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Best way to sell a product?

by Jim X
7 replies
Good day Warriors! I need a bit of clarification. I've been searching the forum for the past two days looking for an answer. My head kind of hurts from all the info. :confused:

But my question is about product creation....kind of. It's more about the actual sale and delivery of the product. What is the best method of sale/delivery? I have nothing against Clickbank except the fact that affiliate commissions only go to 75%. This thread is what got me thinking: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...de-online.html

My original questions were about how to actually sell the product. How to, I guess, "secure" it. How to collect an email address of the buyer. Etc.

So I did some research (hence the pain in my head) and figured that Rapid Action Profits fit the bill pretty good. But I have some concerns. I'm hoping that someone that uses it or at least has some experience with it can help ease them.

#1. I like the fact that I'm pretty much in control of every part of the process. But when it comes to affiliates, how do you manage them? The way I understand it is if a customer asks for a refund the affiliate has to refund his/her portion too. Not only that, but the customer has to deal directly with the affiliate. If the affiliate refuses to refund, can I refund to the customer myself? You see, I would rather my relationship with MY customer be dependent on my actions rather than the whims of my affiliate. My customer, my responsibility.

#2. It says something about needing PHP. I really don't feel comfortable with PHP because I don't understand it. I am more comfortable with HTML. Would I need to change all my HTML pages to PHP in order for it to work?

So those are some question/concerns with RAP. Some other options include DigiResults, e-Junkie and some others that escape me at the moment. With these other options, for those of you who use them, is it pretty simple to set up? Easy to manage affiliates? Deal with refunds?

My other concerns come with PayPal in mind. I've been seeing a lot of threads lately saying some negative things. Like PayPal freezing accounts and just being overall temperamental. So that makes me a bit nervous to use a service that relies on PayPal whether it be RAP or DigiResults, etc.

I'm stressing out and I am not even selling a product yet! haha My stress comes mainly from the fact that I don't understand it though.

I would really appreciate anyone with experience selling their own products to give me some guidance. Is it really as complicated and stressful as it seems? lol

Thank you so much for taking the time to read though this long post. And a special thank-you-in-advance to those who respond with thoughtful, insightful comments.

My head is starting to hurt again. hahaha So I think I'm going to go outside and enjoy this beautiful Southern California weather.

Thanks again,
James
#product #sell
  • Profile picture of the author MatthewNeer
    Originally Posted by Jim X View Post


    #1. I like the fact that I'm pretty much in control of every part of the process. But when it comes to affiliates, how do you manage them? The way I understand it is if a customer asks for a refund the affiliate has to refund his/her portion too. Not only that, but the customer has to deal directly with the affiliate. If the affiliate refuses to refund, can I refund to the customer myself? You see, I would rather my relationship with MY customer be dependent on my actions rather than the whims of my affiliate. My customer, my responsibility.
    First off, you need to be selling yo stuff brotha!!! What are ya doin worrying about all this crap! Just go get it done son!

    I would recommend using Clickbank, I don't seen why you would wanna give affiliate more than 75% ANYWAYS, you gotta put some food on the table, and 75% of the sale is MORE than fair. Dont worry there.

    With CB, affiliates just deliver the sale. Thats it! And then your customer is all yours. You can get them on a buyers list by sending them to a thank you page with an opt in. Make it so they have to opt in, in order to receive access to your product. Then you get to build a cool buyers list as well.

    And finally, you can manage affiliates by emailing them. You want to recruit them onto a segment of your list as well. Communicate with them on a regular basis. You'll even wanna create a squeeze page for recruiting affiliates too! And market that!

    Originally Posted by Jim X View Post


    #2. It says something about needing PHP. I really don't feel comfortable with PHP because I don't understand it. I am more comfortable with HTML. Would I need to change all my HTML pages to PHP in order for it to work?
    PHP is used to create and protect your members area. Its already built into WordPress and is easy to setup if you have the right tools. I would highly recommend Optimize Press or List Machine Pro (if ya got the cash) to get this job done.

