Can a Vendor Steal Your Commissions?

by jonjune
20 replies
Hi Warriors,

My clickbank sales on a particular vendor have now totally dried up, and the problem seemed to start when he changed his site to an "add to Cart" arrangement.

I was making regular sales on about 80 hops per order, oftentimes better, but since 3 sales on 17 April 2011 I have had nothing. I have contacted him and he says links are working ok and indeed If I follow my link through to Clickbank order form, my Clickbank ID is at the base.

I opened a new CB account as suggested on the forum, but still no sales after about 200 hops.

Also I am hearing from a few warriors privately that they are also having problems, although they have not divulged their vendors.

Warriors, please is it possible for an affiliate to lose a commission on this add to cart system?

Can the cookie disappear on an order form submit? Clickbank will say no of course, but I am not convinced.

Any insights please, would be much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Jon
#clickbank #commissions #sales #steal #vendor
  • Profile picture of the author brobdingnagian
    Charles Kirkland just did a WSO on this last week, didn't he?
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    Yes it is possible for vendors to steal your commissions.

    If the vendor has an opt-in on the sales page, he/she can put their affiliate links in the email links, overwriting yours. They can also install redirect scripts on the domain, rerouting your traffic through their own affiliate link, and the list goes on.

    Yes it is possible through cart solutions, as some have auto-responder functions that auto-email somebody who fails to click the order button, assuming the cart asks for an email.

    However, I don't think in this case the recent switch to a sales cart really proves anything, you'd have to do some testing to be able to make any kind of accurate judgment, as Clickbanks tracking is notorious for failing to credit affiliates.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author spope91
    I wouldn't have thought this would be a case of the vendor "Stealing commisions" But perhaps a technical error. Parhaps the cookie is becoming lost or corrupted.

    Have you tried using a new hop link?

    There is ofcourse the possibility that sales have dried up.

    Do you track your visitors? Are you still sending visitors to his sales page?
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    • Profile picture of the author jonjune
      I wouldn't have thought this would be a case of the vendor "Stealing commisions" But perhaps a technical error. Parhaps the cookie is becoming lost or corrupted.
      Yes you're right, I am Sorry, I imagine it is a technical error rather than anyting intentional. Yes I am sending visitors to his sales page, about 600 visitors now on 2 different clickbank IDs, but no sales since the 3 that I made on 17 April 2011!

      What can I do? I cannot prove anything.
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      • Profile picture of the author spope91
        Originally Posted by jonjune View Post

        Yes you're right, I am Sorry, I imagine it is a technical error rather than anyting intentional. Yes I am sending visitors to his sales page, about 600 visitors now on 2 different clickbank IDs, but no sales since the 3 that I made on 17 April 2011!

        What can I do? I cannot prove anything.
        Alright pal no need to react like that was there? if you'd included the mensioned information in your original post I wouldn't have asked.

        I'm unsure what your best bet is. I guess you have to wait, and hope that someone that has dealt with this situation before posts on the thread.

        One thing I'd definitely do is pester thwe F%$k out of Clickbank to get them to check it. Surely those sales would still show up as coming through your website? only without the cookie/affiliate id?
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        • Profile picture of the author jonjune
          Alright pal no need to react like that was there? if you'd included the mensioned information in your original post I wouldn't have asked.
          Hi Spope91,

          I wasn't reacting, you made a fair comment and I agree with you that I should have phrased it better. I appreciate your input too and as you say I will have to start pestering Clickbank and vendor. Whether the sales would show from my site I just don't know.

          I see that you're from England like me, hope things are good with you.

          Many thanks,

          Jon
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          • Profile picture of the author spope91
            Originally Posted by jonjune View Post

            Hi Spope91,

            I wasn't reacting, you made a fair comment and I agree with you that I should have phrased it better. I appreciate your input too and as you say I will have to start pestering Clickbank and vendor. Whether the sales would show from my site I just don't know.

            I see that you're from England like me, hope things are good with you.

            Many thanks,

            Jon
            Sorry Jon I got the wrong end of the stick, thought you was being sarcastic :p Things are going well for me thank you.

            I hope this problem of yours gets sorted as soon as possible. It's just downright unfair. Hopefully Clickbank can sort this mess out for you.

            All the best!

            Edit: Do you use Google Analytics for your tracking? If you can prove to Clickbank that you're sending customers to his sales page through a hoplink, they may cross-reference that with the time of sales etc. If not surely they'd be able to see plain and simple that you're sending him traffic!
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            • Profile picture of the author jonjune
              Check the sales page, apart from the obvious trick of collecting names to a list and then offering a discount via paypal (you did join any list they had an monitored the emails didn't you? )
              Thank you Mark, but sorry not sure that I understand. Yes I am on the vendors maiuling list, and have recently started building my own list. The vendor discouraged this, because he has a comprehensive follow up email sequence which he says continues to bring affiliate sales.

              If you can prove to Clickbank that you're sending customers to his sales page through a hoplink, they may cross-reference that with the time of sales etc. If not surely they'd be able to see plain and simple that you're sending him traffic!
              Thats a good point! Clickbank records now show that I have sent 791 hops on 2 accounts but no sales credited to me.

              His products have converted weel for me over the last 2 years, but I cannot keep going with this.

              I am waiting for a reply from the vendor again, and then I will pester clickbank.

