Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

As a newbie, I do not have the traffic to my website yet to make a lot of product sales.

Newbies BEWARE! Read the following CB Accounting Policies:

Customer Distribution Requirement

ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:

• Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers; and,
• Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

This requirement is in place to help prevent Affiliates from abusing the ClickBank Affiliate program by using their accounts for the sole purpose of fraudulently collecting rebates and/or discounts on their own purchases.
Once you have met the Customer Distribution Requirement, your account will begin issuing payments normally, in accordance with our Accounting Policy, beginning on the next payment issuing date.

And to top it off, you will be charged a "Dormant Fee":

Dormant Accounts

Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant. Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of no earnings, $5 per pay period after 180 days of no earnings, and $15 per pay period after 365 days of no earnings.

The first sale I ever made (Commission of $28) is gone because of the above fees, I just made a sale over the weekend ($20 Commission) will go away unless a miracle happens.

I have no choice but to find something other than CB until I can build my website traffic.

How ridiculous is this policy?

Going to be a lot of work removing all CB from my site, including anything that has been added in the mega-site upgrade.


Leon

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Leon,

Yeah, their policy is tough. Getting past that 5 unique transaction minimum is a bit of a struggle. I managed by selling a product through Google Adwords. I didn't do fantastic or anything, but I sold enough within a few months that I was able to finally get my first check. After that, make sure your minimum check amount is set to $10.

I recently had a bad experience. Supposedly they sent me a check for $14 that I had earned commissions for. Well, I never received the check, and have yet to. After about 2 weeks I emailed them. Basically they told me they can send me another check but it would cost around $30 or something to cancel the other check, the one I never got. They also told me to make sure my address is correct, which of course it is. I never had a problem until now.

Talk about bogus. What's the reason to cancel a check I never received? I can see their reasoning, but to me they just stole $14 from me. I'm not going to bother to fight it. It'd be a waste of time on my part.

All I can say is I'm not very happy with them. After reading a recent thread from Tal about their tracking being messed up, my opinion of them is even less.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

That is really a shame - I am sorry this happened to you two, Leon and Alan. I had a similar experience when I first started out,where I didn't know it was cheating to buy something from your own affiliate ID (looking back now it seems like I should have known) - Back then they paid same day and I had no idea anything was wrong.

- but then they wouldn't pay me for two years after my next sale until I had a second one - since we dropped one of those survey companies years ago, I have never had anything much from ClickBank.

Seems a blessing this didn't happen now where like Leon their bogus fees would have eaten up my second sale long before I got paid for the next one.

If anything they should be paying us interest if they are holding our money -

I smell a lawsuit - lots of people suing Adsense through small claims court, and ClickBank is cruising for a bruising and can't be far behind.

I see many threads in the main forum on various complaints against ClickBank all the time.

It is a real shame for newbies because in theory it should be lots easier to sell digital products while they are learning how to sell a business opportunity.

Recently I was trying to buy something through ClickBank so that a friend in need could receive the money due to him - I shopped for over two hours - I was shocked all they had was a lot of junk -

There is no longer anything that is 'too big to fail'.

'The bigger they are the harder they fall.'

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Why should they care whether you buy from yourself or not?...they still make the same money.

What if you had a good customer (and maybe only customer right now) and he bought 5 items giving you, let's say, $50 each in commission. Let's even exaggerate to the extent he did this 3 months in a row. Because he uses the same credit card, they hold $600 commission because i haven't satisfied the 5 different credit card rule??! AND if he happens to use paypal, I am still at -0- as far as 5 different credit cards used.

Makes sense to me.

Any suggestions as far as a replacement for them?

Thanks

Leon

It is a shame I have to remove the PPG and NPG banners as they are my favorites.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Leon, I hear you - it is ludicrous to punish everyone for a few abusers but isn't that how the world is...

Well I hear PayDot.com now and then but I could never even get going with them since they don't answer helpdesk requests and I could never even log in - (at least not a few years ago) - maybe check them out...

