Submitted a product to clickbank...they're asking for disclaimer for pen name

13 years ago

I used my real name when I signed up as a vendor, and on my website, I use a company name. I've never had any problems that way. However, if you want to use a person's name on your website and it's not your real name, they apparently have different rules for that. All you can really do is comply if you want to sell through ClickBank.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by B.J. Johns

is that clickbank's policy? there are many, many products on there who's marketers are using pen names and i've never seen that disclosed even on the one's i know for sure are using them.

Agreed.

They have some very new policies all around (many of which I have to say are very welcome and long overdue, though this does appear to be a rather strange one) which they seem, at the moment, to be applying to "new stuff" while still having on board plenty of "old stuff" which very clearly doesn't even begin to comply with them.

That may change, I suppose. :confused:

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Brian John 13 years ago

i really don't want to do it. too much effort has went into building credibility of that name to just trash it by revealing it's a pen name. i have products in unrelated fields and its difficult to be an "expert" in several different fields while using the same name.

has anyone seen a salescopy with an example of such a disclaimer?

if this proves to be a sticking point i may be back to the old paypal vs clickbank debate.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by B.J. Johns
  
  i really don't want to do it. too much effort has went into building credibility of that name to just trash it by revealing it's a pen name.
  
  No ... indeed.
  
  Originally Posted by B.J. Johns
  
  i have products in unrelated fields and its difficult to be an "expert" in several different fields while using the same name.
  
  Exactly so. I have 8 pen-names for this reason and certainly wouldn't be willing to disclose my real name in those niches (though disclosing only that it is a pen-name, without disclosing my real name, wouldn't be nearly as painful, I think?). My real name is for forums and the "IM advice niche" only (not that I have much of a financial interest in that, anyway).
  
  What about business accounts/limited companies, and so on? Will that do? Are they actually insisting on your own real name?
  
  Originally Posted by B.J. Johns
  
  has anyone seen a salescopy with an example of such a disclaimer?
  
  Maybe ... but not that I remember.
  
  Thanks
  
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- Bruce NewMedia 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by B.J. Johns
  
  has anyone seen a salescopy with an example of such a disclaimer?
  
  yes, I have, and I promoted it for while. It was a Penny Stock program on CB. I felt it was a bit jarring to see it mentioned so early in the copy, but it might have worked better at the bottom or used more discreetly.
  
  Product is not available anymore, and who's to say why.
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  Bruce
  
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JennSpencerIM

13 years ago

Did they say how big the disclaimer has to be or where? Can't you just place it at the bottom of the page somewhere? I don't know why it would be such a big deal to them, but if there are options as to how you can comply, I'd go with the one that would be the least disruptive to your customers and your message.

Or what if you just registered a DBA name as that name and provided that proof to them??

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Brian John

13 years ago

Originally Posted by JennSpencerIM

Did they say how big the disclaimer has to be or where? Can't you just place it at the bottom of the page somewhere?

Here was the message from my product specialist, "Please add a disclaimer to your site that advises xxxxx xxxxxxxx is a pen name." (i removed the pen name.) that was it, nothing else. figuring i might as well speak with her, i called at 3:05 and she was already gone for the day, go figure.

Originally Posted by JennSpencerIM

Or what if you just registered a DBA name as that name and provided that proof to them??

i have my publishing company dba'd. my copy clearly indicates that that the customer is doing business with the publishing company. perhaps i'll have to approach it with her tomorrow this way.

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

I have 8 pen-names...

seeing that ur processor is clickbank i'm guessing u got approved w them before some of these changes.

btw, u usually offer lots of quality insight in ur posts...thnx. just wanted to say that.

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

If you word things right, this might actually work to your advantage.

Imply that there's a good reason for your 'expert' to rely on a pen name without spelling out that reason, and interested prospects will supply a positive reason of their own.

For personal reasons, the author writes under the pen name "[pen name]"...

