New Clickbank Vendor Rules - Got caught in the middle
Hey fellow JV Notify Friends,
As some of you know Clickbank made an announcement on August 2, 2011 that they were making significant changes to what they would and would not allow Vendors to release on their pitch/sales/thank you pages. I am not going to post it all here but you can view it at:
I of course found out about these changes several days before everyone else. Because I was about to have final approval on a new Clickbank product. My rep at CB told me she would have me approved in the am...instead, I get an email where she explained the new changes. Of course by the time the announcement came out I had all of the changes fixed.
So let me throw this back to you, the JV Notify Pro members...what are your thoughts on these new changes?
I think it is ridicules that anyone lets their payment processor tell them how to run their business. Of course many of these rules are good practice, but Clickbank should not be telling you how to run your business. And it's not just these rules, there are many many more Clickbank rules. For example why can only premium members run one time offers at Clickbank? Only let the rich get richer?
It is your business, why don't you run it how you see fit. Don't let a company that has little interest in your business make your company rules up for you.
As you can tell I got tired of Clickbank telling me what I can and cannot do. I created PayGear.com so anyone can take control of their business and at the same time get far more features than any other affiliate manager can provide.
"I think it is ridicules that anyone lets their payment processor tell them how to run their business. Of course many of these rules are good practice, but Clickbank should not be telling you how to run your business."
Chris...
CB isn't a payment processor. They are an etailer.
If you list your Widget X with Clickbank, they dont' just "process the payment" on your behalf... they COLLECT the payment. THEY make the sale. It's THEIR store. It's THEIR marketplace and THEIR brand.
You, as a vendor in their store, get your cut PAID TO YOU (as do THEIR affiliates who marketed your offer from THEIR store).
There's nothing wrong with Clickbank policiing their own marketplace, their own store, their vendors and their affiliates. It's their house.
And they aren't doing this policinig because they want ... it's because of increased pressure from FTC. Keep in mind, CB makes all those sales (not you for your Widget X). And those customers and refunds are under Clickbank's name (not yours, the vendor).
If the FTC keeps seeing hyped up bullshit offers that it feels aren't fair to the average consumer, then they put the pressure on the store owner (in this case Clickbank). Who in turn has to put pressure on the vendors who actually create the offers.
And any marketplace/store that caters a lot to the biz opp (aka. "IM", because let's face it, 4 out of 5 IM products these days are actually hope pitches and biz opp products not intelligent/professional solutions) ... any such marketplace that grows to thousands of sales per week (or maybe per day?? I'm guessing CB probably make 1000+ sales per day across their marketplace), they will quickly fall under FTC scrutiny.
CB is the seller/the store where the individual purchased their product from NOT the vendor.
It's like selling your line of t-shirts at The Gap. And all the shirt combust into flames after their 2nd use. Sure your company would be getting sued, but so would the retailer, The Gap. And they are the ones that the public would first complain about because THEY sold it to them.
So when Bullshit Magic Button X sells on CB and creates a lot of scam reports, fraud claims, chargebacks and refunds... it's not Joe Metoo that gets the FTC's attention. It's Clickbank.
To me it is simple. This is exactly what the FTC says and ClickBank has to comply to the FTC rules or be out of business.
It is also very reasonable because the rules help prevent people from being scammed. If you think these rules are wrong then you must be a scammer not telling the complete truth on your sales letters. Hype is one thing but flat out lying is another.
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