A few others I have seen are Chitka and Affiliate Fuel - that is a sharp one where they have several offers - many in the short term (OTO, etc) and you can make some good commissions.

Let's face it though everything is about volume. So many things are geared for little money and unless you do lots of volume it seems pointless - lots of work to get lots of volume...

Shame about Clickbank too is their commissions are very generous.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I've read about this policy when I signed-up as affiliate but I'm wondering is it the same for Vendors?

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Leon,

Thanks for this post....I too have been frustrated by their policy.

I have watched my comissions of $167 dwindle down to a now $114!

Now I know there are others pipsters in the same boat so I propose this:-

Anyone considering purchasing Suzannes SEO book or joining the PPG (pips power group) if they buy through the banners on my blog, I will pay $5 into their paypal account......this is for the next 3 sales only.......as this is how many I need to meet the clickbank requirement......giving away $15 to fellow pipsters is better than allowing clickbank to take it!



Leon, I suggest you do the same.......rather than do all that work which ultimately could bring you some good revenue.

What do you think Pat?

I am not trying to make a fast buck, just get my clickbank funds released and at the same time giving back.

maybe a seperate thread could be started to allow pipsters with verifiable account stats to post similar offers.....just trying to help!
Graham

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Yup Leon I think its a stupid policy for most as well. 5 is too many for people to begin with.

That's why alot of people are now turning to products that pay directly through paypal and no minimum requirements. I experienced that before and I understand how you feel.

Just keep trying and I am sure your pay day will come!

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Guys,

I agree - a lot of these requirements are unfair, especially the part where they deduct money from your account because it is dormant - it is not like they have to work extra hard to maintain dormant accounts is it? I am a vendor as well and have two vendor accounts and have never seen any money come back to the vendor as a result of this, so it must go right back into Clickbank's pocket.

I agree that there has to be some sort of rule about purchases from different credit cards/payment methods to prevent people opening accounts simply to purchase through there own aff links, but I think 5 different credit cards and 2 different purchase methods is quite excessive.

Clickbank is huge with a massive marketplace and set of products and affiliates so unfortunately I think that it is unlikely that any of us will be able to make them change their policy so I guess people have to make the decision either to stick with it until their sales are more regular, or promote something else in the meantime.

When I started and my traffic was low, I was barely making any sales with Clickbank, but now I usually sell a few different products per day, so I think it is worth sticking at.

There are also various things that you can do to try and increase your sales. One way is to concentrate your efforts on promoting just one or two products. Research these products well, write a review on them, perhaps even offer a couple of bonuses for people to buy through your link Optimize your review to try and get ranked for "Review of Product xyz" - people looking for reviews are usually ready to buy and this can help to increase your sales.

I also wrote a blog post a while back about Clickbank which may be of interest:
5 Ways to Increase your Clickbank Sales

Cheers,
Suzanne

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hey, PIPS Team:

What about Commission Junction? Does anyone have any experience or comments about this service? Looks similar to the ClickBank system - select products to sell and earn commissions.

I signed up to sell a few but have been waiting for several days to receive "approval" or "rejection."

GT :)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi GT,

I am a member of commission junction and have been for awhile. As far as I am aware they don't have any of these Clickbank style requirements for making a certain number of sales from different credit cards or anything like that.

The downside is that it does not have as many digital products, or high commission products as Clickbank & a lot of the companies have to approve you first. Commission junction is expensive for a vendor to join - I believe thousands of dollars, so it tends to be bigger companies.

Cheers,
Suzanne

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I'm developing a product that I was planning to put in clickbank. WOW. Thanks for starting this thread.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I signed up for Commission Junction but haven't really looked at everything they have. I think I'm advertising one offer on my Nintendo site and that's it.

I sold one product through PayDotCom but haven't seen that money yet. I'm not sure of their policies and what the payment threshold is.

