What do you think about people who buy your product through their own Clickbank ID?

Well, treat it as if it was Adeel. What's the big deal?

One thing that you have to remember is the fact that most newbies have not got the clout to ask for a review copy, they probably all know they exist, but have not got a chance to get one.

Personally I would never ever consider recommending something I had not bought and tried out. Would you think Adeel I should pay the full price to try your product to try it out. Or will you give me an review copy because I can promote article resource materials as a full time writer. I would appreciate an answer to how you feel about that.

Just a thought but I am sure there is a way to block affiliates until they have bought the product and can show a receipt, why can't you do that.


La dominatrix

OMG!

I can't believe what I'm reading here!

ok...ok

I agree with the gravity and spreading the word..blah blah blah

All that is fine and good..

BUT..

ARE NONE OF YOU PROMOTING AFFILIATE PROGRAMS ON CLICKBANK?

And if so, can you imagine if this is the mindset of thousands of people and you are trying to make affiliate sales for yourself?

How in the hell can you think this is ok?

If you owned a store, it would be ok, if you rang up the
purchase and the guy only gave you 50% of the total?

Add that up over the course of a day!

Basically if you're promoting an affiliate program and aren't offering
some badass bonuses...someone you referred is going to get your
commission...lol....is that ok with you?

I know you guys have to be smarter than that...

So bottom line is...it's ok to use your own link...unless
you're trying to make an affiliate sale...lol

-Bobby

P.S. All you guys thinking it's ok to buy from your own affiliate link better spend some serious money on creating super bonus packages, cause obviously, the people you're sending through your affiliate link think it's ok too

..
..
..

I do not see it as a problem. I think CB should put a limit on it of sorts like you can only buy through your own link once for every 2-3 sales.

Regardless a sale is a sale and generates profit. Would I tell a customer they are stealing in this situation ... NO. I would just get over it and move on.

So why do people buy through their own link?

Well to save money!

The reason I buy most CD products are for evaluation purposes when I have heard it is a worthy product and the creator or author will not give out an evaluation product. It is not that unusual for a creator/author to contact me when successfully selling a competitors product and offer theirs for review free.

I would say for every 20-30 CB product I sell one is bought for review through my own link.

So now what you have to ask yourself is the reason the person bought the product ... it may have been to save some money ... or to possibly to promote it!

If I was buying through my own link for evaluation then got accused of stealing guess who's product would get marketed and get a good review!

Ordering through yourself means you get yourself a rebate, not a commission.

If they were to buy through somebody else's link, the referring affiliate would be credited for their efforts, i.e. commission, and i'd be happy with the 40%..

Maybe it's just me and that i'm bugged with losing at least 50k?

Adeel

All right Adeel, I understand your frustration and has no intention to make you feel worse but as your business grows, you'll agree with me and the majority here that it's not a big deal and it's something that you have to accept and move on some bigger issue. Really.. period. And sorry for the bad day you had. Cheers man! Forget it.

That page may not say that you arent ABLE to do this, but it clearly states that you shouldn't.

(from that link)
"That is, affiliates should not be using their own HopLinks to purchase products for themselves and then collect a "rebate" check from ClickBank."

Straight from Clickbank....seems pretty clear to me what their position on this practice is.

The ideal situation would be that each merchant (vendor)
could choose whether or not he wants to allow affiliates
to buy though their own link.

Harvey


.

Just my 2 cents but vendors bring allot of this onto themselves & cost regular affiliates 1,000's of dollars by aggressively promoting their affiliate programs.

If you are selling a product & don't want people buying through their own links the last thing you should be doing is advertising an affiliate program on the sales page - People may just sign up & buy through their own link:rolleyes:

Personally I wont promote any products via PPC that have prominent affiliate sign-ups.

Clickbank is unlikely to change or enforce any policy related to this issue as it will cost them sales & money.

