ClickBank lets Vendors Flat Out LIE About Refund Periods?

I see what you're saying Dan but here's my thinking too...

It's widely known that CB has a 60 day refund guarantee. The sales letter I looked at had one little sentence about 14 days. Chances are they didn't even see that. (their fault - sure okay).

But if I'm buying a CB product, I'm thinking 60 days is across the board. I might have heard a recommendation from Dan and trust his word, and order on a trust basis - feeling confident it's CB. And not thoroughly read every single word of a LONG sales letter. (again ASSuming its 60 days for everyone).

Then I get in, don't like it, or whatever, and can't refund (I think) but really I can if I know the truth.

LOL! Just laughable to me.

Wrong! Clickbank actually purchases the product from the vendor. You need to read the information on their site. They are not "just" the payment processor.

here's the link. It's under "Transaction Charges." Click here

It's shady because they allow the vendor to say one thing and allow something completely different. If that isn't shady, I don't know what is.

If you don't even realize they are buying the product from you, then you really have no idea what you are doing when it comes to being a CB vendor.

This is interesting because the last product I sold on Clickbank, it was initially rejected because I didn't word my refund guarantee to say "60 days" or "8 weeks" - if I remember right I said 2 full months or something like that.

I had to change the page so it read specifically 60 days or 8 weeks, and then it was approved.

Apparently that's not the case any more (granted this was a couple of years ago), or maybe just not the case for everyone.

I guess by the vendor stating a 14-day refund policy they're hoping to cut down on the number of people requesting refunds? Kind of silly if Clickbank will still grant them up to 60 days - but if some of the customers don't realize that...

Wendy

Great analogy! Good way of seeing i another way...

But I think when you buy something at Walmart, the receipt has the refund policy on it. As opposed to someone buying a CB policy having to go search for themselves on the CB website to see what the refund policy is.

And the difference is, too, if I want to return a pair of sunglasses, I don't have to contact the sunglasses maker. I just take it to Walmart.

If I want to return an eBook, I believe the vendor gets initial discretion in some cases to correspond with you first and then escalate it for a refund.

Or no? I may be wrong.

Wrong about what? It's ClickBank's contracts. They are offering 60-day refunds as referenced on their website. If they also want to enter into a special deal for someone to list a 14-day period on their website that is their business. If ClickBank wants to give someone a refund after 2 years that can do that too.

If I publicly offer a 25% commission on a product that doesn't mean I cannot offer a 40% commission to select partners.


And if you would actually read the ClickBank policy:

"Our return policy for all ClickBank products is as follows: ClickBank will, at its discretion, allow for the return or replacement of any product within 60 days from the date of purchase."

It says nothing about refunds just for grins. It is all within ClickBank's discretion. Moreover, a "return or replacement" is allowed. When was the last time ClickBank asked you to return a purchase to get a refund?

The problem here is people are not actually reading or understanding ClickBank's policies, and trying to rigidly enforce some policy that not only does not exist, but which ClickBank can change for any vendor it wants.

I'm wrong? Really? That ClickBank is prohibited from making a special deal with one of its vendors? Come on.

Maybe that's a problem in France. Not in the US.

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What does my use of CB have to do with anything. I am not the one that is telling a lie.

CC companies do not force vendors to honor a 30 or any other day guarantee of satisfaction. The CC companies allow for charge backs if the vendor does not live up to their claims. If they deliver defective products, or don't deliver what they promised, then you can escalate it.

In this situation, the vendor publishes a 14 refund policy, and in fact the refund policy is 60 days. No matter how you slice it, that is a lie, and the only reason I can think of for this is to try and ward of any attempt at refunds after the first two weeks. Which is devious.

If you're the consumer, it could be to your benefit to have multiple refund periods rather than just one.

Let's use Caliban's example: "So you can certainly have a 14 day refund period from the vendor, 45 days from PayPal, 60 days from Clickbank, and 90 days from your bank."

So, let's say I buy a product from John Smith and he offers a 14 day refund.

After 13 days, I decide the product really isn't good and I want a refund.

John Smith is unresponsive.

I keep trying to get my refund. After a week or two of trying to contact John Smith to get my refund and not hearing back, then I contact PayPal for a refund, since I'm still within their refund period.

They refuse because it's a digital product.

Okay, so I argue, but they won't bend.

So, now maybe it's been a month of doing this, trying to get my refund.

Well, I have to give up on PayPal, but now I can try ClickBank.

ClickBank, in its discretion, turns down my refund request.

Again, I go back and forth. And they don't budge.

Two months have gone by now, with all these eMails and waiting for responses and so on.

But, it's okay because I am still within my bank's refund period. So, I can contact them to try to get my money back.

So, with the multiple refund periods, I can escalate things and not worry about running out of time.

But, if everyone had the same refund period, and I'm towards the end of that refund period, who do I contact?

Well, everyone is going to want me to work it out with the vendor first. But, if the vendor is non-responsive, and my attempts to contact him exceed the refund period, then I may not be able to get a refund through the other parts in the chain because I didn't contact them within the refund period.

It's nice to have options.

If everyone had the same refund period, then you would probably end up getting shortchanged more often than you would with staggered refund periods.

I don't believe in refunds. If I was stupid enough to give you the money, you're entitled to keep it - because when I don't face consequences for making bad choices, I never get any better at making them.