Pat, I haven't heard of Chitka and Affiliate Fuel before. Thanks for sharing, I'll check them out. I'll still promote Clickbank products on my site, the PPG and NPG being the obvious ones. I'm still mad about my $14 considering I don't have a job at the moment, so anything is better than nothing.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Alan - ask Jeff Casmer about Affiliate Fuel - he probably has an affiliate link and then he could help you. Chitka ask Kooza, Mike Law - it is like a little Adsense type tower that rotates different products. It is actually Chitka "Malls" I think or at least it was.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

With PayDotCom the vendors have to pay the commissions rather than PayDotCom itself. I find that vendors usually pay commissions by PayPal once per month and as far as I know there is not a threshold.

Cheers,
Suzanne

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Thanks for your reply, Pat :)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Thanks, Suzanne. I'm going to log in and see what's going on and hopefully get that money... it's been a couple of months now.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi guys,

I was not even aware of that policy so thank you for bringing it to light for me Leon. I gotta say though that even though 5 may seem like a lot, it shouldn't be too hard to do if you really concentrate you efforts. That's just 5 sales from 5 different people.

It sucks that they take money for a dormant fee but I guess this is their way of saying, yeah you can be an affiliate if you put the effort into really promoting our products. Really though I just think it's another way for them to make money.

Knowing what we know though it shouldn't be too hard to sell to 5 people. Here's what you can do to promote a product that will for sure land you at least 5 sales...

Create a 10 -15 day mini course to load into your autoresponder with helpful information on whatever product you are promoting. At the end of each email, put your click bank affiliate link at the bottom with a little sales pitch.

Once you have it ready to go, create a squeeze page and optimize it with a few low competition keywords. Then write 10 articles promoting that squeeze page using anchor links with the same keywords.

The more articles you write for it, the more sales you will produce.

Just an idea...

Cheers,
Matt

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I could be mistaken but I believe it's not actually that simple. I went through this with a product I was selling. I sold 18 of my ebook before I got paid and I never met the terms! I was shocked when I got a check. I think they just must have realized I was legitimate because the sales were spread out from July-Dec 2008.

The 5 sales must be from different people but there must be different cards used too...such as one visa, one mastercard. PayPal and AMX do NOT count. So i had all these people paying with PayPal and a few AMX and I didn't have the 5 Visa/MC quota. I think I had 3 Visa and one MC...one short of that magic 5. Hope that make sense! Ray

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I didn't do this but if you're one short from hitting that daunting 5 then buy from your own link and pay using a method that's going to break you free from the restriction. I don't think that would harm anything, but I could be mistaken.

The product I sold through Google Adwords was "Get Google Adwords Free." I'm sure you've all heard of it. I made around $250 or so. Not big cash but it was enough to get me past the restriction. I'm not sure how well it's doing now as I'm not using Adwords at the moment, but it's worth a shot if you have some money to spare. The commissions are really good, too.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I'm not sure if it'll help as i haven't used it but i believe Harvey Segal has a system to get around the "Customer Distribution Requirement".
ClickBank for Newbies (and oldies)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I have to be honest, I did bought from my aff link using VISA to satisfy the requirement. I bought Suzanne's SEO Book ( sorry Suzanne:( ). I did not feel good about it but I said to myself that I will just repay Suzanne for the lost commission by using her other services ( which I did ) and promote her E-book ( I started a campaign already ).

As a newbie, you need to achieve something, even just a little so as not to discourage you from pushing forward...a $10 commission, a new sign-up...whatever. Or else, you might quit!

This is my FIRST check after 1 year of doing this IM thing. I think it's time that I get paid, for a change. I got $98! I didn't even want to encash it for posterity sake. In the end I encashed it and treated myself with a good Chinese lunch:) I settled for a photocopy of the check instead, which I will laminate:)

Who knows when I'm going to get a sale again? Even if I did, you hope that the person will not use Paypal or Mastercard. I need that person to buy using VISA...how can I control that? If not, after 180 days, Clickbank will start chewing at my LUNCH MONEY:) . That's really FAIR!?!