              Many thanks,

              Jon
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              • Profile picture of the author Vikram73
                Originally Posted by jonjune View Post

                Thats a good point! Clickbank records now show that I have sent 791 hops on 2 accounts but no sales credited to me.
                His products have converted weel for me over the last 2 years, but I cannot keep going with this.
                I am waiting for a reply from the vendor again, and then I will pester clickbank.
                How do you design your affiliate sites?

                I make it so that I can change out the affiliate offer if this sort of monkey business happens.

                If I'm running a self-improvement blog - and I see something wonky like this - I can change out my banner and products and point it to another CB products.

                If you've already changed out your account and hoplinks and the vendor isn't able to assist I think your only option will be

                a. Wait it out - sometimes weird wonky issues with CB just magically fix themselves.
                b. Change your product

                Frankly - just about every affiliate network has tracking issues.
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              • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
                Originally Posted by jonjune View Post

                Thank you Mark, but sorry not sure that I understand. Yes I am on the vendors maiuling list, and have recently started building my own list. The vendor discouraged this, because he has a comprehensive follow up email sequence which he says continues to bring affiliate sales


                Jon

                Jon,


                for example..

                The vendor get the subscribers on his list, then sends them the email sequence. BUT he might them send a broadcast message saying 20% off this weekend and give a paypal payment link.

                Or he may even just add a few paypal links during the mailing sequence.
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          • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
            Check the sales page, apart from the obvious trick of collecting names to a list and then offering a discount via paypal (you did join any list they had an monitored the emails didn't you? ) There is one other "trick" I've seen used.

            All the links on the page including graphics go to Paypal apart from the obvious paypal link.. I've seen several of these recently, you send the traffic and there is a good chance the visitor will pay via paypal.. not nice!

            It could of course just be the traffic you are sending isn't very motivated to buy at the moment!
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  • Profile picture of the author webmaster1742
    Yes, possible. Easy php script to overwrite your cookie, but nobody does it... instant clickbank ban.
    Alex
    Clickbank Apex Member ( CB top 100 affiliates )
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  • Profile picture of the author WholesalerJoe
    Something is wrong, along with the topic here myself and another marketer that I share notes with notice weird things. One day we can send traffic to a offer and pull in good numbers then the following day same traffic flow zero sales.... the following day we get sales again its like there is a hidden script that rotates the checkout to only share sales 50% of the time. I know its being done and no one will admit too it and neither will Clickbank. No reason too......... Its just seems normal now. I am going to seek vendors I can sell for and process my own payment and then send the
    sales to the property owner less my commission and see how that goes!
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    • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
      Originally Posted by CloseoutDirect View Post

      Something is wrong, along with the topic here myself and another marketer that I share notes with notice weird things. One day we can send traffic to a offer and pull in good numbers then the following day same traffic flow zero sales.... the following day we get sales again its like there is a hidden script that rotates the checkout to only share sales 50% of the time. I know its being done and no one will admit too it and neither will Clickbank. No reason too......... Its just seems normal now. I am going to seek vendors I can sell for and process my own payment and then send the
      sales to the property owner less my commission and see how that goes!

      Two things i'd suggest, create your own products, and promote them.

      Or use something like digiresults where you get instant commissions. (not sure what niches you are in and it's almost 100% IM at the moment but will change.

      I will say that i sell 3 or 4 products on clickbank and there is always an affiliate listed for every sale so i would suspect that if you are losing sales it's not a clickbank problem but an unscrupulous vendor
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  • Profile picture of the author Marvin Johnston
    How about doing something like having a friend purchase the product through your affiliate link (different city/country, IP address, etc.)?

    That should tell you if the process is working.

    Marvin
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  • Profile picture of the author DGtal
    [QUOTE=jonjune;3852040]Hi Warriors,

    "My clickbank sales on a particular vendor have now totally dried up, and the problem seemed to start when he changed his site to an "add to Cart" arrangement.

    End of [QUOTE=jonjune;3852040]Hi Warriors,

    I'm going through exactly the same thing after the vendor changed his site to an "add to cart" arrangement. I opened a CB ticket after reading suggestions posted. Waiting for a response from CB. Thanks guys
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  • Profile picture of the author myob
    Due to my own experience with chronic misbehavior of Clickbank vendors early on, I have been using a tactical marketing method that completely by-passes vendor sales pages altogether. Nearly all promotions point directly to Clickbank payment pages.

    Note that this is now technically against Clickbank's TOS without express permission of vendors. However with over 400 products currently being marketed in this manner, it has never become an issue. But it is essential to mirror all product disclaimers, disclosures, and FTC compliance requirements.
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  • Profile picture of the author uce
    Hi jonjune, I am glad you brought up this issue. I also have been in the position with one particluar vendor that I started making really good affiliate commissions as I was driving lots of traffic to the product and suddenly the commissions seem to have dried up. In the statistics I even seemed to have more clicks than before but less and later on even no commissions. I also first thought maybe they have changed affiliate links and I did not notice it so I contacted the vendor to double check but that was not the case. The vendor reassured me that I was using the right affiliate links. When things did not return to "normal" and I could not proof that the vendor was doing anything wrong I just stopped promoting that product. But it was a pain because I had built a whole website around that vendor's product. Christina
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  • Profile picture of the author ANDREIS
    It's been 5 years since this thread was started and people are still answering like it was brought up this morning. It seems the topic is evergreen...Are affiliate commissions being shaved off?
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    • Profile picture of the author pawandave
      Banned
      yes it is possible , i have listened many story
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