If you have an issue with clickbank dont use them. Run your own affiliate script & set a min payout = to more than 1 sale, Or only allow customers to be affiliates

Products are on clickbank for one reason only to get exposure to as many affiliates as possible, consider "own link" purchases as a business expense for the exposure you are receiving.

Harvey, you have a very valid point here.

Honestly, this whole situation requires minds a lot more intelligent than
mine to figure out a solution for.

Personally, I think PayDotCom has the answer...not allowing affiliates
to purchase through their own link.

If I want a product for review purposes, I ask the merchant. If he says
no, I don't promote it. To me, if he can't give me the product to review,
given my reputation as a successful affiliate marketer, then he's not
worth my time to promote.

I still have no problem with an affiliate buying my product through their
own link but I do have a problem if they steal the sale from another
affiliate.

Problem is, there is no way to differentiate between the two with
Clickbank, which is why I believe that to solve this thing once and for
all, Clickbank simply adopts PayDotCom's policy.

Will that cause other problems?

Of course.

Fewer sales will be made because affiliates won't want to pay full price
for their purchases.

It's an imperfect world and there is no perfect solution to this problem. I
would be foolish to even try to offer one.

Bottom line is this.

If you're a merchant and don't like Clickbank's policy, then simply don't
use Clickbank. Outside of the MMO niche, it's not really a problem anyway
except for affiliates who buy non MMO products just for review purposes.

But since these aren't real customers anyway (they don't have the
problem the product is solving) what does it matter? It's a sale you
shouldn't have gotten in the first place.

Anyway, like I said, I have no solutions to this mess that are going to
make everybody happy.

So pick your poison and learn to live with it.

I do.

Many affiliates are trained to purchase through their own affiliate link, both on their own product and others. This ensures that your tracking links are working and that the buying experience is smooth for your customers. Adeel, I've been following you for a while now, but I think you are making way too big a deal about this. Think of it this way; this is a sale you may not have had otherwise. Besides, if you approach the world with an abundance mindset you may just find that things are easier and more profitable than you can imagine. In a word: Relax.

WOW.

Are you serious?

I'm speechless! You are digging yourself in a very deep grave. I wonder how many potential customers are reading this thread?
:confused:

I have purchased through my affiliate link and the reality is in 99.99% (probably 100%) no seller or affiliate has lost a thing. Without that option I would have asked for a review copy if it was something I was considering promoting, or not bought at all if
it was something I thought was 'worth reading' to maybe pick up a nugget or two at the 'wholesale' price.

Let's be real ...most of what is available on Clickbank is specifically priced to encourage affiliates to promote. One of the beautiful things about information
products is that there is no concrete set value, so product creators can put whatever value they want...which in my experience is more often tied to the quality of the
sales copy than the quality of the actual product.

I come to this with a long family history in the retail business.

If I learn about any product I want, and I know where I can get it at wholesale...guess what...I will buy it at wholesale. I don't know why anyone would expect anything different.

To answer Bobby's question whether if someone came into my shop and offered to pay only 50% of my asking price, would I feel ripped off...

If someone came into my store and I told them about a brand new product that I was selling at $100, and the customer told me it sounded like a great product, but he was in the business (or his brother, uncle, mother, best friend was in the business) so he could get it for $50 or even $25...

Would I be mad? Should I feel indignant that this person who learned about this new product from me....would not feel that he now had some moral duty to buy it from me for $100 when he could instead buy it elsewhere for $50 or $25.

Should I tell my customer that as far as I'm concerned, since I told him about it first, if he uses his connections to buy it cheaper (or with better bonuses) he is a thief.

If the product was one that (to compare with digital products) cost me practically
nothing, and I could get an unlimited supply at will, and I was already selling it at wholesale to others, I would offer to sell it at whatever price got me the sale and put money in my pocket that I would not otherwise get. I would be quite happy that I just made 100% profit regardless of the dollar amount. (And if s/he still wanted to buy from his family or friend...I wouldn't cry about that either).