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Brian John

13 years ago

Update: It ended up being resolved in a way that works fine for me. She wrote back, "We are requesting that all vendors disclose this information. You are welcome to add this information to your Privacy Policy and/or your Terms of Use & Service if you prefer." So I ended up including the following sentence, "The name xxxxxx xxxxxxxx is a pseudonym used by the author", to the end of the Disclaimer section in the Terms, and it was quickly approved. The reality is that you can pretty much hide that one very small sentence in the mass of legal jargon on one of those other pages...which hardly anyone ever reads.

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Rod Dinero

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Brian John

Update: It ended up being resolved in a way that works fine for me. She wrote back, "We are requesting that all vendors disclose this information. You are welcome to add this information to your Privacy Policy and/or your Terms of Use & Service if you prefer." So I ended up including the following sentence, "The name xxxxxx xxxxxxxx is a pseudonym used by the author", to the end of the Disclaimer section in the Terms, and it was quickly approved. The reality is that you can pretty much hide that one very small sentence in the mass of legal jargon on one of those other pages...which hardly anyone ever reads.

WOW, thanks man thats really useful to know and Im glad it all worked out for you in the end

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Valdor Kiebach

13 years ago

Imagine if clickbank ran the movie or music industry they would require all movie credits to say that 'actors name' is not the actors real name if they are using a stage name.

How would 'lady gaga' work would all her products have to state that 'lady gaga' is a stage name?.

At least you got it sorted and we now know to hide the statement away in the Terms.

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williamstraus

13 years ago

So .. what's the weirdest pen name you use on the Intertubez?

I've been thinking about using Dirk Diggler.

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2 replies

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Daniel Evans 13 years ago

The new policy also includes not being able to use a website with a trademark anywhere in the URL.

Sales copy must include clear disclaimers to dissassociate with trademarked companies too.

They have yet to request this of any older sites.

Very odd.
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Brian John 13 years ago

Originally Posted by williamstraus

So .. what's the weirdest pen name you use on the Intertubez?
I've been thinking about using Dirk Diggler.

SAY WHAT!!!
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itsjordan

13 years ago

I either use one of two options:

Add a disclaimer at the bottom and throw in the pen name line in the middle "For privacy purposes, the author has chosen the name "Bob Smith." It is since Clickbank added new vendor policies around July last year. It won't kill sales, definitely not enough to get in a panic about it. Very few people file through the disclaimer. Surround it with very "boring" information.

Or add something in your copy that says "I'm going to be completely honest with you, Bob Smith isn't my real name but I can NOT reveal my real name. This system has made a lot of people a lot of money and they would KILL ME if they found I was giving away this secret for such a low price."

Although less extreme

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LuvAbundance

12 years ago

It most definitely is a new policy and one they are still enforcing today. This is an old thread, but I will put my updates here for the electronic paper trail for others wanting info on it. (I also posted in another thread, but the title of this post is more specific, so will post here for searchers)

Here are the tips / takeaways:
1 - Put it in the privacy policy
2 - (this I came up with). In dictionary.com, a synonym for "pen name" is "professional name", which sounds better, doesn't it?

So this is how i worded it (and it was accepted by Clickbank):

It can also be noted that for personal and professional reasons, "Professional Name Susie" is a professional name used by Susie.S, as a professional coach and businesswoman.

Right there in the middle of the other boring text. I think it does sound better than "pen name", personally.

HTH whoever reads this!

Luvabundance

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Allen Payne

11 years ago

I just heard back from Clickbank after submitting an approval request for a new product and they asked me about the pen name I'm using on the site.

After reading this thread

, I added this disclaimer "The name xxxxx xxxxx is a pseudonym used by the owner of the site." to the ToS page and updated the request.

Let's see what they say. I'll keep you guys updated, just in case there are others in the same situation.

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chrischua

11 years ago

Glad I found this thread, was confused how do I go about to edit my pen name or what.. so followed those who ssucceed. This is what I wrote: "It can also be noted that for personal and professional reasons, the name "mypenname" is a pseudonym used by the author." Hope mine get approved, will update here again.

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Regards,
Chris Chua

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Submitted a product to clickbank...they're asking for disclaimer for pen name

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