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Thanks Kazakhan

Maybe this will help solve the problem

Leon

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

What a clever marketer that Harvey Segal. Thanks Kazakhan for the resource.

Add to the list of possible things to promote in my site:) later.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

So my theory was correct I see.

I feel whatever you have to do to get past the restriction do it. I can understand their reasoning for it, though. As far as subtracting from a dormant account, I consider that stealing as it doesn't cost them anything to hold your money. In fact, their shouldn't be a threshold at all.

All that being said I still feel that Clickbank is a great way to start selling digital products online. Don't get discouraged... get creative in how you sell ;)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I've see this around before but never bothered to download it. I'll think I'll add it my virtually library. I have one of his other ebooks as well. Harvey Segal is one smart dude.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

As someone looking to tap into ClickBank, thanks for the resource.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Sorry to hear about your experiences, Leon and Alan.

I used to have a Clickbank balance but it disappeared months ago and I don't usually promote Clickbank stuff.

As a marketer based in Japan with no US bank account I prefer to find affiliate programmes that pay out by Paypal.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

One time I was in the CJ contact page, before I submitted my message to them I
found this statement:

As stated in the Publisher Service Agreement (“PSA”), any publisher account which does
not generate any revenue within a period of six consecutive months will be charged a
Dormant Account Fee of either $10 (Ten Dollars U.S.) or the account balance, whichever
is less. . .

Publishers that have less than $10 in their account or a zero balance after six-months of
activity automatically have their accounts deactivated.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

My Clickbank account has been dormant for ages and is dwindling fast. I think I made the mistake on my World of Warcraft site, of offering a free alternative guide. It's always being suggested that giving freebies away is the way to go. Unfortunately, My sales for the proper guide died immediately and I've never been able to get them back.

All I need is for someone to buy something through Clickbank with a Mastercard.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Suzanne,

I just checked today and I have a little over $28 sitting in my account that has yet to be paid. The sale was made in January, so it's been two months now. Should I contact the vendor and request payment? Otherwise, I doubt I'll ever see it.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Nova2,

Could you explain what you mean by Clickbank is no longer accepting P2P related traffic?

Thanks!

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Yep, that helps. Thanks :)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

No, I don't promote any P2P products or anything like that. Usually anything that helps internet marketers or people looking to work from home.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi I too am new to clickbank. Have 69.00 dollars in there but can't get it until making 5 transactions I have closed and will not deal with them again. I also went through the products and found nothing but junk.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

That's a shame, sorry to hear that. I know it's easy to give up, but having that much money in there would have motivated me to find a way to meet the restriction. I'll agree there is a lot of junk, but there's also a lot of good, quality products as well. Hopefully you'll find some alternatives that meet your needs.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I must say, it's very discouraging to hear this about Clickbank. Particularly for all of us new to the program and hoping that the Clickbank products on our sites will help to tide us over. Knowing that it may take a year or two until traffic to our sites will be great enough overcome this, is it even reasonable to offer these products? Seems that until that time, all we are doing is fattening the wallets of the people running that show, and that certainly isn't going to do anything to get them to change the policy. I guess thats why its such a good idea to read the terms and conditions thoroughly, and really know what to expect (I wonder if that policy is even discussed there?)

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I agree Jim and it is a shame.

I guess we are learning that 'policies and procedures' are liquid - that is they can change after the fact - these seem to be somewhat recent changes they are making so it probably was not there in the beginning for anyone to read.

...they must be taking lessons from the US government maybe?

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Actually this policy has been around since I first signed up with Clickbank, which was probably around two to three years ago now. I just don't think many people take the time to read the policies until they have a reason to, i.e. not getting their check.