Unless I have the exclusive rights to something, some will buy from me, some won't, so what. That's business.

In the 'real' world, there is no such thing as infinite markup.

If it was a typical retail situation, and I could not match his best 'connected' price, I can
assure you I would not feel 'ripped off.' I would expect that almost any customer
who could easily buy at a much better price, would do so.

To those who think it is wrong to buy from your own link when you learned about a product from another affiliate...I am unaware of any moral code that requires that I buy a product from whoever tells me about it first.

If one exists, then anyone who writes articles or reviews using product names as keywords, or anyone who offers bonuses is a commission thief....and a high percentage of the make money products promoted on Clickbank and right here in the Warrior Forum should be banned as promoting theft.

If I learn about some electronics product because I see a television commercial for it, or see it in a Best Buy circular that is sent to my home, (or get an email about it) and then I go to Amazon or Ebay, or my favorite local discounter, or a wholesaler, do you
really believe I am ripping off all the advertisers who told me first?

Whenever I promote a make money Clickbank product, I do it well aware that anyone who is not a total newbie is likely to buy it through their affiliate link.

Many affiliates avoid promoting Clickbank products in the make money niche for this very reason.

Adeel, you and Bobby are both successful and well versed in all the options available for affiliate promotions. You could easily set up your promotions through PayDotCom (which you have) or your own affiliate program (which you may already have as well).

I find it difficult to believe that you have not tracked and tested and determined that selling through Clickbank brings you enough of an additional return that it makes it worth choosing to promote there instead of only using other venues where you could easily prevent this.

Instead of feeling that many of your customers are 'ripping you off,' you should be grateful for all the sales that you would not otherwise have gotten.

As marketers you should understand the huge financial opportunity you get from offering your product at different price points, which is what happens when you offer
your product on Clickbank which allows affiliates to buy from their own links.

My guess is that in a very high percentage of those sales where you believe people are ripping you off, the reality is that those people would not have bought at your 'retail' price.

One last thing to think about...you can look at things from many perspectives.

You think people are ripping you off when they buy through their link...

As a customer....I can look at it that you are ripping me off when you have a product that costs you nothing to duplicate, and you are willing to accept 40% as an acceptable price, yet you expect me to pay 100%.

Frankly, you and Bobby have just expressed disdain for a large number of people who have made you money whether as a simple customer or as a promoter. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for you.


Robyn

It seems to me the main point is that these are Clickbank affiliates NOT your affiliates. You agreed to submit your product into the Clickbank system and have them handle affiliate sales. It is not against their policy for affiliates to use their own link to buy any Clickbank product.

If you were not aware of this policy then that is your responsibility. If you were aware then why are you surprised that people are doing something perfectly legal in the terms of the affiliate program.

And I agree the policy sucks - but that is a reason not to use CB not to get mad at people following CB policies. And I also agree that a sale is a sale so see the glass as half full

Steven, these youngsters will not get what you are saying here bro, it just landing on deaf ears...

From his first post to his last his point of view haven't changed...my old gran used to say one pebble at a time will fill your basket...

--David

There's nothing wrong with what you said here Steven, all honest money made is great and a blessing since it puts food on your table and a roof over your head.

But for me... I want to aim higher (what's wrong with that?)... and to create a 7 figure business you must be agressive in all areas of your marketing. That's the bottom line from the way I see it..

Best,
Adeel

I agree with you 100%.

What a great constructive post, I really appreciate it.

Yes, emotions were involved when I first posted... and we have not had time to sit back yet and relax... it may have caused me say a few things that I may not have otherwise said.

In reference to this statement made "maybe the customer doesn't know what's best for him".. what was meant by that was simply, if you have a solid solution for their problems and know it will help them but they don't accept it for whatever reason.. or, like parents know what is best for the child, ... that's what I was getting at... rather than trying to sound arrogant or like an idiot.

Best of success to you all,
Adeel