How do I stop Clickbank merchants from...

...getting a discount on my products? I am a Clickbank merchant and sell products to other Clickbank merchants. The affiliate program pays 50%, but how do I ensure that only affiliates get this commission, and not the customer. And, I certainly don't want the customer to steal the commission from my affiliates by replacing the nickname. I know of affiliate cloakers for Clickbank, but these are in place to protect the affiliates. Is there something that protects the merchant from customers getting a discount by referring themselves? I don't know if this can be done, so I may just have to remove the affiliate program altogether, unfortunately.

Thanks!

This doesn't really answer your question Shawn, but is this really such a significant problem? I mean, are you expecting or have you experienced a significant amount of type of transaction? I don't know if there is an easy way to prevent this, and the effort involved may very possibly not be worth the reduced amount of income you might be experiencing.

I agree that a certain amount of this might occur however you maybe overestimating the frequency. I might be wrong on this - but just a thought.

> ...getting a discount on my products? I am a
> Clickbank merchant and sell products to
> other Clickbank merchants. The affiliate
> program pays 50%, but how do I ensure that
> only affiliates get this commission, and not
> the customer. And, I certainly don't want
> the customer to steal the commission from my
> affiliates by replacing the nickname. I know
> of affiliate cloakers for Clickbank, but
> these are in place to protect the
> affiliates. Is there something that protects
> the merchant from customers getting a
> discount by referring themselves? I don't
> know if this can be done, so I may just have
> to remove the affiliate program altogether,
> unfortunately.

> Thanks!

As far as I see it there are a limited number of Clickbank merchants so, unlike other products that promote to a wider audience, there is a finite amount of sales to be acquired. And if every sale is an affiliate sale (why wouldn't it be?) that means that on every single sale I'm only getting 50% revenue (50% affiliate payout, obviously).

The only other way around it that I can see is to bump up the price by the amount of the commission, thereby offsetting this practise. I don't really want to do this though, since it puts the price up at first glance. Most customers will realize that they won't actually be paying this price, but it still doesn't look as good. You see?

> This doesn't really answer your question
> Shawn, but is this really such a significant
> problem? I mean, are you expecting or have
> you experienced a significant amount of type
> of transaction? I don't know if there is an
> easy way to prevent this, and the effort
> involved may very possibly not be worth the
> reduced amount of income you might be
> experiencing.

> I agree that a certain amount of this might
> occur however you maybe overestimating the
> frequency. I might be wrong on this - but
> just a thought.

Hi Shawn

I am an affiliate marketer and think you are looking at it the wrong way, see the whole picture

you said...

And if every sale is an affiliate sale (why wouldn't it be?) that means that on every single sale I'm only getting 50% revenue (50% affiliate payout, obviously).

If that affiliate did not send you the customer, that ONLY 50% revenue would be zilch!

I don`t know how many affiliates you have who`ve sent you customers, but if they had not, would you have found those customers without them?

Would you even have any affiliates, if your product wasn`t on Clickbank?

If you want to stop people using their own links to purchase, take it off Clickbank and only allow people who have bought to be affiliates.

Shawn, your successful affiliates are working to sell your product, your customers sent from affiliates are not there by chance, they have cost time, effort and probably money i.e. pay per click on your affiliates part.It could well be costing them half or more of their 50% cut to get you a customer.

As for putting up the price, I don`t know the product, so I can`t really say. But I do know affiliates and those who are very good won`t work for less than 50%, please remember it costs them to send you customers.

yours

Roger

There are people out here in cyber-land who encourage people to become an affiliate and then to buy through their own affiliate name. And these are well-known cyber-marketers.

Why?

Because it increases sales. More sales means more customers. More customers means a bigger customer list of people who have actually bought. And that bodes well for future back-end sales.

Your cost is effectively zero. So what if you don't make as much money per sale? You get something better... more customers! Besides... 50% of a sale is better than 100% of a no-sale.

Your post has a note of desperation in it (that is how it comes across to me). Something I would not expect from an experienced marketer or business owner, so I deduce you are relatively new to the world of business. Thus I am curious. What is it you sell to these other Clickbank merchants?

Michael Ross


Ideas? We've got 'em. You can get 'em. Click here for details.

