If you use or are about to use ClickBank to sell your products or to try to make a living as an affiliate you need to read this.
I’ll be upfront here … I don’t like officious organisations that are too big for their boots and I really think action needs to be taken against organisations that have unreasonable and unrealistic terms and conditions. In this case I’m hoping that Clickbank are not too big for their boots and will be reasonable because in my opinion (and that of others ) I think they do have an unreasonable and unrealistic term and condition which they need to change in order to keep up with the times.
The article that has caused me to put this post out there is Is Clickbank Scamming Affiliate Marketers? by Len Thurmond and I urge you to read it in full to understand the full implications to your business.
The focus of the argument is that one of Clickbank’s terms says that before they will pay you any money you are owed, you must have made at least five sales from 5 different credit card numbers, and have two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal) … and multiple Paypal sales don’t count towards your 5 different credit card numbers! – and it gets worse!!! – read Len’s article on how Clickbank can take money from your account if you fail to meet this requirement.
Years ago when I was starting out with ClickBank I struggled to get those five sales with five unique cards but I did get there … eventually. These days it’s not going to be that easy for those starting out as Mastercard isn’t as popular as it was and in the online world, these days PayPal is a (if not the) dominant payment force.
In the interests of fairness it has to be said that once you do meet these requirements Clickbank do pay out on a regular basis and have been more reliable than some affiliate programs I’ve used.
I also understand Clickbank’s reasoning and I quote from their Customer Distribution Requirement
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.
But surely technology and PayPal’s own anti fraud measures mean that Clickbank can and should now review a condition that existed when they started out, has served it’s purpose and that can be improved without detriment to the company.
I may be wrong but verified PayPal accounts are tied to real people and banking accounts. PayPal accounts are funded from unique credit and debit cards as well as banking accounts so why can’t (or won’t) Clickbank class PayPal sales as unique and allow them to count towards those five unique sales?
What do you think?
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Thanks for asking your question ‘is clickbank a scam?’ The answer is ‘NO. Clickbank are not a scam.’ What they are is misunderstood by some people who buy products or services through them.
Think of ClickBank as the ‘middle man’ bewteen you and the other person you bought something from. ClickBanks job is to provide sellers with a secure facility to perform a financial transaction between a seller and a buyer an, once that transaction is complete ClickBank then send the buyer to a web page provided by the seller where the product or service is to be delivered. ClickBank also ensure that any independent sales agent (affiliate) who has earnt a commission as a result of a purchase gets paid . Most importantly .. ClickBank guarantee that the buyers money is safe for 8 weeks.
At any point for up to 60 Days after buying something through ClickBank a buyer can request and will generally get a full refund.
You question made me realise that ClickBank could ensure or sellers should be made to make buyers more aware of the business relationship and how it is performed. Those of us who have been making money on ClickBank for years forget that not everyone knows how all the bits fit together.
You should have rec’d an email comfirming the transaction from ClickBank and hopefully an email from the seller explaining how you get access to and use your product service.
If you have a problem with product delivery ask ClickBank for help. At some point you should get help from the seller, if not just ask ClickBank for a refund or simply forward your receipt to refunds @ clickbank.com .
Having said all that … having just looked at the ClickBank Help Centre it is really not helpful at all to buyers like yourself. All of the help is geared towards sellers. Perhaps someone from ClickBank will drop by one day and amswer some of the concerns this post and the comments have raised.
My site is a 50/50 mix of products and article advise. 90% of the products on display are clickbank based. There are really good products and some that turn out to be not so good but over-all in my opinion Clickbank themselves are very reputable and supportive to vendor, retailer and customer alike. I have been selling as a retailer for years now and have to say that even with my high opinion of Clickbank I disagree with their choice not to recognise Pay-Pal as a verification of retailer legitimacy. Pay-Pal accounts link to a single bank account. This bank account can only set up a single Pay-Pal account. So a person cannot set up multiple Pay-Pal accounts as to appear to be many different people. Think about it, even if they could who would go to that much bother just to make a small discount anyway? I believe Clickbank is hurting its own reputation by not recognising Pay-Pal because they are making it look like they just do not want to pay out. I really doubt they are that way inclined but it still looks bad to those just starting out.
ClickBank is not a scam, but all the propaganda of making hundreds or thousands dollars a day is completely fake. Don’t fall for it, it’s all bullshit. Own experience.
For a moment there I was shocked as I didn’t remember writing this “I’ll be upfront here … I don’t like officious organisations that are too big for their boots and I really think action needs to be taken against organisations that have unreasonable and unrealistic terms and conditions.” and I didn’t but I could have becuase Paypal is my problem, and has been for a while now, and for those that don’t know, Paypal sell customer details to list marketers and I do not care what they say, they do.
I had 2 accounts set up with them and had one difference, one had a combination of mine and my brothers birthdays in its information, and it is the only time I have ever done that, and I still get marketing calls and mail (snail type) from people wishing me a happy birthday and would you like to buy this and the brithday is for that wacko date and not my birthday. Needless to say both accounts are long cancelled as I violated their policy about giving them false personal information and then asked how much they got for my personal information as I wanted the money, after all it was my info wasn’t it.
So now that has been said, what can people who Paypal/ebay don’t like do about getting payments to clickbank, any suggestions/alternatives would be welcomed.
And for those that trust Paypal/ebay with all their personal info, I do hope you are right but you should remember that they are a corporation and their only aim in life is to make money, any way they can, and like a lotof corporations today think that it is only illegal if they get caught and they get caught by someone with deep pockets. Look at Apple, they sold devices that track and record all your personal info and they are still free, even if they committed upwards of 200 criminal offences according to one law professor who was asked his opinion.
Do i qualify as a member of the “I don’t like officious organisations that are too big for their boots and I really think action needs to be taken against organisations that have unreasonable and unrealistic terms and conditions.” Now??
Yes Paul you do qualify to become a member of the “I don’t like officious organisations that are too big for their boots and I really think action needs to be taken against organisations that have unreasonable and unrealistic terms and conditions.”
– Thanks for stopping by!
It’s a pity ‘they’ don’t always follow the basic rules and bend them in a deliberate and flagrant manner without apologising for their actions when they cause genuine hardship to people.
I have been pondering using Clickbank as a means to affiliate market a book but remain unsure if it is a complete scam and worth the trouble. Sitting on a fence, thinking about the old saying that where there is smoke there is usually fire.
Hi Alan, Clickbank are not a scam company, they will do what they can to help you, just be aware of their rules [see the thread]. (There are other companies that will allow you to sell your book.)
The smoke comes from some of ClickBank’s clients who are less than scrupulous selling sub-standard products but CB are doing lots to get rid of them. More smoke comes from people who buy products but don’t bother to read the emails they get or mis-understand the role of CB and assume that CB are the bad guys because CB processed a payment.
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