    You could do it with HTML, but if anyone figures out (or shares) your thank you page or membership site link, your hosed!

    Hope this helps bro!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim X
    Hey Matthew! Thanks for the reply dude. I agree that I have to "get it done" haha

    The reason I was thinking about giving more than 75% is because I'm planning on doing short, direct, to-the-point reports priced around $7. For a larger ticket item I'd definitely consider CB.

    My main objective right now is building my list. If I could get someone (affiliate) to sell my report for me and I get a subscriber out of it, I'm more than happy to pay 100% commission for that. Then, I can turn around and sell a different report to that same person.

    Anyway, can Optimize Press and List Machine Pro do PHP stuff?

    Thanks again for the input man!
    James
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  • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
    Well, I waited to see if anyone else responded...

    Originally Posted by Jim X View Post

    ... and figured that Rapid Action Profits fit the bill pretty good. But I have some concerns. I'm hoping that someone that uses it or at least has some experience with it can help ease them.

    #1. I like the fact that I'm pretty much in control of every part of the process. But when it comes to affiliates, how do you manage them? The way I understand it is if a customer asks for a refund the affiliate has to refund his/her portion too. Not only that, but the customer has to deal directly with the affiliate. If the affiliate refuses to refund, can I refund to the customer myself? You see, I would rather my relationship with MY customer be dependent on my actions rather than the whims of my affiliate. My customer, my responsibility.
    If the customer contacts you (i.e. via the contact info on your sales page and/or download page) for a sale that the affiliate was paid for, you can simply forward the request to the affiliate. My experience (I've been using RAP, to sell RAP, for about 4 years now) has been that the affiliates are more than willing to honor the guarantee, and refund the purchase, just so they don't screw up their opportunity to receive instant commissions from sales of your products.

    It is common in the affiliate programs for RAP-driven products, to spell out the affiliates' obligations in this regard, right on the affiliate sign up page.

    In the rare instance that an affiliate does not honor your money-back guarantee, RAP has the ability to ban an affiliate, so that they no longer get paid, regardless of how much traffic they send you.

    #2. It says something about needing PHP. I really don't feel comfortable with PHP because I don't understand it. I am more comfortable with HTML. Would I need to change all my HTML pages to PHP in order for it to work?
    So does Wordpress!

    PHP is the language used in the "behind the scenes" code, that updates your database, pulls reports from it, does fraud checking, manages affiliates, makes decisions about the commission rates, discount coupons, etc. HTML just won't cut the mustard for those sorts of tasks.

    The good news is, that you don't have to touch that code.

    Instead, you put your HTML, graphics, and javascript into a set of HTML templates that are provided, and the RAP system shows the right template to your visitor, depending on where in the sales cycle they are at any point in time.

    My other concerns come with PayPal in mind. I've been seeing a lot of threads lately saying some negative things. Like PayPal freezing accounts and just being overall temperamental. So that makes me a bit nervous to use a service that relies on PayPal whether it be RAP or DigiResults, etc.
    There have always been, and probably will always be, those sorts of threads. It's not a new issue, nor is it all that disturbing. There are similar issues with any payment processing company, you just don't get to hear about them so much, because something like 95+% of the internet marketers are affiliates, or brand new merchants - selling their first product online.

    They have a Paypal account, and use it because was easy to get, didn't cost them a red cent, and they already have it. They don't have their own merchant account, nor an account with another payment processor - so when their account is frozen, guess what type of account it is?

    Paypal is NOT the problem. It's the merchant, what he's selling, and/or the manner in which he is selling it (i.e outlandish promises, guaranteed income from the product, etc.).

    Hope this helps,
    Signature

    Sid Hale
    Coming Soon... Rapid Action Profits (Pro)

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  • Profile picture of the author Jim X
    That absolutely helps! Thank you Sid. Your response addressed most of my concerns.