I have said why it matters. There are a finite amount of sales to be had when marketing to Clickbank merchants and if every sale is only 50% of the revenue than that is not optimal. Of course, I cherish my affiliates and do not want to stop working with them, that is not my point. I simply do not want everyone to get a discount. If the price should be 50% less then that is the way I would market it. To get this 50% back by raising the price (if this is the only solution) is really not the way I want to approach it, which is why I made the post.

And, if a general inquiry that may benefit the masses to a board of fellow online marketers sounds desperate to you, then you must think us all a bunch of novice whiners. What's up with that? And I've been dabbling online for a few years now, ready to launch two new s/w apps. When these are ready I will be glad to share the info.

Thanks for all the insight so far everyone!

> There are people out here in cyber-land who
> encourage people to become an affiliate and
> then to buy through their own affiliate
> name. And these are well-known
> cyber-marketers.

> Why?

> Because it increases sales. More sales means
> more customers. More customers means a
> bigger customer list of people who have
> actually bought. And that bodes well for
> future back-end sales.

> Your cost is effectively zero. So what if
> you don't make as much money per sale? You
> get something better... more customers!
> Besides... 50% of a sale is better than 100%
> of a no-sale.

> Your post has a note of desperation in it
> (that is how it comes across to me).
> Something I would not expect from an
> experienced marketer or business owner, so I
> deduce you are relatively new to the world
> of business. Thus I am curious. What is it
> you sell to these other Clickbank merchants?

> Michael Ross

Hi Shawn,

It seems to me that there's no way of knowing if the buyer is taking the money away from you or from a genuine affiliate. For example, if the customer found out about your web site through an affiliate, then he's taking that 50% away from an affiliate - not from you.

I agree with everyone else here - just take it in stride. I think you're probably not "losing" as much as you think you are....

- Dien Rice

Thanks, that's probably what I'll have to do...take it in stride.

> Hi Shawn,

> It seems to me that there's no way of
> knowing if the buyer is taking the money
> away from you or from a genuine affiliate.
> For example, if the customer found out about
> your web site through an affiliate, then
> he's taking that 50% away from an affiliate
> - not from you.

> I agree with everyone else here - just take
> it in stride. I think you're probably not
> "losing" as much as you think you
> are....

> - Dien Rice

You want your affiliates to pay full price so you get all the money - BUT - you are quite happy to get half of that for every sale your affiliates makes.

So if the total market is 10,000. And each of ten affiliates can sell 999, you are happy to only get half the money for 9,990 sales but want the full price of ten sales.

It doesn't make sense to want your affiliates to sell sell sell and be willing to only get half of their sales, but want full money for the initial sale to your affiliate.

You're trying to operate on double standards. You're better off diverting energy to increasing sales instead of stopping the few who will buy through their own affiliate link.

Michael Ross


If you are not a subscriber you are missing out on some great stuff

See below...

> You want your affiliates to pay full price
> so you get all the money - BUT - you are
> quite happy to get half of that for every
> sale your affiliates makes.

I think you're missing the point. I want my customers to pay full price. Sure my affiliates can buy it themselves and they are certainly entitled to getting the 50% off if they use their affiliate link - that's not my problem.

I guess what I need is a way to restrict this commission payout to only a select few joint venture partners, without them worrying about their commission being stolen also.

> So if the total market is 10,000. And each
> of ten affiliates can sell 999, you are
> happy to only get half the money for 9,990
> sales but want the full price of ten sales.

Your example only makes sense if I do no promoting myself and let my affiliates handle all of the marketing, which obviously won't be the case. I will be making the majority of sales myself so to sell the majority of my software at 50% off would be the same as if all sales were affiliate sales. If this is what I wanted I wouldn't do any promoting myself, would I? There would be no point. Which brings me back to my initial post.

> It doesn't make sense to want your
> affiliates to sell sell sell and be willing
> to only get half of their sales, but want
> full money for the initial sale to your
> affiliate.

And yes, it makes perfect sense for the affiliates to promote for 50%, why is that confusing? And why shouldn't I get the full 100% on sales I make myself. I'm sorry but it is you that is making no sense.

> You're trying to operate on double
> standards. You're better off diverting
> energy to increasing sales instead of
> stopping the few who will buy through their
> own affiliate link.

> Michael Ross