Not that I'm defending them in any way because I too feel that it's bogus, but the point is that it's important to read policies and understand the terms up front.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I did not know anything about this at all and I think we all use CB. This is really bad and I should not promote CB any more. :mad:

Thanks for info.
KT

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hello everyone,

I've got deducted as well.. so far has been deducted 3 times already.
$15 gone with the wind.. :(

Somehow, I don't give up and keep on promoting more CB products.

Regards,
Tanady

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Well guess what. I have set up an account with click bank but have yet to do promoting for their products and if what you all are saying is true I don't believe I will be doing any thing with them. I need to earn money not give it away. I already have too many problems in that area as it is.

Thanks for the tip! :confused:

Bright Blessings
The Tiny 1

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Seriously, as Clickbank is the largest digital product vendor, I would do everything I can to get past that restriction. You shouldn't let something like this discourage you. I know it's tough, but so is everything else about building your business and making money online. Why give up on this if you're not willing to give up on your business? This should be part of your business.

Here's another tip to perhaps generate more Clickbank sales. Add a small feature ad at the very beginning of your newsletter articles. So, when your subscribers open it up, the first thing they'll see is a short ad for a particular Clickbank product. Now keep in mind it should be related to the content of that article. Having it at the top should grab their attention, and if they click on the link and buy, you just earned a commission. It's very easy to implement.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi,

I agree with Alan 100%...you just don't give up on Clickbank because of the restrictions. It may take some time to get over this hurdle, but once you do, you'll realize that you can get Clickbank to work for you.

Here at PIPS, we are taught different methods of promotions...but mainly we use it to promote PIPS and the included programs.

However, you can also use the same methods to promote other products from a different niche...not only in the home business/make money niche. And if you check Clickbank, you will see that there are tons of different products for every niche imaginable.

I got over the hurdle by promoting debt, golf and forex products. Up to now, it's there. I haven't done anything with it since. I am now in the process of promoting acne, learn spanish and get ex back products. Right now, I'm using Adwords 'coz that's the method I know at the moment.

But there are other methods as well. For example, you can promote the same products or other products from different niche by creating a Squidoo lens and then write an article and submit it to Ezinearticles with a link in the bio pointing to your squidoo lens.

If you don't know how to create a squidoo lens, learn how to create one. There are so many tutorials for doing this in the internet. Or promote it with the method that you know now.

We can all do this! All it takes is a little extra work.

Good luck.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Right on, Robert. I agree that there are so many other niches available that can bring in good money. Don't confine yourself to the IM and home business niche. Great to hear you're having success with it.

One question, when promoting Clickbank products through Adwords, do you send them to the actual sales page, or do you create a landing page? Just curious as to what's working for you.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Hi Alan,

I tried linking direct to merchant (actual sales page) and I tried with a landing page (like a review site). I had some success with the review site when promoting Clickbank products.

I also tried promoting outside Clickbank, like shareasale.com , and got some conversions using direct linking.

But I believe that once you get a sale either from direct linking or with a landing page, you might want to expand your promotion by building some sort of an authority site for that particular niche. But it's up to you. You could leave your campaign as is, and find a different niche that you want to expand on.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

Great article on increasing Clickbank sales! How long did to take you to hit that monthly income from Clickbank? It sounds like everyone is using the PIP method!

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I just tried to login to my Clickbank account and I cannot access it until I click on the agree with their terms and conditions box! So I don't know what my balance is at the moment. Reluctant to click on the agree box now I have read the above!

Anyone else been met with this problem?

Ian

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

It's not a "problem." They've updated their policies and want to make sure you agree with them before continuing. Just hit "Agree," and you'll be at your account.

Re: Newbies BEWARE of Click Bank
 

I only did direct linking when I used Adwords. I've heard people say that you "have" to create a landing page to see any kind of success. That's why I asked. I feel it would be easy to target your keywords and optimize better, but I don't think it's completely concrete. Direct linking obviously works, but whether or not you can have more success using a landing page I'm not sure about as I haven't tested it.

I like your idea of building an authority site built around a particular product. It could just be a simple "landing page" type site providing some information or perhaps a review of that product.