    In the rare instance that an affiliate does not honor your money-back guarantee, RAP has the ability to ban an affiliate, so that they no longer get paid, regardless of how much traffic they send you.
    Ok, good. My main question now is if the affiliate refuses the refund and I ban them, am I able to refund the customers money? Because, as I'm sure you agree, in a case like that, I can only get the blame. And I would rather refund the customers purchase out of my own pockets than have him/her leave upset.

    Instead, you put your HTML, graphics, and javascript into a set of HTML templates that are provided, and the RAP system shows the right template to your visitor, depending on where in the sales cycle they are at any point in time.
    Awesome. So it's more a behind the scenes sort of thing that I don't really have to worry about. But I can still use HTML for my sales page, right?

    Paypal is NOT the problem. It's the merchant, what he's selling, and/or the manner in which he is selling it (i.e outlandish promises, guaranteed income from the product, etc.).
    That makes me feel a little better. Question though: As a merchant, do I need to set up a separate PayPal account for my business? I have a personal account. Should I have a business account too?

    I've been researching the best way to go about selling my own stuff for about the last week. I knew you were the creator of RAP so my next move was to contact you directly. Thank you again for responding.

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
      Hi Jim,

      Originally Posted by Jim X View Post

      Ok, good. My main question now is if the affiliate refuses the refund and I ban them, am I able to refund the customers money? Because, as I'm sure you agree, in a case like that, I can only get the blame. And I would rather refund the customers purchase out of my own pockets than have him/her leave upset.
      Yes. You can, but not like a standard refund. You just send him the purchase price using the "Send Money" function, with a note that it is to reimburse him for the amount of the purchase.

      An alternative (don't remember if I mentioned this before) is to just tell the customer that his funds were paid to "John Doe", and give him "John's" Paypal email address, with instructions to file a dispute with Paypal. Then Paypal can simply take the refund from the affiliate's account. Your Paypal account is in no way associated with that transaction, so there is no jeopardy to you, when the customer files the dispute.

      Of course, you would then immediately ban the affiliate for breach of the affiliate agreement, and he would no longer receive referral payments via your RAP system.

      Awesome. So it's more a behind the scenes sort of thing that I don't really have to worry about. But I can still use HTML for my sales page, right?
      Correct, in fact there are in excess of 40 HTML templates that are provided with RAP, so that you have a template for every page.

      That makes me feel a little better. Question though: As a merchant, do I need to set up a separate PayPal account for my business? I have a personal account. Should I have a business account too?
      You can, but no need. Simply upgrade your existing Personal account to either a Premier account or a Business account. It's a free upgrade.

      Hope this helps,
      Signature

      Sid Hale
      Coming Soon... Rapid Action Profits (Pro)

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  • Profile picture of the author marcusezell
    Mostly you require some investment if you wish to start any business to sell products. There are many businessmen who are venturing into Internet marketing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jim X
      Hey Sid,
      Thank you so much for taking the time to respond.

      Yes. You can, but not like a standard refund. You just send him the purchase price using the "Send Money" function, with a note that it is to reimburse him for the amount of the purchase.

      An alternative (don't remember if I mentioned this before) is to just tell the customer that his funds were paid to "John Doe", and give him "John's" Paypal email address, with instructions to file a dispute with Paypal. Then Paypal can simply take the refund from the affiliate's account. Your Paypal account is in no way associated with that transaction, so there is no jeopardy to you, when the customer files the dispute.
      Great. That makes me a little more comfortable.

      Correct, in fact there are in excess of 40 HTML templates that are provided with RAP, so that you have a template for every page.
      Wow. That's good.

      You can, but no need. Simply upgrade your existing Personal account to either a Premier account or a Business account. It's a free upgrade.
      OK, that makes sense. I didn't know it was a free upgrade.

      Product creation is looking better and better. Can't wait to get started. I appreciate your time.

      Thank you again, sir.

      James
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